Him hostage. Shes begging them not to hold her son accountable for u. S. Government actions against isis. And the national lead, a terrible accident or terrible negligence . A 9yearold girl will have to grow up knowing she killed a man after an uzi was put in her after an uzi was put in her hands. Captions by vitac www. Vitac. Com good afternoon, everyone. Isis has beheaded one american and disgustingly shown it on tape. Theyre believed to be holding at least three other americans hostage. Theyve sucked still other americans into their web of sick and twisted ideology. Theyve been called, quote, beyond anything weve seen before by the defense secretary chuck hagel and now a u. S. Official has said that president obama okayed surveillance flights to gather intelligence on isis in syria, but as our pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr reports, u. S. Airstrikes on isis targets in syria as weve seen in iraq, they are not a sure thing. Desperate iraqis again on the run from isis. This time minority turkmen in Northern Iraq under siege for weeks. People desperate for food, water and above all, safety. The u. S. Military is prepared to potentially expand operations to air drop humanitarian supplies and bomb isis positions to help break its grip here if president obama orders it. Across the border in syria, no decision yet by the white house on whether to begin air strikes against isis strong holds inside syria. I would not at this point set up a timeframe for a president ial decision. Reporter president obamas critics, as expected, impatient. Can i just say that with the secretary of defense and the chairman of joint chiefs talk about how this is a huge threat this is and the biggest weve ever seen, et cetera and then and theres nothing to follow that up because theres no strategy. For now, pentagon drones continue flying inside iraq looking into syria for possible future targets including isis con voice, weapons, personnel, anything that could be hit to stop the momentum as a Capable Military force. Its Critical Military intelligence needed first before the president is expected to make a decision about ordering air strikes. And if we could locate insurgent trucks, humvees, armored vehicles, tanks, mort mortars, artillery, air vibing would be most effective eliminating those pieces of the isis arse fall. The reality of the air strikes also settling in. Its not a panacea to destroying the group because it will simply melt into the areas it already controls and then comes the much more difficult problem of how to root them out. Reporter Defense Department officials are making the case that air strikes can only do so much. Generally, they can break the momentum of an enemy force, but they cannot stop it. Jake . Barbara starr at the pentagon. Thank you so much. A followup to the story we told you yesterday about the american jihady fighting for isis, Douglas Macarthur mccain. We are being told it was not just one american killed in syria whale fighting for isis. It was two. According to a group battling isis, that coalition has not named this supposed second american or offered any evidence of its claims, but it did release photos of that first american, Douglas Macarthur mccain, the california man who has become a part of this disturbing phenomenon of americans joining terrorist groups that want to kill americans. Lets bring in justice correspondent pamela brown. What are you learning about mccains life before he became radicalized . Well, jake, weve been speaking to Law Enforcement officials and authorities became aware of Douglas Mccain back in the early 2000s because he was associated with someone who authorities were interested in at that time, but we learned back then that the authorities telling us that there was nothing linking mccain to anything me fairius and we also learned, jake, that it wasnt until after mccain traveled to turkey that he was put on authorities radar most recently just in the past few months. It was just months ago that Douglas Macarthur mccain began to attract the attention of u. S. Intelligence. U. S. Law enforcement tells cnn the government was investigating his overseas connection to the brutal isis terror group, but the extent of his radical side was not evident to his american family. The 33yearold american told them just last week that he was in turkey. Last time i communicated with him was on facebook last friday. On a picture i posted and he commented about my boys growing up. Within days of his facebook post, mccain was killed in a battle between rival extremist groups near aleppo, syria. After his death a rival Opposition Group released photos of mccains body and his u. S. Passport seen here. This is so outlandish. Thats not who he was. For him to be in syria fighting for a terrorist group. That doesnt make sense. Mccain converted from christianity to islam a decade ago. Sources tell cnn it appears he radicalized gradually. His religion was very important to him, but those people the isis people, they dont they dont represent what my cousins beliefs are or were. His family tells cnn they werent alarmed by his conversion, but his recent posts on social media caught their attention. On a twitter account reported to be mccains he wrote on june 9th. I will be joining you guys soon. Im with the brothers now. On june 26th he retweeted this post which says it takes a warrior to understand a warrior. Pray for isis. Its not clear if mccain was in syria when he tweeted. Mccain grew up near minneapolis and later moved to san diego where he attended college. Between 2000 and 2008 he was arrested six times all for minor offenses. Mccains radicalization and death in syria stunned loved ones back home. Thats what hurts the most is he was a good person. Reporter and jake, we learned that after officials learned of his travel to turkey that he was put on a list of americans believed to have joined militant groups and therefore if he had tried to travel back to the u. S. He would have been subject to additional scrutiny and also, jake, in speaking to Law Enforcement officials we learned that mccain had been associated with a number of todays over the past few years, one of whom he knew from minnesota who was killed back in time apparently by committing jihad. Pamela brown, thank you so much. Lets join to rear admiral john kirby. Good to see you as always. Thank you. This Coalition Group of Opposition Groups fighting isis now claims that douglas was one of two americans that that group killed in syria. Do we have any information about the supposed second american . Any con pirmatifirmation that i . No. No con pirmation here at the the pentagon. The American People know that the American Government and the nsa conducts so much surveillance and so much study and research and intrusion into our emails and our phone calls and our travel and other personal information. I guess a lot of people knowing about this nsa story are confused as to why so many of these individuals like Douglas Macarthur mccain, like the jihady from florida who did a suicide bombing in syria earlier this year, why theyre able to slip through the cracks. Do we even have a number of americans that we know who have joined these terrorist groups . I dont know that we have a precise number, jake. I certainly have seen a number of upward of a hundred and certainly we believe several dozens are involved in this kind of activity and prankly, there could be more. These kinds of people with these kinds of intention, theyre not going to make them well known and they could be pretty good at hiding them. It is the foreign fighter threat that concerns us here in the pentagon and when we talk about the immediacy of the threat that isil poses this is one of the factors that were talking about, and its not just the United States government. We were inoff the raustralia ane concerned about people going over there and fighting for these guys and potentially coming back to their homeland to conduct attacks. Is there a process in place that these individuals would be stopped before they got on an airplane before they got to the United States. Thats a Law Enforcement issue, and im not qualified to talk about that. I know Law Enforcement agencies are taking this very seriously and the attorney general is talking about this, and i know theyre working hard on exactly that issue. Theres been criticism that theres not a strategy to defeat isis. The will daily beast reports that president obama has said he wants a plan by the end of this week, a plan finalized to attack isis in syria. Is that correct . Is the pentagon drafting a plan right now to give to president obama by the end of the week . Were a planning organization, jake. You know that. Our job is to be ready for all options and to execute all orders of the commander in chief and without getting into specifics and certainly timelines and details, i can tell you were putting a lot of time and energy in the pentagon and Central Command. Is there a strategy to go after isis . Were executing a strategy and you dont have to look at anything more than the press releases out of Central Command to see the strikes were conducting, doing them every day and we did conduct humanitarian mission on mount sinjar. More importantly, we are there in support of the Iraqi Security forces and weve upped our naval presence in the gulf and we intensified the number of surveillance flights in iraq and weve been engaged for quite some time and the engagement will continue. Whats the engagement in iraq, what about in syria . Im not going to get into decisions the president hasnt made and as secretary dempsey said and secretary hagel said we have to take a regional approach on this, and we have to look at the sanctuary they have in syria and we have to consider the free reign they have over a nonexistent border right now, but just as importantly as what they said, no military solution will be enough and you have to look at the whole situation, politically, economically, diplomatically. This is a group thats trying to create funding streams and revenue. Theyre trying to grab ground and hold it. They want infrastructure. This had is not just a normal terrorist group. One of the things thats important is Good Governance and one of the things zee we have ty to get issa eliminating and to exacerbate the tensions in the reg sxon that comes from Good Governance. Thats a healthy thing. The assad regime is doing nothing, but causing deprivations on their own people and allowing groups like isil to persist on their territory. So what is the political solution . A year ago you guys were drafting a plan to bomb assads forces and now youre talking about drafting up plans to bomb forces fighting assad. How can there possibly be a political solution in syria . There could be a political solution in syria when the assad regime steps down and you have a government in syria thats representative of all syrians and can respond to the needs of the People Living there. We are seeing a similar approach in iraq with the unity government being formed. Its important to have partners in the region and partners you can rely on, and not just willing partners, but partners you can rely on. Thank you very much. We appreciate it. Coming up, they killed one american journalist and said her son will be next and now a mother is making a direct appeal to isis to let him go. And shes just 9 years old and someone thought it would be a good idea to let her shoot an uzi. A tragedy on an arizona gun range. [ male announcer ] its one of the most Amazing Things we build and it doesnt even fly. We build it in classrooms and exhibit halls, mentoring tomorrows innovators. We build it raising roofs, preserving habitats and serving americas veterans. Every day, thousands of boeing volunteers help make their communities the best they can be. Building Something Better for all of us. [ dog barks ] [ male announcer ] imagine the cars we drive. Being able to see so clearly. To respond so intelligently and so quickly, they can help protect us from a world of unseen danger. Its the stuff of science fiction. Minus the fiction. And it is mercedesbenz. Today. See your authorized dealer for exceptional offers through mercedesbenz Financial Services. See your authorized dealer for exceptional offers when folks think about wthey think salmon and energy. But the energy bp produces up here creates Something Else as well jobs all over america. Engineering and innovation jobs. Advanced Safety Systems technology. Shipping and manufacturing. Across the United States, bp supports more than a quarter million jobs. When we set up operation in one part of the country, people in other parts go to work. Thats not a coincidence. Its one more part of our commitment to america. Welcome back on the lead. Im jake tapper. Continuing in world news, it is a mothers painful plea for mercy from what until now has proven to be a merciless terror group, isis. I ask you to please release my child. As a mother, i ask your justice to be merciful and not punish my son for matters he has no con roll over. Steven sotloff is the american journalist who appears at the end of that horrific video that isis released of the heads of another journalist they had taken hostage, james foley. Sotloff went missing last summer after entering to Northern Syria from turkey after reporting on the violent civil war. The family ried to keep his abduction quiet in hopes that that would keep him alive and now that the world has seen images of him in the hands of isis. Sotloffs mother is asking abu bakr al baghdadi, the leader of the ruthless terrorist group himself to spare her son. If you can imagine the kind of pain the sotloffs are going through or the hell that steven himself is likely enduring in captivity except my next guest, is an exception. David rode was kidnapped by the taliban and held prisoner for seven months before escaping. There are other americans being held by isis. Were not going to release their names because we hope that that will help secure their safety a little bit more. The new york times, for instance, tried to keep your capture quiet. Is it it a mistake, do you think, for sotloffs morgue to be putting this plea out well or is the genie out of the bottle after he appeared out there. I applaud her to somehow communicate with his captors and maybe save his life. Ive been home for five years and ive talked to different families, and not the sof layoffs, but the foleys and others and there is a community and they try to each other and they figure outdo you stay quiet . Do you go public some in the foley case and prior to Steven Sotloff appearing in this video, the isis captors were telling the foleys and sotloffs to not go public that if they did go public about the kidnap they would kill both of these captives, so again, i feel so badly for her and these families in these situations. Its impossible for me to even try to understand what shes going through. What do you see behind this lastditch effort as we describe it that has a chance of winning . Is it possible that somebody like al baghdadi who, by all accounts, appears to be a monster that he might be subject to the whims of some sort of public pressure . No. I think for these kidnappers its really its great street cred, if you will, to have an american hostage and so having this video released, having him addressed as the khalif, the head of this Islamic State that they declared is a good thing for him publicly to boost his standing among other jihad is and the wording was very intelligent and its exactly the right thing to do. I have no idea if it will work and its a credit that shes made this effort. Its interesting, the idea that giving him deference might work. Peter curtis is a writer that spent merely two years as a h t hostage to militants in syria. He got to go back home. What is he going through right now . You have actually been there. Hes e lated and wondering why me . Why did i survive . I still dont on know why i was lucky enough to escape with the help of this one afghan journalist and the broader point i want to make, jake, is there is a roll problem. The United States is not paying rans ransom. There was a french, danish and they were ransomed by their governments and theyre home and safe and james foley is safe and who knows what will happen to steven. This international approach is not working and there needs to be a unified approach and its spreading. A colleague of mine wrote about a new japanese captive, a mentally disturbed man who was homeless at some point and went on sort of an independent, humanitarian mission to syria. He has now been taken captive by militants there. James foleys brothers that the u. S. Government did not do enough to save him. Is he right . Well, its a difficult situation. The only way you can save an american hostage now is that is to, you know, to pay a very large ransom and the problem with these european payments there are millions of dollars is that they skew the market. The american policies that the government wont pay, but if a family or organization can pay a ransom the u. S. Government will turn away, but when millions upon millions are being paid by france and other countries it it puts the United States on an impossible situation. They should put pressureston the paymenters on there should be a unified approach. Its not going to be easy, but the captors are the killers and the actions of American Allies by ransoming these european hostages may have contributed to the death of james foley. I do recommend, if you havent read the book that david cowrote with his wife called a rope and a prayer, a kidnapping from two sides, i highly recommend it. Thank you very much. Thank you. From one pleading if are their sons return to another praying that they can can find their son alive. Aaron sofer disappeared while hiking in the jerusalem forest. Israeli police and volunteers. Hundreds of them have scoured the area, but the frantic searching has not turned up anything, only confusion and fading hope. I spoke with sofers brother joel yesterday and he said the police have no evidence about where aaron might be or whether he was even abducted. Sofers parents rushed from the new jersey home and they released this emotional plea for his safe return. I beg of you, beg you, please, has anyone seen the whereabouts of aaron, please call the police immediately. Because sofer is an american citizen, the u. S. State department is helping israeli authorities in the search. Coming up in the politics lead, hes in a heated battle to hang on to the senate seat hes held for decades so why with so much at stake is Mitch Mcconnell extending an olive branch to president obama . Plus a 9yearold girl accidentally kills her shooting instructor with an uzy and why its perfectly legal for kids to get their hands on highpowered weapons. Well, unlimited talk and text, and ten gigs of data for the five of you would be. Oneseventyfive a month. Good calculating kyle. Good job kyle. You just made partner. Our bestever pricing on mobile share value plans for business. Now with a 100 bill credit for every business line you add. For over 19 million people. [ alex ] transamerica helped provide a lifetime of retirement income. So i can focus on what matters most. [ female announcer ] everyone has a moment when tomorrow becomes real. Transamerica. [ female announcer ] everyone has a moment when tomorrow becomes real. What does it mean to have an unlimited Mileage Warranty on a certified preowned mercedesbenz . What does it mean to drive as far as you want. For up to three years. And be covered . It means your odometer. Is there to record. The memories. During the mercedesbenz certified preowned sales event now through september 2nd, youll get complimentary prepaid maintenance and may qualify for a twomonth payment credit. Only at your authorized mercedesbenz dealer. [music] jackies heart attack didnt come with a warning. Today her doctor has her on a bayer aspirin regimen to help reduce the risk of another one. If youve had a heart attack be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. Welcome back to the lead. Im jake tapper. The national lead. Gun rights advocates have long argued that the best way to keep kids safe around guns is to teach them to use guns. That came with consequences at an arizona gun rage are range. A 9yearold girl accidentally killed her instructor and no charges filed. How someone so young and not strong could be allowed how to use such a powerful weapon in the first place. Tom foreman. This is a different type of gun altogether. Most of the guns were talking about most of the time, around las vegas there are plenty of places that are called machine gun tourism which means for a p fee, you can fire all kinds of weapons and this is in the south side and that is where this young girl from new jersey was handed this gun. Give me one shot. All right at the bulletin burgers gun range. Instructor Charlie Vacca is leaning over the 9yearold girl telling her how to handle the uzi as she squeezes off a shot. Then moments later she pulls the trigger for a burst of fire and the 9 millimeter sub machine gun jumps toward vaccas head and he is mortally wounded. We dont know what happened. Our guys are trained to basically hover over people when theyre shooting. And if theyre shooting righthanded we have our right hand behind them and if theyre lefthanded the same thing. Reporter developed in the 1950s the uzi can fire ten rounds per second at close to 900 miles an hour and in the hand of a skilled marksman it can be highly effective and theyve long argued that guns in the hands of young people bring inher haddent risks. 28 states plus washington, d. C. , have laws to prosecute adults to allow children unsupervised access to guns, but they point out such laws dont apply to supervised use. This might not bea i law in the books, but where this is one of the situations where common sense should dictate the behaviors and it doesnt seem to make a lot of sense access to very powerful automatic weapons. . Still, its helped before. In 2008, an 8yearold boy at a gun show in massachusetts shot himself in the head with an uzi and the former police chief who organized that show could have gone to prison for 20 years, but he was acquitted and local Authorities Say so far in this latest incident charges will not be fired against anyone, calling the death the result of an industrial accident. There are still other investigations that have go on there by osha and other folks. Maybe should charges may come out of it. We reached out from the nra and we havent heard from them, jake. Had is one of the weird issues where it falls between the gun control debate and the question of adults and kids. What should kids have access to . Youre teaching a kid to drive a car, you dont start in a per ary. You start with something that has less horsepower to it. An uzi, that is a big gun and a very, very serious gun even in the world of guns. Tragic story. Thank you so much. Coming up, Mitch Mcconnell told republicans it was their sole mission to make president obama a oneterm president and theyre making news for saying that the commander in chief has his full support. What could make these two put their political differences aside . Thats coming up next. But your erectile dysfunction it could be a question of blood flow. Cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be Ready Anytime the moments right. You can be more confident in your ability to be ready. And the same cialis is the only daily ed tablet approved to treat ed and symptoms of bph like needing to go frequently or urgently. Tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medications, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sexual activity. Do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. Do not drink alcohol in excess with cialis. Side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. To avoid longterm injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than 4 hours. If you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision, or if you have any allergic reactions such as rash, hives, swelling of the lips, tongue or throat, or difficulty breathing or swallowing, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. Ask your doctor about cialis for daily use and a 30tablet free trial. Welcome back to the lead. Now its time for the politics lead in the middle of what might be the most bruising election battle of his three decades in office and likely the most expensive race in the history of the United States senate. Minority leader Mitch Mcconnell did something today that the senator from kentucky very rarely dares to do. He agreed with president obama. Dana bash just spoke exclusively with mcconnell who remained quick to have the president s Foreign Policy and he is in agreement with the way the white house is handling the threat of isis now and he would support for strikes inside their safe haven of syria if president obama obama asks for it first from congress. You are here in a tough place. A lot of your colleagues are, as well. Is there any trepidation about having a politically explosive debate on authorizing use of force right before an election. Look, i think the security of the nation comes first. I believe and others believe that isis can hit us here at home, and that really trumps all other considerations and im anxious to hear what the president has in mind and i think hes very likely to get support. Dana bash joins us live from louisville, kentucky, and i am joined by Jonathan Martin whose new piece is called, quote, Mitch Mcconnell is headed down the trech. The democrat Allison Grimes has been keeping obama at arms length. Do you think theres any rick for mcconnell some. Well, its certainly not a risk when it comes to obama because, i mean, you cannot stand with him for more than five seconds and here he and not hear him criticize the proz everything else. I mean, everything else, and ive been with him now for two days here in kentucky. I think ironically, the bigger risk is the supporting or at least, tentative supporting of military action and of a congressional authorization to do that because he is in such a tight race here and this is a warweary country, and i was with him with a speech, and he seemed to almost be preparing the voters here for it. I get that weve had two prolonged wars. It hasnt been easy, but sometimes especially when the threat is as big as i think it is here we might have to act and i think that maybe is a bigger threat to him than saying at least on this small thing that he supports the president rid n right now. Whats your take, john . You were with Mitch Mcconnell. I dont think isis is a Political Risk in kentucky especially after what happened to mr. Foley, the journalist. So, look, its not a safe place for him to be, but hell change the topic back pretty fast to National Security to what he wants it on which is trying to link his opponent to president obama. Thats his whole campaign, jake, traying to make the election about obama rather than himself. And rather than about Allison Grimes, the democratic opponent. Dane arc the democrats hyperventilating over the audio obtained by the nation magazine its mcconnell saying the Republican Party will be attaching riders on spending bills to force the president s hand on everything from obamacare to funding for the epa. He made the comments two months ago to a group of donors includinging the infamous coke brothers. Take a listen. The infamous cok brothers. Take a listen. The record ring apparently made with the two tin cans and a piece of string. His op on bonent, Allison Grimes reacted in an exclusive interview with you. What did she have to say . She was very eager to jump on this. Listen to what she said and well talk about it on the other side. I think Mitch Mcconnell got caught in his 47 mitt romney moment. I think it shows the extent and the lengths he will go to to pander to his party, millionaires and billionaires at the expense of hurting kentuckyans. I dont think its a 47 moment, right . Because he made very similar comments to politico on the record. Well, theres that, but i think if you sort of take it back a couple of steps and look at the context of this, jake, you know that democrats have been sort of, you know, foaming at the mouth when it comes to the coke brothers because they have polling across the board in all of these races that shows that they do well when they make it about republicans being in the pocket of millionaires and billionaires. That wasnt an accident that combriem grimes used those words and its us against them and thats why you see the coke brothers on so many ads in campaigns and also why you see democrats trying to use this as a narrative. However, you are absolutely right that Mitch Mcconnell has said a lot of this publicly and almost all of this public and i asked him about that today and heres what he said. I didnt say anything if the private meeting and i havent side publicly. He basically said give me a break and the other things he said was in this secret audio was that he doesnt support the minimum wage increase, that he doesnt support the democrats on student loans. That he doesnt support Unemployment Insurance extensions and thats all stuff that he supported publicly or voted on or against. The concept of democrats having this and having the ability to hang it on him as a coke brothers moment is something thats not great for mcconnell, but it might not have the legs and certainly doesnt have the impact that the 47 moment. I agree with you. Democrats do point out that the one thing he didnt say to politico, jonathan, that he did say in his private meeting was attaching riders on Financial Services and that feeds into how much is any republican in their pocket of wall street. One thing, the Rodney Dangerfield moment, he keeps on saying every time he sees you that he is 8 and 0 and has never lost an election. He feels like he hasnt been given enough credit. You think of Mitch Mcconnell and you think of a lot of things and its sort of needy and looking for a validation. At age 72 to 30 years in the sen is thea not part of it. Part of it it is shtick and he likes to cultivate this outsider image even though hes at the pinnacle of washington power, hes fighting the liberal elite. So its partly that, but i think there is something authentic there. He really does care about history. Hes immersed in it. He deeply cares about his place in the States History and the countrys history, and i believe he does not believe hes been afforded the respect he deserve over the long political career because people dont like the way he runs the campaigns and the way he conducts his polit s politics. When alexander told me this had, hes won because hes run campaigns. Hes not wrun positive, happy camp qaas. Hes won ugly. Hes won, but it hasnt been pretty. And i think seven of the eight people he defeated have never run for office again. Jonathan, and dana thank you so much. Their job is to serve and protect so why isnt anyone tracking the number of playoffs killed in the line of duty my next guest has that. Well get the latest on hurricane marie. Big day . Ah, the usual. Moved some new cars. Hauled a bunch of steel. Kept the supermarket shelves stocked. Made sure everyone got their latest gadgets. Whats up for the next shift . Ah, nothing much. Just keeping the lights on. laugh nice. Doing the big things that move an economy. See you tomorrow, mac. See you tomorrow, sam. Just another day at norfolk southern. Today, more and more people with type 2 diabetes are learning about longacting levemir®, an injectable insulin that can give you blood sugar control for up to 24 hours. And levemir® helps lower your a1c. Levemir® is now available in flextouch® the only prefilled insulin pen with no pushbutton extension. Levemir® lasts 42 days without refrigeration. Thats 50 longer than lantus®, which lasts 28 days. Today, im asking about levemir® flextouch. female announcer levemir® is a longacting insulin, used to control high blood sugar in adults and children with diabetes and is not recommended to treat diabetic ketoacidosis. Do not use levemir® if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. The most common side effect is low blood sugar, which may cause symptoms such as sweating, shakiness, confusion, and headache. Severe low blood sugar can be serious and lifethreatening. Ask your doctor about alcohol use, operating machinery, or driving. Other possible side effects include injection site reactions. Tell your doctor about all medicines you take and all of your medical conditions. Check your blood sugar levels. Your insulin dose should not be changed without asking your doctor. Get medical help right away if you have trouble breathing, swelling of your face, tongue or throat, sweating, extreme drowsiness, dizziness, or confusion. male announcer todays the day to ask your doctor about levemir® flextouch. Covered by nearly all Health Insurance and medicare plans. Welcome back to the lead. Im jake tapper. The circumstances surrounding the shooting death of Michael Brown shot and killed by a Police Officer sparked a National Conversation about issues of Police Brutality and excessive force. Brown is one of several hig highprofile Police Killings john crawford, the ohio man killed while holding a bb gun and Darren Taylor shot outside a 7eleven while Police Responded to reports of a man carrying a gun. For anyone inspired by these cases to seek out information on just how often Police Killings happen, there is a good chance you discovered the same thing we did the numbers are not out well and its not because were searching the wrong search engine. There is though database that tracks Police Killings unlike what exists for Police Officers killed in the line of duty which we reported on last week. One journalist has dieded to take matters into his own hands. Hes compiling his own database of officerinvolved killings on a website called fatal encounters. Brian burkhart is the editor of the reno news and review who came up with this website. What made you decide to start tracking Police Killings . Well, i discovered there was no database. There was a lease killing in reno, nevada, and i tried to look and see how frequently that happened, and it wasnt available. So it it seemed insane that this kind of data is not available to the american public, so i decided i was going to make it. While putting this database together over the last pew years, what have you deseriscov about the prevalence of Police Killings. I discovered that the numbers provided by the fiber less than half what the real numbers are. Forring, they generally claim that the numbers 400 people a year killed by police and according to well, several sources, killed by police on facebook in the last 365 days its 1,080. You say that the fact that this database does not exist, you dont think its an accident or oversight. You think its by design. Explain what you mean. Well, there is a law there was a law passed on 1994 requiring the Justice Department to keep this data and the fact that theyve been ignoring that law for 20 years suggests to me that they dont want to do it. Its clear evidence. Because they do, in fact, of course, keep a database on how many Police Officers are killed in the line of duty. We reported on that last week, but you cant get the other figures. You just mentioned a facebook group. You have been relying heavily on crowd source information. Are you concerned about how reliable that is . Oh, absolutely. Since most of the crowd sourced information comes from journalists, its not perfectly accurate. What i started with, the original intent on this was to do public records requests of all 17,985 state and local Law Enforcement agencies, but that with roadblocks that was taking a very long time, so i did manage to foil all of the state and local in nevada, but now its growing and actually we may be able to go to primary documents for many cases. Ultimate ultimately, what d will come out of the work youre doing . Ultimately, i want the u. S. Department of justice to collect this information in the uniform crime report the same place where they keep the Police Killings, the police who are killed by criminals. Right. In 2013 that number was 27. 27 Police Killed in the line of duty. Brian burkhart, thank you very much for your time. We really appreciate it. My pleasure. Thanks for having me. Coming up on the lead. We have a live look on how nature has set the stage for a dream come true off the california coast. Thats coming up. For over 19 million people. [ mom ] with life insurance, were not just insuring our lives. Were helping protect his. [ female announcer ] everyone has a moment when tomorrow becomes real. Transamerica. Transform tomorrow. Transamerica. Thats why i always choose the fastest intern. R slow. The fastest printer. The fastest lunch. Turkey club. The fastest pencil sharpener. The fastest elevator. The fastest speed dial. The Fastest Office plant. So why wouldnt i choose the fastest wifi . I would. Switch to comcast Business Internet and get the fastest wifi included. Comcast business. Built for business. Welcome back to the lead and other national news. You can hang ten with the best of them and youve conquered your fair share of humpbacks, you are salivating at the gnarly action going down off the california coast. Hurricane marie is kicking off giant waves in the Pacific Ocean and its got surfers flocking to places like malibu beach in droves, but as far out as it it all looks, a wipeout in these waters could be potentially deadly and cnns akiko fujita is live. What size waves are we talking about . Reporter were talking 10 to 15foot waves and thats about double any im worried the waves will splash on to the rock. Nature putting on a show for all of the surfers here at surf riders beach. Its the biggest waves to hit the coast in decades and it is drawing quite the crowd, just take a look. You can see all of the waves crashing in and the surfers out here are really taking advantage of this. You can imagine these waves are heaven for these avid surfers in cal will cal. These waters have been absolutely packed all day. Among them, big wave surfer blair hamilton. We had a chance to catch up with him earlier today, and he called this a surfers dream. Were just thankful that we get to ride these waves and everybody just needs to be heads up right now. This is not a game. This is some serious stuff and, you know, somebody passed away last night down here and some people have been hurt and its something that you just have to have your respect for the ocean. Reporter now that fatality that laird is referring to, officials out here say they found a surfer who was unconscious last night in malibu. They dont know if this is directly related to this or whether that surfer had a medical condition, but lifeguards stress conditions are dangerous for inexperienced surfers here. Theyve carried out more than a hundred rescues in the last 24 hours and theyre saying its not just the innimagnitude of t surge, but the consistency at which its coming. At malibu pier, theyve had to close down the pier because theyve lost six pilons. Surfers coming out here all day and theyll stick around for the next few days as well, jake . Very quickly, akiko is there a concern about flooding . Reporter well is. Were talking about 10, 15foot waves and down south were looking at 25foot waves and weve seen the homes flood near the seal beach area in Orange County and this the surge is expected to last for the next few days. So theyll be keeping a close eye on that. Akiko fujita thank you so much. Check out the page on cnn. Com the the lead for video blogs and extras. That is it for the lead. I am jake tapper and i turn you over to wolf blitzer in the situation room. Wolf . Thanks very much, jake. Happening now, syria air strikes. U. S. Drones already scouting targets as president obama weighs his options for expanding the attacks on isis. Jihadists on the border and it spills over into israeliheld territory as Al Qaeda Allies seize a key crossing point. And a mothers plea. After the brutal murder of one american, the mother of another american hostage begs isis to release her son. Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room. Captions by vitac www. Vitac. Com we are tracking major developm t