Jamie Brokaw was an experienced navigator who was no stranger to dangerous flying situations and had the skills to stay cool in the face of danger, according to close friend Chris Connerton.

"He was a very good person and very smart person," Connerton told The Associated Press by telephone from Rochester, Minn.

Brokaw, 33, of Monroe, Mich., was among seven Americans killed Monday when their National Air Cargo plane crashed near an Air Force base in Afghanistan. Six of the victims were from Michigan and a seventh was from Kentucky, said Shirley Kaufman, National Air Cargo vice president.

Connerton said Brokaw was a key reason he was able to make it through flight school in Jacksonville, Fla., where they met.

Connerton also described a harrowing flight two years ago from Toledo, Ohio, to an international flight expo in Lakeland, Fla. Connerton said ice had built up on the plane to the point that he could no longer get it to climb.

"If it wasn't for Jamie's navigation and know-how ... we wouldn't have made it," Connerton said.

Killed along with Brokaw in the Afghanistan crash were Gary Stockdale, 51, of Romulus, Mich.; pilots Brad Hasler, 34, of Trenton, Mich., and Jeremy Lipka, 37, of Brooklyn, Mich.; first officer Rinku Summan, 32, of Canton, Mich.; loadmaster Michael Sheets, 36, of Ypsilanti, Mich.; and maintenance crewman Timothy Garrett, 51, of Louisville, Ky.

Building model planes and working on real ones comprised Stockdale's passion, filling the family's basement with models in his youth, jumping into aviation as a career at age 16 — and later working at two Detroit-area airports.

Stockdale also knew the dangers of flying, his older brother said Tuesday.

"He always said it was dangerous," said Glenn Stockdale, 55. "He would always say, 'You either will die in a car crash or a ball of flame in a plane.'"

AP / Courtesy Stockdale Family

Gary Stockdale, 51, of Romulus, Mich., was killed in a cargo plane crash on Monday.

Lipka had flown in Iraq as well as Afghanistan and had close calls before, said his stepfather, Dave Buttman.

"There was risk there all the time. He knew the risks. He volunteered to take the trips," Buttman told the Star Tribune of Minneapolis. "Basically, you're taking your chances flying in there and he was just happy to be one of the pilots to do it."

The Dubai-bound Boeing 747-400 — operated by National Air Cargo — crashed just after takeoff Monday from Bagram Air Base around 11:20 a.m. local time, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a statement Tuesday.

The accident site is within the perimeter of Bagram Air Base.

The Taliban quickly claimed responsibility for downing the plane, but NATO said the claims were false and there was no sign of insurgent activity in the area at the time of the crash.

The Afghanistan Ministry of Transportation and Commercial Aviation is leading the investigation. The NTSB is investigating the crash alongside the ministry. The team will be composed of three NTSB investigators, as well as representatives from the Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing, the NTSB said.

Kaufman said the plane — owned by National Airlines, an Orlando, Fla.-based subsidiary of National Air Cargo — was carrying vehicles and other cargo.

Elena Garrett, of Jeffersonville, Ind., just across the Ohio River from Louisville, said ex-husband Timothy Garrett would have turned 52 on Saturday. They have two daughters together, ages 11 and 12.

"We're all devastated," Elena Garrett said about his death. "We were still best friends. He's the best father I've ever seen (and) ready to help anybody. He would give the shirt off his back for anybody."

Bill Hasler said his family learned Monday morning that his brother, Brad, was one of the crash victims.

"Brad was a wonderful father to two young children, a beloved husband to a wife who is expecting another child, a loving son, and the most loyal and supportive brother I could have ever asked for," Bill Hasler said in a statement. "His influence in the lives of all of us who loved him is immeasurable, and our grief is indescribable."

National Airlines was based until recently at Michigan's Willow Run Airport, west of Detroit. It carries cargo both commercially and for the military, Kaufman said. She said the company employs about 225 people.

Summan had worked 2½ years for National Air Cargo, said his wife, Rajnit Summan.

Rajnit Summan said she last spoke to her husband Sunday.

"I told him to be safe," she said.

This story was originally published on Wed May 1, 2013 4:31 AM EDT

Flood-weary residents in parts of the Midwest were still trying to stem the tide of murky river water Friday, as late snow-melt combined with days of spring rain sent rivers toward high-water records.

Floodwaters had begun an inch-by-inch retreat in inundated Peoria, Ill., after the Illinois River crested Tuesday at 29.35 feet, eclipsing a 70-year record. In central Indiana, more heavy rain through Wednesday morning prompted a request for voluntary evacuation along the Tippecanoe River near Lafayette.

The Grand River at Grand Rapids, Mich., which reached record levels, began to fall below flood stage Thursday and some of the hundreds of people evacuated were starting to return home.

Along the Mississippi, the biggest concern was that the flood is expected to linger into May, potentially straining longstanding earthen levees and hastily-built sandbag walls. No towns were in imminent danger.

Rain-soaked Chicago had its wettest April on record, the National Weather Service said, according to NBCChicago.com.

In tiny Dutchtown, Missouri, flooding from the Mississippi has become such a fact of life that residents expressed hope that the Federal Emergency Management Agency would buy them out of their homes.

Reuters

Local residents work with soldiers of the 1140th Engineer Battalion to build a sandbag wall near Dutchtown, Missouri, on Wednesday.

Thousands of sandbags were at the ready in anticipation of a crest Thursday.

Doyle Parmer, who doubles as town clerk and emergency management chief, told The Associated Press that residents had been "jumping through hoops" for three years seeking a buyout from FEMA as part of a federal program that sees flood-prone areas set aside for green space or a park. The AP said:

In order for that money to arrive, towns must prove that flooding is frequent and devastating enough for a buyout to be cost-effective, and Dutchtown hasn't filed a suitable one yet, said Melissa Janssen, mitigation branch chief for the FEMA region that includes Missouri.

Parmer said he and other residents were ready to get out.

"Sell the house, cut the grass and get the hell out of Dodge," he said.

For 40 years, Shirley Moss has lived in the same home in the town, but as the sandbags piled up yet again, she didn't hesitate when asked if she would take a government buyout.

"In a New York minute," Moss said from her double-wide mobile home. "I'm 75 years old — I can't fight this."

Meanwhile, in North Dakota residents got their first touch of good news on Wednesday when officials said the swollen Red River would crest at lower than anticipated levels next week, the AP reported.

Residents in Fargo and neighboring Moorhead, Minnesota, have been filling sandbags ahead of the expected fourth major Red River flood in the past five years after unseasonably cold weather delayed the annual thaw.

But the river was still expected to peak at possibly its second-highest level on record, and flood preparations in the north-central United States follow major flooding on rivers in Illinois, Missouri, Indiana and Michigan caused by heavy rain, the AP said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Related:

• Full coverage from weather.com

This story was originally published on Thu Apr 25, 2013 5:39 AM EDT

Heavy river flooding in six Midwestern states that forced evacuations, shut down bridges, swamped homes and caused at least three deaths was at or near crest in some areas Sunday evening.

Rivers surged from the Quad Cities to St. Louis on Sunday. Hours earlier, National Guardsmen, volunteers, homeowners and jail inmates pitched in with sandbagging to hold back floodwaters that closed roads in Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan. 

Forecasters warned that "more rain was expected in the affected areas Tuesday into Wednesday," according to weather.com.

Record flooding swelled in Grand Rapids, Mich., with a crest of over 22 feet expected late Sunday into Monday. The water is expected to peak sometime Monday. 

The basements of some homes in the town of Comstock Park, Mich., were already full of water even before the surge Sunday morning, and the new swell forced some residents to leave their houses by boat.

“I’m surrounded by water all the way around my house,” resident Gary Smith told Grand Rapids NBC station WOOD-TV. “When I step out, I have a porch and then I have one step that’s still visible, and then I step down into at least three feet of water, four feet of water.”

Significant flooding is possible in places like Ste. Genevieve, Mo., Cape Girardeau, Mo., and Cairo, Ill., later this week, The Associated Press reported. 

The Chicago area, which was hit by widespread flooding over the weekend, was dry for much of the period. But more rain may be on the way on Tuesday and Wednesday as a developing cold front could bring as much as an inch of precipitation to the region, forecasters said.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn declared a state of emergency as record flooding occurred at a dozen river gauges across the state over the weekend.

All hands pitched in as the hard-hit town of Clarksville, Mo., worked to keep back the waters of the Mississippi River from the historic downtown area.

The river was at 34.7 feet on Sunday afternoon, over 10 feet above the 25-foot flood stage – and was expected to rise another foot before cresting Monday, according to the AP.

Jeff Roberson / AP

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, right, walks away from floodwaters after meeting with members of the Missouri National Guard as they make flood preparations Saturday in Clarksville, Mo.

“This is frustrating for people,” Trish Connelly, 57, told the Associated Press. “This isn’t as bad as 2008, but thank God it stopped raining.”

Hundreds were evacuated from towns in Indiana as the Wabash River rose by 14 feet on Saturday. Authorities in the town of Montezuma, Ind. called in volunteer firefighters to help fill sandbags as waters looked to crest at twice the normal flood stage.

“Right now we are just trying to help people,” town council President Allen Cobb told WTWO. “We’re just trying to keep people calm at this point, let them know the facts as we know them and put down some of the rumors they’re hearing.”

Indiana resident Robert Morgan, 64, of Arcadia, died Friday night after his car was caught by floodwaters and swept 100 yards downstream in Hamilton County, according to a statement from the local sheriff’s office.

The body of another driver and Arcadia resident, 42-year-old David A. Baker, was recovered on Sunday, according to the sheriff’s office. Police responded after receiving a distress call from Baker’s cell phone in the early hours of Saturday, and later recovered his vehicle and dog. Baker’s body was recovered on Sunday morning.

A third confirmed flood-related death occurred in Missouri, according to weather.com.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Related:

• Full coverage from weather.com

This story was originally published on Sun Apr 21, 2013 9:47 AM EDT

Max Ortiz / The Detroit News via AP

Bystanders react after shots were fired inside the at the Park Medical Centers building in Detroit and the structure was set ablaze on Tuesday.

DETROIT -- A man identified by employees as a former maintenance worker opened fire Tuesday inside a Detroit medical facility, sending workers and visitors screaming and rushing for the doors just moments before the building erupted in flames.

Crews digging through the gutted Park Medical Centers building hours after the fire recovered the remains of a man and a woman, Detroit police said Tuesday night in a release.

Authorities did not release the identities of the dead, pending autopsies, but police had been searching for 35-year-old medical assistant Sharita Williams and the fired maintenance worker, who relatives said was her ex-boyfriend.

Williams' mother, Antha Williams-Hill, told The Associated Press that one of her daughter's co-workers told her that the man threatened her daughter inside.

"He said, 'You think I'm playing with you?'" Williams-Hill said. "He told the other girl, 'I think you better get out of here.' The girl left and said she then heard two shots."

Last week, Sharita Williams was granted a personal protection order against the man, according to Wayne County Court records.

Dr. Stuart Kirschenbaum, a podiatrist who operated his private practice from the building for about 30 years, said he heard a security guard yell that the gunman "had taken Sharita and is shooting at other people in the building."

Destroyed in the blaze, Kirschenbaum said, was his collection of boxing gloves, personal letters and photos of boxing great Joe Louis. He estimated the memorabilia were worth about $100,000.

Dwane Blackmon, Detroit police homicide inspector, declined to identify the maintenance man as the suspect but said everyone else inside except the woman and male suspect appeared to have escaped the blaze.

Investigators were unable to quickly go deep into the one-story building, described by tenants as also having a basement, due to fears of the structure's integrity.

Williams-Hill said she was asked to go to the coroner's office to identify whether the deceased woman was her daughter "because of the condition of the body."

She said her daughter had been dating the married maintenance man for more than a year, but their relationship was rocky and Sharita eventually began seeing someone else and even moved out of the city and into a Detroit suburb to get away. However, he refused to leave her alone, Williams-Hill said.

This story was originally published on Wed Apr 10, 2013 3:54 AM EDT

The four-year-old boy of a sheriff’s deputy in northern Michigan accidentally shot and killed himself with a handgun at the family’s home over the weekend, state police said Monday.

Authorities believe Michael Easter was playing with the firearm when he shot himself one time on Saturday in Liberty Township, said First Lt. Michael Krumm of the state police. Police have sent evidence to a forensic lab for analysis but don’t think there was any criminal intent at play.

“At this point there is nothing that’s leading us to believe that this is anything more than a tragic accident,” Krumm said.

The handgun was believed to be registered to the boy’s father, Mark Easter, Krumm said, adding that he had yet to receive confirmation. But it was not Easter’s service weapon, he said.

Easter was on his way to work when his wife called and told him what happened, Jackson County Sheriff Steve Rand told mlive.com. The boy was pronounced dead at a local medical center.

“This just serves as a reminder that we need to be vigilant when it comes to keeping our children safe,” Rand said.

Cammy Rose, the cousin of Easter’s wife, told NBC affiliate wilx.com: “Mark's a good guy. I know this wasn't intentional."

"My heart is broken for my cousin," she said. "He was definitely taken from this world too early."

A week ago, a 4-year-old Houston boy fatally shot himself with his father's stolen handgun while his dad slept. 

A winter storm initially expected to produce blizzard-like conditions in parts of New England brought moderate snow and strong winds to the region on Sunday.

Forecasters had said up to a foot of snow would be possible in areas of New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts, but the storm was moving out of the region Sunday afternoon after less than half that amount had accumulated.

For southeastern New England, including Boston, the snow totaled 3 to 5 inches, Boston.com reported. The snow and ice in the city caused flights arriving to Logan International Airport to be delayed an average of 52 minutes. 

Meanwhile, arctic air and heavy winds meant below-freezing temperatures in New England and wind chills in the single digits across the whole eastern U.S. over the weekend, weather.com reported.

Janet S. Carter / The Free Press via AP

Snow flurries shroud Washington Street in Kinston, N.C., on Saturday.

“What will be noteworthy today are the winds which will be especially strong along the coast,” Meteorologist David Epstein said. “At times some coastal areas south of Boston could see wind gusts hit 50 miles per hour.”

The Weather Channel’s Dr. Greg Postel warned the strong winds could cause scattered power outages throughout the region.

The snow that was hitting the New England area came a day after the moving storm brought 2-3 inches of snow to the Carolinas.

Much of New England just finished digging out after a historic winter storm that dumped 30 inches of snow on parts of Massachusetts and even more in Connecticut.

NBC News' Alastair Jamieson contributed to this report.

This story was originally published on Sat Feb 16, 2013 6:25 PM EST

A podiatrist accused of secretly recording community college wrestlers in a men's locker room may have dozens of other victims, authorities say.

Ninos Jando, 34, from Skokie, Illinois, was arraigned Wednesday in Michigan on three counts of capturing or distributing an image of an unclothed person. Court documents list three male victims in the case.

But authorities say what Jando was doing in that Michigan locker room was not an isolated event. There are reportedly dozens of videos of naked young men that were shot in dozens of locker rooms over nearly a dozen years.

"These images could be worldwide and affect these innocent victims for the rest of their lives," said prosecutor Timothy Maat.

So far, none of the victims reviewed by authorities appear to be underage, but they said there is still a lot of material to go through.

More stories from NBCChicago.com

Inside the doctor's car following his arrest Tuesday, police said they found six toiletry bags, eight cameras, three cell phones, a computer hard drive, a laptop computer and membership cards under several different names that gave him access to a variety of health clubs.

Investigators said they hope a GPS unit found inside the car will provide information as to where else Jando has been.

Jando has been arrested an accused of similar crimes in the Chicago area. At a St. Charles Xsport Fitness Center in 2009, an undercover police officer thought Jando was acting suspiciously in the locker room. A search at that time by St. Charles police uncovered 21 videos spanning six years, officials said.

No one could be reached for comment at the Jando family home in Skokie Wednesday night. The doctor has a published office address at Mobile Doctors on North Elston Avenue, and records indicate he's on the staff at Norwegian American Hospital on North Francisco. He also has a current Illinois license to practice podiatry.

Jando was ordered held on $200,000 bond. If he bails out, the judge has forbid him from leaving Michigan's Muskegon County.