also this evening, the deadly shooting rampage in austin, texas. multiple locations. the rampage lasting eight hours. several dead tonight, and the wounded. matt rivers reporting from texas with late news on the suspect under arrest. slammed with a series of storms tonight, the u.s. coast guard rescuing families from their flooded homes by helicopter, amid raging floodwaters in the west. several states on alert with two more storms coming. and in the northeast, heavy rain and snow on the way. rob marciano is here. the israel-hamas war. tonight, the israelis say they have hamas' leader surrounded now in an underground bunker. and this evening here, the leaked audio revealing the anger in a meeting with benjamin netanyahu. families of the hostages furious. james longman in israel. back in the u.s., the justice department tonight charging four russian soldiers with war crimes, accused of torturing an american in ukraine near the start of the russian invasion. amid donald trump's threats of retribution on the campaign trail if he's elected president again, the former president is asked about the warnings from some that trump would act like a dictator. asked, would he promise americans he would never abuse his power for retribution, tonight, his answer. and the biden campaign now arguing, do not take this lightly. and will trump's republican opponents take this on when they debate? and tonight here, celebrating norman lear. ♪ guys like us we had it made ♪ ♪ those were the days ♪ >> the creative genius forever changing the face of american television. ♪ moving on up ♪ ♪ to the east side ♪ >> addressing the social and political issues of the time with humor. tonight, some of those famous scenes. and norman lear on who inspired the role of archie bunker. good evening and it's great to have you with us here on a wednesday night. we do begin tonight with the deadly shooting in las vegas on the campus of unlv. the urgent alerts sent to students, saying, this is not a test, urging students to run, hide, fight. at this hour, abc news has learned multiple victims are dead. the gunman is also dead after police engaged the suspect. the first calls at 11:45 a.m. local time there. law enforcement rushing to the scene. the shooter reported to be at the business school building and later at the student union nearby. officers from dozens of agencying wearing body armor. on the campus, the now familiar sight. students with hands in the air. students describing the fear, their calls to parents and family. many of these students were in final exams just before the holiday break, set to go home to be with their families. abc's will carr leading us off tonight. >> reporter: the deadly gunfire erupting just before noon. reports of an active shooter on the campus of the university of nevada-las vegas. >> rescue 18, be advised, shots fired in the area. >> reporter: a swarm of tactical officers racing to the student union and the business school. at least three people killed. school officials urging students to run, hide, fight. >> at the time, i was definitely terrified. scared for my life. >> reporter: just off campus, anxious parents waiting for word. >> they're hunkered down in a classroom in the dark and just waiting. my heart's breaking for those students who could be hurt. >> reporter: one witness telling us the gunfire was shaking the walls. students inside locking doors and taking cover, waiting for police. >> you're calling your family. you're texting your friends, like, "hey, i love you guys. i don't know what's happening, like, because he could burst through the door at any minute." >> we were evacuated by police holds guns, we all walked out with our arms up. when we were walking out, we saw one of the windows had been shot through. >> reporter: police rushing hundreds of students to safety, while urging those on campus to wait for an all-clear. joe moeller from our affiliate ktnv is on campus. >> we're hearing loudspeakers from the campus still. they're saying students need to stay in place. so, as far as we know, some students are still inside of their classrooms. >> reporter: the shooting leading to a ground stop at the nearby airport in las vegas. after nearly three hours of chaos, police announcing the suspect was deceased, killed by police. >> our officers are going unit by unit, building by building with the university police and the rest of the police officers, firefighters, ems, making sure we don't have any additional victims and/or subjects. >> reporter: david, tonight, authorities say the threat to the community is over, and now, the big question is why. the motive. both the atf and fbi are on the ground tonight. david? >> david: will carr tonight, thank you. now to texas, and the deadly shooting rampage there, lasting for hours. multiple locations leaving six people dead. multiple people injured at several sites in austin and in san antonio. the first reported incident at a high school in austin. a resource officer shot there. when it was over, six people were killed at three different locations, and tonight, police now confirming two of the dead are the suspect's parents. abc's matt rivers in san antonio tonight. >> reporter: tonight, new details in a violent shooting spree across two cities in south texas that left at least six dead and three injured, including two officers. police now say the suspect, 34-year-old shane james jr., first killed his parents, shane and filphyllis james, in their antonio home before 9:00 a.m. tuesday. >> so, the best that we can put together, possible time of death is sometime between 10:00 p.m. and 9:00 a.m. that next morning. >> reporter: james then driving more than an hour to as ton, opening fire on a school district officer in a campus parking lot before 11:00 a.m. that officer shot in the leg, surviving. about an hour later, officers racing to a home nearby after repeated calls of shots fired. finding a man and woman fatally wounded. around 5:00 p.m., a man riding a bike in the neighborhood also shot. his injury non-life-threatening. >> austral loop, complainants say subject kicked down the back door. >> reporter: then, two hours later, police responding to a home burglary less than two miles away. an officer then exchanging gunfire with the suspect. the officer shot multiple times, but surviving. inside that home, officers finding the bodies of two more people. >> be advised, they believe it's the same suspect who shot the asd officer earlier. all right >> reporter: the bodies of james' parents found later that evening in their home in san antonio. and david, authorities say that the suspect has a history of mental health issues and violence within his own family, but as to why he went on this alleged shooting spree, they say they're still investigating, but they do not yet know. david? >> david: all right, matt rivers in texas for us tonight. matt, thank you. now to the major storms in the northwest and the u.s. coast guard rescuing families from their flooded homes and cars by helicopter. tonight, two more storms, in fact, coming. many rivers at flood stage, in. authorities investigating the deaths of at least two people in the region now. the coast guard conducting those high water rescues. you can see the images here, lifting one person from the top of their flooded vehicle. abc's mola lenghi tonight from washington state. >> reporter: tonight, rivers raging across the pacific northwest, as relentless storms pound the region. nearly a foot of rain in less than 24 hours, and that's after a weekend deluge. and this is the result. acres and acres of flooded roads, bridges, yards, and homes. during the storm's peak, the coast guard using a chopper to rescue five people trapped by flood waters in wahkiakum county near the oregon border. hoisting them one-by-one to safety. officials investigating at least two deaths reported in the region so far. in snohomish county, curtis babb's home inundated with water. >> the sliding glass door on the side of my house, i could see the water pressing against the glass like was an aquarium, almost. >> reporter: families now cleaning up, with more storms on the way. well, david, that behind me is snow kqualmie falls. still raging as another storm moves in tonight, and even more behind that one, david. >> david: this is really something. they can't catch a break. mola lenghi in washington, thank you. let's get right to rob marciano, live in san jose, california, tonight, also feeling this, and rob, of course, there is still more coming. >> reporter: there are at least two more storms, david, in the pacific and that stalled front across washington and oregon, that's spread south here no the san francisco bay area and pushing up into the sierra. you see it here on the radar scope. there are the two other ones. storm number two, that's a cross-country trigger and it is cold core. it brings rain tomorrow, but also lowers the snow levels, so, that should help stabilize some of the river rises. snow will be heavy, though, through the cascades. one to two feet at mountain pass levels extending into utah, the colorado rockies, and severe storms in the south an saturday. the heavy rain pushing up through the ohio. rain across the appalachians on sunday. a very messy sunday into monday. david? >> david: rob marciano, thank you. we're going to turn now to the war between israel and hamas. tonight, the israeli military now saying they have surrounded the leader of hamas in gaza in an underground bunker. also this evening here, the leaked audio revealing the anger in a meeting with prime minister benjamin netanyahu. the families of hostages furious with him. james longman in israel again tonight. >> reporter: tonight, israel unleashing over 250 air strikes on targets in gaza. with troops surrounding the home of hamas' leader in gaza, yahya sinwar, who they say is hiding out in an underground headquarters. israeli forces have battled into the heart of khan younis, the biggest city in southern gaza, and where thousands have sought refuge from the north. the idf directing some to leave. others to stay. the leaflet that has been dropped in your neighborhood is telling you to stay where you are, it's not telling you to move? >> we don't want to move if we don't have to move, and i don't actually know how far i can trust the israeli army. >> reporter: meanwhile, some hostage families accuse benjamin netanyahu of inaction. leaked audio from a tense meeting provided to an israeli media outlet revealing their anger at the prime minister. one woman saying, quote, "all you're thinking about is collapsing hamas. give them back, whoever they want and bring everybody back." the hamas leader is israel's most wanted man. he could be somewhere near hanyu nice, but so are hundreds of thousands of civilians. david? >> david: james, thank you. tonight, as the war in ukraine rages on, the u.s. justice department now charging four russian soldiers with war crimes, accusing them of torturing an american during russia's invasion. they say the man was living in a small village with his ukrainian wife when u.s. officials say he was abducted by two russian officers and two lower-ranking troops, who brutalized the american over ten days. all of the accused are fugitives. the american has been evacuated from ukraine. we turn now to the race for president, and amid donald trump's threats of retribution while on the campaign trail, if he's elected president again, the former president was asked about the warnings from some that trump would act like a dictator if elected. asked, would he promise americans he would never abuse his power for retribution? tonight, his answer. the biden campaign arguing, do not take this answer lightly. and will trump's republican opponents address this in the debate? here's rachel scott. >> reporter: just hours after president biden said he's not sure he'd run again if donald trump wasn't in the race, that democracy itself is at stake, trump on fox news deflecting questions about whether he would rule like a dictator, and about this pledge he made to his supporters. >> those who have been wronged and betrayed, i am your retribution. i am your retribution. >> reporter: fox host sean hannity asking trump about concerns he would be a dictator. trump not rejecting that description. instead, turning the focus to immigration. >> under no circumstances, you are promising america tonight, you would never abuse power as retribution against anybody. >> except for day one. >> except for? >> look, he's going crazy, except for day one. >> meaning? >> i want to close the border and i want to drill, drill drill. >> that's not retribution. >> i'm going to be -- you know -- he keeps -- love this guy. he says you're not going to be a dictator, are you? i said, no, no, no. other than day one. >> reporter: the biden campaign seizing on those comments, saying that donald trump is going to behave and act like a dictator and he just confirmed that, challenging his republican rivals to address it on the debate stage tonight in alabama. >> david: rachel, thank you. don't here, we celebrate nor man hear, a creative genius who changed the face of american television. we learned hear has died at the age of 101. ♪ guys like us we had it made ♪ ♪ those were the days ♪ >> david: norman lear and the shows and characters he created revolutionized television. >> no, no. >> you could hit a nerve there and make somebody go cock-eyed. >> david: he used humor to tackle the political and social issues of the time. >> i suppose you're going to tell me that the black man has had the same opportunity as you. >> more. i didn't have no million people marching and protesting to get me my job. >> no, his uncle got it for him. drm there was "all in the family" and archie bunker, a big got, who was still beloved. set in his ways in a changing time. >> people have arrived, they're here. >> i ain't letting them in. >> david: archie bunker was based in part on norman's own father. >> is it really true that your dad came up with archie's signature line? >> what -- oh, meat head? you're a meat head. >> you are a meat head. >> what did you call me? >> a meat head. dead from the neck up. >> that's real life. >> well, yes, that's real life. >> and stifle is real life? >> stifle yourself! right into her face. >> stifle that, will you? >> and then i would -- >> will you stifle! >> david: the stories were bold and controversial and new to television. ♪ moving on up ♪ ♪ to the east side ♪ >> david: "the jeffersons." >> just because we are moving up is no reason why we have to look down on people. >> i'm not telling you to look down on nobody, i'm just saying to shift your angle and let them start looking up to you. >> david: their success story, and all that came with it. >> you live in this apartment, right? >> uh-huh. >> and you got an apartment in this building, too? >> yes, that's right. >> how come we overcame and nobody told me? >> david: before that, there was maude. >> there is no doubt who decided we should get married. my mother. >> david: and then "sanford and son," too. >> what do we pay that government for? >> what for? defense. >> we were robbed twice last year. where were the soldiers? >> come on, pop, your tax money also goes to poverty pockets. >> and it comes from poverty pockets. >> david: norman lear was born in new haven, connecticut, in 1922, to a salesman and a homemaker. and he would talk over the years about what inspired his scripts. >> the only thing i knew to write about was what i saw around me. there's nothing that was ever said on any of these shows that you might not hear on a playground. it's america. >> david: tonight, his family saying norman lear died peacefully overnight, surrounded by his family at his home in los angeles. the legendary and groundbreaking producer who at times had well more than 100 million americans watching his shows. >> what was it like to know that on almost any given night, someone was watching a show that you helped inspire? >> i remember flying over the country in the early years of all of that, at night, and looking down and thinking, wherever i see a light, it just might be possible that i helped to make somebody laugh. >> david: an extraordinary impact. when norman lear turned 100, he wrote in an essay for "the new york times" about the nation, he wrote, to be honest, i'm a bit worried that i may be in better shape than our democracy is. tonight, remembering norman lear. when we come back here, the news on rsv and flu in this country. what they're now seeing. and "time's" person of the year tonight. for chronic lymphocytic leukemia, calquence helps you do the fighting. and you can do the exploring. you can do the splashing... ...the sightseeing... ...and the playing. calquence is an oral targeted therapy for cll. more patients begin with calquence than any treatment of its kind, and calquence is proven to work better than chemoimmunotherapy in patients with previously untreated cll. calquence may cause serious side effects, which may lead to death. these include serious infections with fever, chills, or flu-like symptoms; and bleeding problems that may increase with blood thinners. decreased blood counts are common and can be severe. new cancers have happened, including skin cancers. heart rhythm problems with fast or irregular heartbeat, dizziness, feeling faint, chest discomfort, or shortness of breath, have happened. tell your doctor if you have bleeding, heart rhythm, or liver problems; infection, or if you are or plan to be pregnant or breastfeeding. calquence helps you do the fighting. and you can focus on the things you're loving. ask your doctor if calquence is right for you. announcer: try tide power pods with 85% more tide in every pod. who needs that much more tide? 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