0 news. the dow surges to a record high, but washington may bring it crashing down. and then the man responsible for 12 murders. you know he heard voices, thought he was being followed, reportedly suffered from ptsd but he still got security checks. was it an oversensitivity to mental issues that did that? plus his mother today spoke out for the first time. you're going to hear what she had to say. police find two cars in a muddy lake with bodies inside, a lot of bodies inside. and these cars, you won't believe it. have they just solved a 40-year-old mystery? let's go outfront. good evening, everyone. i'm erin burnett. outfront tonight we begin with the breaking news. a record high stock surge today. the dow jumping 147 points. now, the dow and the s&p closed at new highs. you know, i just think this is so significant. nearly five years to the day after the financial crash and crisis when this country is still facing an unemployment crisis, a major milestone and a good one for the markets. well, the reason for the record, the fed announced it would not stop the flow of easy money, and it is that easy money that's been keeping interest rates at rock bottom levels for the past five years. so what does it mean? brent wilsey is outfront. brent, it's great to talk to you again. i know you know this better than anyone. first of all, do you believe in this rally? would you actually buy into it? >> erin, i've got to say i'm happy about the rally, but we've got to be cautious here. when i look at things right now, we have to realize we're at lofty levels, and today just gave us another push above that. if you ask if i believe in the rally, i'm about 30% or so in cash, not because i'm trying to time the market, but because i started selling companies because they hit their target sale prices and i can't find anything to buy to replace those companies. erin, you've known me for a long time. i'm usually optimistic. i'm not so optimistic this time. i'm a little cautious. >> you're cautious about buying in. what about the fed? the reason this happened today is everybody thought the fed was going to say, look, enough. we're not going to give you this criskrispy kreme doughnut every single day. we're going to pull back, we're putting you on a diet. but then when the fed said, no, we're going to let those doughnuts keep flowing, people thought markets would surge, interest rates will stay low. does this mean that people shouldn't worry about rising rates? shouldn't worry, for example, about things like trying to refinance a mortgage or buy some sort of a big ticket item now because interest rates are sure to go higher and quickly? >> i would say that they have a little bit of reprieve here, not to worry for a little bit longer but maybe a couple more months. they said today they're going to watch it and so forth. there's no set date. but what this should do is keep rates low. the auto sales are on fire. autos, i talked to a guy today and he goes i couldn't resist buying a car because my payments are so low. the housing market is continuing to do well. we've got good things but it's not going last too long. eventually we'll take away those doughnuts and people will have to go back on that diet. take advantage of that now because it's not going to last that long. >> i like calling a ford pickup truck a doughnut, it sort of is in a lot of ways, good to talk to you again, sir. our second story outfront, we have breaking news also in the investigation of the washington navy yard shooting today. it's a horrific scene inside building 197. according to our barbara starr just reporting in the past few minutes, we can tell you what it looks like in that building. at this moment officials are telling barbara there's still blood everywhere, extensive damage, bullet holes and broken windows. it could be several weeks before that build is even able to reopen. there are also more stunning details tonight on how a local navy base failed to report disturbing behavior by the gunma gunman, aaron alexis, just weeks before he shot and killed 12 people. reports that could have saved those lives. jim sciutto is outfront with the latest. >> reporter: what we learned is when alexis with the rhode island police with this disturbing story of being followed, of being controlled with a microwave machine, of hearing voices, that while the rhode island police reported that to the rhode island naval station, that account went no further than there. it did not come to the navy here in washington, so still very serious questions as to how this was allowed to happen and at the same time still this overriding question as to why this happened. why did he do this. with aaron alexis' motive still unclear, two mysterious clues. newly discovered etchings on the shotgun he used. better off this way and my elf weapon. information investigators are still deciphering. today secretary hagel and chairman of the joint chiefs dempsey detailed measures to prevent this from happening again. two department-wide reviews of security at military installations and the granting and renewal of security clearances. >> well, obviously there were a lot of red flags, as you noted. why they didn't get picked up, why they didn't get incorporated into the clearance process, what he was doing. those are all legitimate questions that we're going to be dealing with. how do we fix it? >> for aaron alexis, the list of missed red flags is alarmingly long. from two arrests to reports to police that he was hearing voices, to two recent self admissions to veterans affairs hospitals for insomnia. despite this report his security clearance granted in 2008 was valid for ten years without review. >> where there are gaps, we will close them. where there are inadequacies, we will address them. and where there are failures, we will correct them. >> reporter: one change the defense department is not considering so far is making mental health counseling an automatic disqualifier on security clearance applications, in large part to avoid stigmatizing posttraumatic stress disorder. >> i still remain in that camp, that a man or woman should have the ability with treatment to overcome them and then to have a fruitful life and gain employment, including inside of the military. >> reporter: today as co-workers were allowed back into the scene of monday's horrific shooting, aaron alexis' mother spoke publicly for the first time about her son. >> i don't know why he did what he did, and i'll never be able to ask him why. aaron is now in a place where he can no longer do harm to anyone, and for that i am glad. to the families of the victims, i am so, so very sorry that this has happened. my heart is broken. >> obviously that coming from the mother. i know, jim, sort of capturing everybody to imagine what she's thinking and to imagine how the families may respond to that. i know that you're also learning something very important tonight about this whole question of not just about security access but whether anything could have been done to make this less horrific than it was. there are reports capitol police responded to the scene but were called back. obviously if true, could be crucial. what do you know? >> reporter: no question this was particularly a capitol hill tactical team, so kind of like a s.w.a.t. team trained specifically to respond to these kinds of events, attempting to come here to the navy yard as the shots were still being fired, called back by a commander. now, this may have been protective at the time, they didn't know if there were other shooters and they were called back because there were other units responding here. still we learned today that the capitol police are launching an investigation to see why that happened and also could that team have prevented some of the violence that took place here, erin. >> jim, thank you very much. we appreciate that reporting. still outfront, the gop. does the gop have plans to be, quote, cakamikazes and shut dow the government over obama care? we'll ask a member of congress who has taken a major stand on this issue. an issue which could cause this country to completely shut down at the end of next week. and then a 14-year-old kidnapped from her home. people feared the worst. but today she was rescued and we now know what happened. plus as colorado battles rising waters, stranded victims are getting help from canines. dogs at work. we'll show you that part of the story. and then the centennial state. it's not the only place underwater. nascar is about excitement. but tracking all the action and hearing everything from our marketing partners, the media and millions of fans on social media can be a challenge. that's why we partnered with hp to build the new nascar fan and media engagement center. hp's technology helps us turn millions of tweets, posts and stories into real-time business insights that help nascar win with our fans. 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