NBC Nightly News open - 1999-08-11

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] eyes.com.

[0:05] >> Out of nowhere, a powerful and deadly

[0:07] tornado touches down in the heart of

[0:09] Salt Lake City. Surrender. The man

[0:12] accused of shooting children in

[0:13] California turns himself in. Who is he?

[0:16] His life of anger and hate.

[0:19] And they're at the brink. Tensions

[0:22] between the world's newest nuclear

[0:24] powers. More violence. New worries.

[0:30] From NBC News, this is NBC Nightly News

[0:34] with Tom Brokoff, reporting tonight from

[0:37] Los Angeles.

[0:40] Good evening. It's been a traumatic

[0:42] couple of days here in the American

[0:43] West. A terrible hate crime here in

[0:46] Southern California with the suspect now

[0:47] in custody. And in the heart of Salt

[0:50] Lake City today, a sudden and deadly

[0:52] tornado dropped out of the skies and

[0:54] tore up the city. It was midday in the

[0:57] Utah capital when the storm struck

[0:59] without warning. And tonight, Salt Lake

[1:01] City officials are still counting the

[1:02] victims and the damages. Here's NBC's

[1:05] Jim Cumins.

[1:08] With almost no warning, the twister

[1:10] strikes at the busiest time of day in

[1:12] downtown Salt Lake City, full of office

[1:14] workers and convention visitors. Jim

[1:16] Sadler is an exhibitor at the outdoor

[1:18] retailer convention. You just felt the

[1:20] wind connecting with the ground and then

[1:23] just immediately when it connected stuff

[1:24] started going back up again and you

[1:26] realized it was huge objects flying in

[1:28] the air.

[1:28] >> Within seconds the storm uproots trees,

[1:31] knocks over brick buildings, flips cars,

[1:33] shreds three large tents near the

[1:35] convention center, killing at least one

[1:37] person, injuring more than a hundred

[1:39] others, including this woman.

[1:40] >> The wind came up real fast and you don't

[1:44] expect tornadoes here. I just thought it

[1:46] was a real strong windstorm. And then at

[1:47] some point, you know, stuff was started

[1:50] flying around and I didn't have time to

[1:52] get inside. I kind of dove in the corner

[1:54] back here. I was out on the patio and

[1:57] the roof came down on me.

[1:58] >> I was right underneath it. Eh, it was

[2:00] like being hit by millions of

[2:02] firecrackers just exploding all over.

[2:05] Just uh scary.

[2:07] >> It's a funnel. Look at this.

[2:09] >> Tornadoes are rare at Salt Lake City,

[2:11] but many people had their home video

[2:13] cameras handy this time. But it's a

[2:15] tornado going right through Salt Lake.

[2:17] >> The last one was in 1968, and there

[2:19] hasn't been a tornado death here since

[2:21] they began keeping records. This time,

[2:23] construction worker Joe Salah says he

[2:25] narrowly escaped death

[2:28] [ __ ] rack.

[2:29] >> It hit all these u power lines right

[2:32] here. And where we're from right here,

[2:34] our building's over there. We're sand

[2:36] blasting and that that thing just came

[2:37] down. Local authorities declare this a

[2:39] mass casualty event and activate a

[2:41] triage plan to help sort out the victims

[2:44] downtown.

[2:45] >> We just held on to the cement pillars

[2:48] >> as hard as we could.

[2:49] >> This kind of weather front is unusual in

[2:51] Utah any time of the year. That's why

[2:53] there was little warning.

[2:54] >> There was a wind was kicking up and uh

[2:57] the doors actually flew open and at that

[2:59] point I was looking outside and people

[3:00] were kind of pointing up and I was like,

[3:02] "Well, hey, that's a tornado. Better get

[3:04] out of here." Unfortunately, there

[3:05] wasn't enough time for everybody to do

[3:08] that. Jim Cumins, NBC News, Dallas.

[3:13] Out of the shooting at the Jewish

[3:15] Community Center here in suburban Los

[3:17] Angeles, there's relief tonight that the

[3:19] suspect in the shooting has turned

[3:20] himself in, but now it appears that he

[3:23] may have killed someone else. And what

[3:25] he reportedly said at the time of his

[3:27] surrender is a chilling reminder of the

[3:31] cancer of hate. NBC's Dan Luthian has

[3:34] the latest tonight. Dan, what do you

[3:35] have for us?

[3:36] >> Well, Tom, it was a massive nationwide

[3:38] search launched yesterday. 250 federal

[3:41] and local law enforcement officers, but

[3:44] in the end, the suspect came to them.

[3:46] The manhunt ended 275 mi from Los

[3:49] Angeles here in Las Vegas. How did

[3:52] 37year-old Buford O'Neal Furrow escape

[3:54] the massive search? He hailed a cap