NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas - Nightly News Full Broadcast (April 6th)

Episode Date: April 6, 2024

Miami-area shooting leaves 9 shot with 2 dead; Towns along solar eclipse path brace for millions of tourists; Aftershocks felt on East Coast as concerns mount over NYC’s structural readiness for earthquakes; and more on tonight’s broadcast.  

This is NBC Nightly News with Jose Diaz-Balart. Good evening. It was a terrifying scene at a Miami area nightclub. An altercation led to gunfire, which then turned into a full-on shootout with police. Innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire. When the bullets stopped, two people were dead, seven were injured. Victims treated on the sidewalk outside the club. Others rushed to the hospital, including one police officer. There are now two investigations, a homicide investigation into the shooting that started it all,

and an investigation into the officer-involved shooting. Marisa Parra starts us off from Doral, just outside Miami. I want to warn you, some of the images in this story are disturbing. Deadly chaos at 3.30 in the morning inside a Miami area nightclub, spilling onto the streets. Nine people shot inside, two of them killed, including the bar security guard. You start start getting shots and it wasn't one, it was one after another, after another, after another. Peter Jordan was among those enjoying Doral's Martini Bar, known for its nightlife and one of the few places in the area open till 4 a.m. But this, just 30 minutes before closing. Police say it started with an altercation.

The security guard that was working intervened, and that's when the subject produced a firearm and shot and killed the security guard. Authorities say two Doral police officers then jumped in, exchanging gunfire with the shooter, killing him. One of those officers also catching a bullet in his lower extremity. One of the officers, the one who was struck with four years of service, applied a tourniquet on himself immediately after being struck. Six bystanders, five men and a woman, according to police, were shot in the crossfire. You start thinking right after, right? When you're on the floor, you start thinking,

is this going to be the end? I'm going to die here. Victims appearing to be treated outside captured on this graphic video. The injured rushed to area hospitals, one of them in critical condition. You think that it's never going to happen to you in a night where you're having fun, right? You're two feet away. I could be there right now. Marisa Parra joins me now from near the scene of the shooting of the six bystanders shot. Marisa, do we know if any were hit by a gunfire from the police? Jose, it's an important question that many people are asking, and police are saying they don't yet

have the answer. And to find out will require a forensic investigation, which authorities say will take time. Jose. Marisa Parra, I'm Doral. Thank you. And now to the Mad Dash to go see Monday's total eclipse. Millions are packing into towns and cities in its path, braving traffic, crowded airports and paying out of this world prices to see it all unfold. Priscilla Thompson has this latest from Dallas along the path of totality. By air and on the roads, towns along the eclipse path are bracing for millions of tourists from around the world. I'm really excited. Excited. Yeah, it's a really rare opportunity. All for a chance to catch Monday's rare glimpse of the sun, moon and earth aligning, plunging parts of the U.S. along the path of totality into total darkness for minutes.

It's like Christmas time, so we're ready for it. We're ready for our passengers. A show of hands revealed almost every passenger on board this plane to Arkansas came for the eclipse. And how about this for a path of totality? This map showing Airbnb bookings almost totally sold out from Texas to New England. The same goes for car rentals. An Uber is reporting a nearly 300% increase in pre-booked rides on Monday. We expect a million or more people. That's going to mean a substantial increase in traffic volume.

Officials in Texas are pausing road construction and urging residents to avoid non-essential travel. Some counties in the state even declaring a state of emergency. We don't know what to expect. We've had Texas FEMA come and talk to us about filling up with gas, getting your bread, your milk, your eggs. Advice they're giving in case people get stuck in traffic like this from the last eclipse in 2017 when congestion in some areas lasted more than 10 hours a small price to pay some say for a once in a generation site that likely won't happen again in the u.s for another 20 years priscilla we know we shouldn't look directly at the eclipse without those cool glasses, but what about taking a picture of it?

Yeah, Jose, much like your eyes, pointing your camera lens directly at the sun on your phone can be dangerous. Experts recommend using a filter like a spare pair of eclipse glasses and placing them over the lens before snapping that perfect shot. Jose? Priscilla Thompson in Dallas, thank you. And let's turn right to meteorologist Bill Cairns. Bill, so much focus on the weather the next couple of days. It's all about the clouds, Jose. Millions want to get into the totality, the complete darkness on middle of the eclipse. Austin still looks very cloudy for a lot of Texas. Dallas, kind of a flip of a coin. At least you have a chance. Little Rock's seeing an improving

forecast for clearing skies. Looks great. Indianapolis, Cleveland, going to be cloudy all day and then clearing right as the eclipse is about to happen. So fingers crossed for you. Buffalo does not look great for western New York. In northern New England, get ready. All these small New England towns with clear skies, get ready for thousands of people heading your way Monday. Bill Cairns, thank you very much. And we will have complete coverage of Monday's total eclipse right here, starting at 2 p.m. Eastern, 11 a.m. Pacific on Monday. More aftershocks today following that historic earthquake that hit the Northeast yesterday.

It raises new questions about what would happen if it had been bigger. Are cities in the region ready? George Solis reports. Well, we just had another one. Tonight, more aftershocks from Friday's historic earthquake were raising new questions and seismic concerns. Maybe that was an aftershock. NBC 10 Philadelphia reporter Brian Sheehan was moments away from a live report when his team felt one.

Yeah, are you good? In New Jersey, this mom grabbing her daughter as they felt one too. Dozens of aftershocks reported since the rare 4.8 magnitude tremor that rattled New York City on this Earth cam shot, along with the rest of the East Coast. It sounded like an explosion. L.A. native Jared DeMell recorded the moments the quake hit near the epicenter in northern New Jersey. The last thing on my mind was earthquake.

All right, so let's go up and let's go see what we got over here. The NYPD quickly launching drones to inspect the city's iconic and older landmarks like the Brooklyn Bridge. We're looking for any anomalies, any structural deficiencies on our bridges. With as many as 29 aftershocks after the big quake, the question now are major east coast cities like Boston, Philadelphia and New York prepared for a big one? According to a city forecast, a big quake could cause injuries and billions in damage. Generally speaking, are the city's buildings designed to handle earthquakes? Generally speaking, yes. So from the 90s onward, all buildings were specifically designed for earthquakes. But the city's buildings have never been truly tested for quakes,

and some scientists say they may not be for some time after this one. Just about anywhere in the northeast could have an earthquake. If we were to see another 4.8 or larger, what could that signify? It absolutely depends on where it is. You put it in the middle of a Philadelphia, a New York or Boston, we're going to be seeing some level of damage.

And George, a lot of cities on the East Coast have a lot of older buildings. What would happen to them? Yeah, here in New York City, they estimate that some 200,000 buildings were built before those earthquake building rules went into effect and would be severely damaged in the event of a major quake. Jose? George Solis in New York, thank you. There has been a stunning break in diplomatic ties between Mexico and Ecuador.

That after Ecuadoran police broke into the Mexican embassy in Quito yesterday to arrest a former Ecuadorian official who had been seeking asylum there amid corruption charges. Leaders across the Americas have expressed outrage, and Mexico's president announcing he was cutting diplomatic relations with Ecuador. Still ahead tonight, airport safety concerns. Reports of hundreds of people slipping through parts of TSA checkpoints. Air travel has hit an all-time high, and now an alarming new report is raising concerns about safety after hundreds of people slipped past part of the TSA screening process.

Steve Patterson has details. It is the great inconvenient trade-off of air travel we all agree to. Good morning. Every year, roughly 850 million passengers wait through airport security. The TSA now reporting at least 300 instances of people attempting to bypass a part of airport security since March of last year. More than 200 of those were people trying to enter through the passenger exits. 80 people bypassed the TSA podium where IDs are being checked,

but completed the rest of the security screening process. The number of instances relatively small, but points to something more troubling. Is this a larger problem? Yes, and I believe it's a larger problem because it demonstrates a trend. Former TSA Deputy Administrator John Holinsky says more can be done to harden security exit points from physical barriers to more sophisticated AI cameras. Improvements the TSA says would require additional funding. When I saw the number of about 200 breaches of exit lanes, that's something that could be mitigated. It goes back to the equation, where is your

vulnerability in the airport? This has now become a vulnerability and you have to pay attention to it. And security breaches can mean massive upheaval, like in San Diego in summer of 2022, when hundreds of passengers had to wait to be rescreened after a man bypassed a baggage screen. The TSA says most of these recent lapses are not considered full security breaches and account for just one in 11 million passengers, most described as inadvertent and unintentional actions. 300 is a very small number. And the thing to keep in mind is that very few made it through to any place where they would likely have been potentially a threat. An ever-present struggle, keeping the skies safe, their security on the ground.

Steve Patterson, NBC News. And we're back in a moment with the new battle to save an American natural treasure. The clash over building a mine near the famed Okefenokee. And one of the nation's most important wildlife habitats could be at risk. Communities around Georgia's Okefenokee are locked in a battle over the environment versus the economy, and it could come to a head this week. NBC's Priya Shrether reports from this natural wonder. Nestled along the Florida-Georgia border is the 438,000-acre Okefenokee Swamp, the largest blackwater swamp in North America.

Here you can see alligators, bobcats, black bear, river otters, all kinds of wildlife that you wouldn't be able to see in such a concentrated form in other places. Michael Lust manages all of it for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. There's an American bitter. And he believes this national treasure is under threat. What we're putting at risk is something that cannot be replaced. Under threat from a proposed mine set to be built almost three miles from the swamp, the mine is looking to draw up to 1.4 million gallons of water per day from two surrounding wells. Critics argue that water is critical for the famed swamp.

It will affect the water levels in the swamp, could lead to increased drought, and that in turn could lead to increased wildfire. The Biden administration, a wide array of environmental groups and celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio are all speaking out against the mine. The swamp's wildlife, cypress forests and flooded prairies draw almost 400,000 visitors to the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge every year. Some locals fear that the proposed mine could hinder tourism and pose a risk to the swamp's fragile ecology. Charlene Carter runs a campground here. She thinks the mine nearby could hurt her business. They're coming here just for the wildlife refuge and if they

do this mining we're not going to have that. But others who live in the small town of 4,000 say the mine could bring much needed good paying jobs and investment to this region. We're an impoverished community. I think this would bring high-paying jobs with access to insurance, 401k, improve the standard of life of our citizens. Twin Pines Minerals, the Alabama company looking to build the mine, says mining won't affect the swamp, adding it will be conducted below the highest water levels of the Okefenokee. For the swamp to be drained, water would have to defy gravity and flow uphill. The Georgia Environmental Protection Division, which has final say, is so far siding with the mining company. They've already given it preliminary approval

and final approval could come as early as next week. Unless environmentalists can convince them the risk to this wildlife wonder isn't worth it. It's beautiful, it's big, it's wild. We're doing absolutely everything we can to protect and manage this beautiful place for the American people. Priya Shrether, NBC News, the Okefenokee Wildlife Refuge.

When we come back, there's good news tonight. The wedding surprise that turned a hospital stay into a memory of a lifetime. There's good news tonight. You know, so often the good news doesn't get as much attention as the bad. So every Saturday, we highlight the many people who spread joy and love. These are just some of the stories this week. They say there's no crying in baseball, but they threw out those rules at Texas A&M last week. You see that girl on the right?

That's freshman Jamison Harvey. She was working the Aggies game when all of a sudden... That's your dad, U.S. Army Major Rick Harvey, who's been deployed overseas for a year. It was a home run reunion they'll never forget. I'm Michael. Hola, Michael. And talk about heroes. That's California firefighter Michael McShane finally meeting a man whose life he helped save years ago

after a terrible accident. Of course. Of course. Thank you, Michael. Yes. Thank you, Michael. Yes. Thank you. The man returning to thank him. To know and be reaffirmed that there's something out there much bigger than us.

Oh, it's watching over us. And in Oklahoma. We're writing a check for $1,940 for school lunch debt. Sean Cummings is on a mission to wipe out the state's school lunch debt, raising money and giving out check after check after check, more than 30 in all since February. Sean honoring his beloved wife, Kathy, who recently passed. She was known for her commitment to community and service. Every time I show up to those schools and I'm walking out after we're finished,

I get hit with the slightest bit of grief and then a whole load of happiness. And this was a day of brand new beginnings for Jatanna and Middleson Silencio, but not one they ever expected. This surprise wedding was organized by staff at Advocate Lutheran General in Park Ridge, Illinois, after the one the couple planned got canceled. That's because Jatanna had a heart attack and an emergency C-section to save her baby Grayson's life. The couple telling me why they felt blessed that day. There was a moment that you were particularly moved when you saw just how much so many people had done for this moment. I don't have words to describe it. It was just so amazing. As soon as I came around the corner and I seen all of the people that helped save my life

and Grayson's life, my emotions just went through the roof. I started crying. With so much bad news that we're always seeing, it's kind of important to underline that there really are a lot of good people doing a lot of good things. Absolutely. Yes. You know, for us to put a little, you know, a little sparkle of hope onto, you know, someone that is having a bad day or going through something bad, that miracles do happen. That's NBC Night News for this Saturday. Hallie Jackson begins as the anchor of Nightly News Sunday tomorrow. Hallie is an extraordinary journalist and I can't think of anyone I'd rather share the weekend with. Please tune in. I'm Jose Diaz-Balart. Thank you for the privilege of your time and good night.