breaking news tonight. charges filed against the oklahoma police officer involved in a deadly shooting caught on camera. and tonight, charlotte, north carolina, under a state of emergency as violent protests erupt over a separate shooting there. hack attack. 500 million yahoo accounts impacted in the largest data plus, stolen e-mails rocking the white house. the first lady's own passport apparently leaked. terror tape. exclusive new video showing the suspect placing a bomb in new york, and what nbc news has learned about how much the government may have known about him before the attack. and the letter to the president from a 6-year-old, striking a chord across the country. "nightly news" begins right now.

new york, this is nbc nicely news with lester holt. good evening, i'm savannah guthrie, in for lester. as we come on the air tonight, significant developments in two cases of police shootings that have captured the nation's attention. in the city of charlotte, north carolina, tonight, a state of emergency in effect as the city braces for what could be a third night of violent protests after the shooting of an african american man er oklahoma, late word today that the police officer who shot and killed an unarmed african american driver last week, has been charged with first-degree manslaughter. in both cases, accounts of what happened conflict, emotions are raw, and long-simmering tensions between police and communities are in sharp focus. nbc's blake mccoy starting us off tonight with the criminal case launched today in tulsa. >> reporter: video from a police helicopter shows terence crutcher with his hands up just

tulsa police last friday. >> shots fired! >> reporter: tonight the officer who fired, betty shelby, is being charged. >> i determined that the filing of the felony crime of manslaughter in the first-degree against tulsa police officer betty shelby is warranted. >> reporter: an attorney for the officer said after the shooting officer shelby suspected crutcher to be high on pcp. she said he wouldn't follow commands and seemed to be reaching into the car. >> i've got hands. >> reporter: but the video seems to tell a different story. the lead investigator said a vial of pcp was found in the car, no gun was found. legal observers say charges against officers, especially this quickly, are unusual. >> we're seeing public pressure. we're seeing more attention. and in rare cases, we're seeing faster movement toward prosecuting officers. >> the first step in a long road to justice

today. >> reporter: tonight, crutcher's family is mourning the father of four, while arrangements are being made for the officer's surrender. and as we mentioned at the top, the city of charlotte is on edge as night falls guarding for a potential third night of protests over the police shooting there. the national guard was called in today as officials announced they would show video of the incident to the victim's family, but not to the public. nbc's gabe gutierrez >> reporter: tonight, no curfew, even after chaos struck the heart of north carolina's largest city. charlotte is shaken, but its mayor is defiant. >> today our city is open for business as usual. >> reporter: the attorney for the family of keith lamont scott, father of seven, say police showed them the dash cam and body camera video of scott's death late today. >> his wife saw him get shot and killed, and that's something that she will never, ever forget.

chief kerr putney defending his decision not to release that video publicly. >> if you think we should display a victim's worst day for public consumption, that is not the transparency i'm speaking of. >> reporter: police sources speaking to nbc affiliate wcnc confirmed this witness photo taken moments after the shooting shows a gun at scott's feet. the police chief says video of the incident does not definitively show scott pointing the gun at anyone. police union says he's seen one of the dash cam videos. >> it shows clearly what our police chief putney has said. mr. scott came out of the vehicle as ordered by officers, but he had the gun in his hand. >> reporter: some say he was unarmed, holding a book. that debate fueling what started as a peaceful protest on tuesday at marshall park. a group marching downtown into the

demonstrators reached the omni hotel. tear gas, gunfire, a protester down. >> i can't get in there right now. it's out of control. >> reporter: authorities say one demonstrator shot another. the wounded man rushed to the hospital, the governor declaring a state of emergency. the national guard streaming in. did the city wait too long? >> i'm never going to judge the people on the ground. >> reporter: and why the violence in charlotte, in a city often ranked as one of the best places to live in america? years and says charlotte is a tale of two cities. >> well, a typical large city is have and have notes. those who are economically prosperous in charlotte, and those who are still struggling to find their way. >> reporter: he says the wounds are still raw after the 2013 death of jonathan farrell, who was shot and killed by a police officer. tonight, a day after all these windows were shattered, authorities are hoping the

peace. savannah? >> gabe gutierrez in charlotte for us, thank you. alarming news tonight about what's being called the largest data breach in history. yahoo revealing that 500 million user accounts have been compromised by what it calls a state-sponsored cyber attack. nbc's joling kent shows us how to see if you're affected and the steps you should take to protect yourself. >> reporter: at least 500 millionah users hacked in a massive security breach. among the personal data compromise said, names, e-mail addresses, telephone numbers and dates of birth, along with encrypted and unencrypted security questions and answers. yahoo is notifying affected customers and recommends users change their passwords and security questions. >> the e-mail is the keys to the kingdom in

extraordinary steps to protect it. >> reporter: yahoo is working with law enforcement to determine if a foreign government was behind this hack. the company is in the process of being acquired by verizon and that deal is not done yet. verizon tells nbc news with within the last two days we were notified of yahoo's security incident. pon mon indicates twun 28 million americans have been >> i think in this day and age, anytime we're connected to the network, we are vulnerable. >> reporter: while yahoo says no payment card data or bank account information was taken, half a billion users learning yet again nothing is truly secure. jo ling kent, nbc news, new york. now to new details in the terror investigation after the series of bombings over the weekend. nbc news has obtained exclusive video that

explosive on the street in new york and what happens in the moments after. and tonight, investigators are focusing on what, if anything, his family knew. we get the latest now from nbc's miguel almaguer. >> reporter: police say this video shows ahmad rahami planting a second device in new york city. the pressure cooker bomb dropped on the street. dozens pass by, one man even kicks it. investigators now say thou rahami's fingerprints on the ied, along with the prints of others that are still unidentified. officials say it's unclear if those fingerprints belong to the men who picked up the luggage and walked away or someone else. >> looks like this was him. >> reporter: shot at least 11 times ahmad rahami is sedated in the hospital and won't be talking to the fbi anytime soon. but tonight investigators are getting more information from his bloody notebook.

inside suggests he may have wanted to go to syria and join foreign fighters. the fbi will likely have more questions for some of his siblings, who law enforcement sources say, posted pro jihad comments on social media. federal officials believe the glock 19 he used in the shoot-out with police was bought in virginia during a visit to see his younger brother. >> they knew something was going on, or they should have known something was going on and they should have >> reporter: rahami's wife escorted back to the u.s. by an air marshall, whisked off the plane by the fbi for questioning. she has not been named a suspect. rahami's entire family remains under the microscope, in a case that's still wide open. a key question for investigators tonight remains, where were those bombs assembled? not here at the family home, they believe. they say the man that can answer that question, won't be medically cleared to make a judge for quite

>> miguel almaguer, thank you. troubling questions being raised over whether warning signs were missed before last weekend's bombings. an nbc news investigation has revealed potential red flags going back several years. nbc's senior investigative correspondent cynthia mcfadden with what was uncovered. >> reporter: was there more than intelligence and law enforcement could have or should have done to stop ahmad rahami? at a hearing in front of the homeland intelligence for the nypd said the answer is no. >> based on what i've seen so far as part of the investigation, he was handled to the extent that the system, the law, and the guidelines that we operate under would allow them to. >> reporter: but a new timeline based on exclusive nbc news information shows many missed opportunities. rahami became a naturalized citizen in 2011. that same year, rahami visited an area of pakistan considered

activity. back in new jersey in 2012, a restraining order was taken out against him by a former girlfriend. the mother of one of his children. an order he violated. he returned to pakistan in april 2013 and stayed nearly a year. during that time, u.s. intelligence says he visited afghanistan and turkey and that he may have even gone to syria. upon returning to the u.s. in march 2014, immigration officials were wed targeting center, part of homeland security, about his suspicious travel. but five months later, he was charged in new jersey with stabbing his brother. he spent three days in jail and then walked away when his brother wouldn't press charges. even though a neighbor heard rahami's father call him a terrorist. something his father later told the fbi he didn't mean. when fbi agents attempted to interview

said he wouldn't talk to them, as was his constitutional right. so in 2014, the fbi closed the case, saying they had conducted internal database reviews, inter-agency checks, and multiple interviews, none of which revealed ties to terrorism. now, no one had eyes on rahami. >> there were missed opportunities and there were many factors starting to come out about travel abroad, about violent encounters with police. cynthia mcfadden, nbc news, new york perform. we move to politics now. donald trump voicing his support for stop and frisk which critics have called racial profiling. all this as the countdown to the first debate is on, just four days to go now. nbc's hallie jackson with more now. >> reporter: against

violence in charlotte, donald trump in pittsburgh calling for change. how can we lead when we can't even control our own cities? >> reporter: to do that, trump wants to go back to stop and frisk, for years, part of the policing in his hometown new york. >> they really straightened things out with stop and frisk. fairly recently they stopped it, but and frisk worked. >> reporter: it didn't. not just controversial, but not constitutional, according to a federal judge, who overturned the practice in new york, calling it indirect racial profiling. wildly disproportionate in its targeting of minority groups. >> if you're an african american man, or woman for that matter, and you hear that donald trump wants to reach out to the african american community, and then you see him say he supports stop and frisk, that's the kind of thing that runs black voters away from donald trump. >> reporter: trump's tough talk turning away the very voters he's trying to reach. his reversal on birtherism perhaps

>> president barack obama was born in the united states, period. >> reporter: but did he truly change his views, or did he just want to change the topic? >> well, i just want to get on, you know, i want to get on with the campaign. >> reporter: a campaign working to show its tolerant, quickly distancing itself from an ohio county chair widely panned for saying this. >> i don't think there was any racism until obama got elected. we never had problems >> reporter: that volunteer has apologized and stepped down, but she tells nbc news tonight, she stands by her comment about the president and didn't believe it was racist to begin with. savannah? >> hallie jackson on the trail in pennsylvania tonight, thank you. and a programming note, the first presidential debate moderated by our own lester holt will air monday, 9:00 eastern, 6:00 pacific. still ahead for us tonight, how did the first lady's passport

details on a serious security breach. also, the viral letter from a 6-year-old student to the president.

we're back now with what appears to be a serious breach of sensitive white house information. stolen e-mails from a white house advance team member, allegedly revealing travel schedules and personal data, including the

passport. as nbc's pete williams tells us now, there are suspicions that the trail leads back to russian hackers. >> reporter: to prepare michelle obama's visit to the middle east last year, a contract employee working for the white house got an image of her passport, including personal data, which we're obscuring and sent it on to his own non-secure dwmpt mail account. e-mails from his account have been posted on the website of a hacker group, called d.c. lea suspect is run by russian intelligence. in a not so subtle statement, the site says, if such sensitive information can be hacked, quote, we will see the fall of our country. the same site posted campaign related e-mails hacked from colin powell, part of a string of cyber attacks on political targets, u.s. officials say may be intended to influence voters. >> we're deeply concerned that the russians are mettling. from what we know of the russian system,

only come from the highest levels. >> reporter: the latest hacked material, a trip to cleveland in june by vice president biden. >> hey, guys. >> reporter: and an april event with michelle obama. inarily 13,000 e-mails hacked, exposing a white house travel manual on keeping things secure. >> they are characteristic of what you would expect a nation state to but as well as a number of criminal elements could clearly have those, as your friends in high school would have those skills. >> now the government is investigating how it happened and why so much information ended up on insecure account in the first place. and we're back in a moment with the wild police chase after a very unlikely

parts of the midwest are on alert tonight for possible flash floods. storms brought heavy rain and flooding today to the minneapolis area, three to five inches in some parts, with up to nine inches reported in one community. snowplows were deployed to help clear the water off the roadways. caught on camera, a rather unusual police chase in alaska. on the run, a black bear, roaming the streets of downtown anchorage. police fugitive on dash cam as he led them around for hours, even making a break for the local pizza hut. eventually the department of fish and game apprehended him and nobody got hurt. today is the first day of fall, which means time to start brain storming halloween costume ideas. this year the holiday is expected to be a record breaker. experts say halloween spending is expected to hit an all-time high with americans shelling out $8.4 billion. that would be an

here tonight, the 6-year-old who is now a viral sensation,

and finally tonight, a touching story about two little boys, one opened the world's eyes to the desperate situation in syria. the other wrote a letter that is going viral for the special request he made of the president. our harry smith now with the heart-warming connection between the two. >> reporter: it was this photo of 5-year-old om ran sitting in an ambulance in aleppo that made the world stop last month and think again about the war in syria. a worldy suburban new york, another little boy saw that picture and was moved. >> dear president obama, remember the boy who was picked up by the ambulance in syria? can you please go get him -- >> reporter: alex is 6. this is his letter. the video was produced by the white house. >> i will be waiting for you guys with flowers and balloons. my little sister will be collecting butterflies and fire

on to say he wants om ran to go to school and meet his friends. and -- >> since he won't bring toys and doesn't have them, kathryn will share her big blue and white striped bunny and i will share my bike. >> and i will teach him how to ride it. >> reporter: the president read the letter to u.n. leaders this week. he almost couldn't finish. >> reporter: om ran and his family remain in aleppo, waiting for peace. and alex i >> we can all play together and he will teach us another language. >> reporter: hope from a pure heart. harry smith, nbc news, new york. >> that's going to do it for us on a thursday night. i'm savannah guthrie in for lester. don't forget tomorrow morning we're on "today." from all of us nbc news, have a great

for the fourth straight night, protesters hit the streets of charlotte, ignoring mappedtory curfew. new video of the police shootings that sparked it all. a police officer has been degree manslaughter in tulsa. michelle obama's passport and other documents revealed by white house hackers. plus, last minute jabs before going head-to-head this monday. "early today" starts right now. good morning, i'm dara brown. >> i'm frances rivera. overnight protesters marched for a third straight evening.