NBC Nightly News open - 1999-08-13

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:02] Trail of Terror, the LA shooter, his

[0:05] rampage, his escape, where he got the

[0:07] guns. Plus, back to school, the new

[0:10] reality for a town shaken by school

[0:12] violence.

[0:13] In depth tonight, the first big

[0:16] presidential test, but is it for real?

[0:18] Is Bush unstoppable? And what ever

[0:21] happened to Elizabeth Dole?

[0:23] An NBC News exclusive. The world's most

[0:26] wanted terrorist. Now, secret

[0:28] negotiations to bring him to trial

[0:31] and my conversation with Nancy Reagan.

[0:34] What's the one memory that pleases you

[0:36] most?

[0:37] >> That I married Ronnie.

[0:43] >> From NBC News World Headquarters in New

[0:46] York, this is NBC Nightly News with Tom

[0:49] Bro.

[0:52] >> Good evening. In this long year of

[0:54] shootings at schools and offices and

[0:56] cultural centers, we have learned how

[0:58] easy it is to slip through the network

[1:00] of laws and safeguards designed to

[1:02] protect society from gunshot violence.

[1:05] The case of Buford Furrow is the latest

[1:07] example. The man who confessed to the

[1:09] Los Angeles hate crimes was well known

[1:12] for his racist views and his violent

[1:14] tendencies.

[1:15] And yet, more tonight from NBC's George

[1:19] Lewis.

[1:21] A trail of targets. Buford Furrow marked

[1:23] up a map pinpointing Jewish institutions

[1:25] in the Los Angeles area. According to a

[1:27] prominent rabbi, circles pinpointing the

[1:30] Museum of Tolerance at the Simon

[1:32] Weisenthal Center, the University of

[1:34] Judaism, and one other location believed

[1:36] to be the Scurball Cultural Center. We

[1:38] were immediately informed and asked by

[1:42] the LAPD and the FBI not to reveal the

[1:46] fact that we had been a prime target

[1:52] for this attack.

[1:54] >> Another surprise development tonight.

[1:57] The weapon Furrow is charged with using

[1:59] in the murder of a postal worker

[2:01] originally belonged to a police

[2:02] department in Washington state. That's

[2:05] extremely upsetting to find out that

[2:06] this this gun may have been transferred

[2:09] somehow to an individual who certainly

[2:10] should not have had the weapon. How we

[2:12] could have stopped that. I wish I had an

[2:14] answer for how we could do it. I I don't

[2:15] know that we can.

[2:17] >> NBC News has learned the weapon, a Glock

[2:19] 26 handgun like this one, was deemed

[2:22] unfit for police work by the Cosmopoulos

[2:24] Police Department, sold in 1996 to the

[2:27] Denine Gun Shop in Aberdine, Washington.

[2:30] From there to two private owners and

[2:31] finally to another gun shop in

[2:33] Washington where it may have been sold

[2:35] to Furrow last year. The question

[2:38] tonight, did Furrow, who was on

[2:40] probation this year on an assault charge

[2:42] in Washington State, fall through cracks

[2:44] in that state's criminal justice system?

[2:47] Lawyer Brian Levan teaches a university

[2:49] course on hate crime.

[2:51] >> An extremist like Furrow would need very

[2:54] clear and detailed probationary

[2:57] supervision. This apparently wasn't done

[2:59] and that's very unfortunate when we look

[3:02] at what the outcome was.

[3:03] >> Furrow, who served jail time for pulling

[3:05] a knife on a staff member at this mental

[3:08] hospital last year, was let out on

[3:10] probation with this condition, that he

[3:12] was ineligible to possess a firearm

[3:14] until a court restored that right. The

[3:17] Washington State Department of

[3:18] Corrections requires probation officers

[3:21] to conduct surprise searches of

[3:22] probationers like Furrow. But in this

[3:24] case, the department admits ignoring

[3:26] that rule.

[3:29] As the investigation continues, one of

[3:31] the young victims of the Jewish

[3:32] Community Center shooting, 6-year-old

[3:34] Joshua Steppov, was released from the

[3:36] hospital this afternoon. His father

[3:38] saying there's no way to protect

[3:40] children from this sort of violence.

[3:42] George Lewis, NBC News, Los Angeles.

[3:45] They will take you down.

[3:46] >> And one community that knows too well

[3:48] the painful cost of guns and violence is

[3:50] Jonesboro, Arkansas, home of that school

[3:53] that became a killing field when two

[3:55] young students systematically opened

[3:57] fire on their classmates. Now, a new

[3:59] school term is about to begin and NBC's

[4:01] Frederria Woodfield joins us with the

[4:04] preparations. Frederria,

[4:06] >> good evening, Tom. When students begin

[4:08] classes here at Jonesboro,