Hundreds turn out to remember an el paso shooting victim who died with no family other than her heartbroken husband, a plea of social media leading people from far and wide to come together to honor her memory. All that, plus, dale jr. s miracle survival. There was fire all over the place. Newly released 911 call shows how close the nascar legend and his family came to losing their lives in that terrifying plane crash. A bolt of lightning strikes just next to a High School Guidance counselor in south carolina. And remembering hollywood royalty, fans everywhere honoring the life and career of easy rider star peter fonda, today august 17th, 2019. From nbc news this is today from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Good morning, and welcome to today. Thank you for joining us on this saturday morning. The loss of a hollywood legend part of hollywood royalty. Peter fonda, a lot of people thinking about him and that famous fonda family today. A major new twist in the investigation into the death of disgraced financier and accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein in a new york city jail. The medical examiner has ruled it a suicide, but epsteins lawyers say theyre not satisfied. Nbcs kathy park is here with the latest. This determination reaffirms what many Law Enforcement officials believe happened inside the jail cell last saturday, but epsteins lawyers arent convinced saying their client should have been protected and they now intend to conduct an independent investigation. This morning another twist in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. Autopsy results officially ruling his death a suicide by hanging disproving conspiracy theories suggesting he may have been killed along with his secrets. Multiple sources familiar with the case say the 66yearold inmate hanged himself with a bed sheet, but epsteins attorneys writing late friday it is indisputable that the authorities violated their own protocols. We are not satisfied with the conclusions of the medical examiner. Epstein was found unresponsive in a federal jail a week ago awaiting trial on sex trafficking and conspiracy charges. The federal prison system became the target of Harsh Criticism from lawmakers who questioned how a high profile inmate could take his own life when guards should have been checking every half an hour. Two sources familiar with the case telling nbc news that investigators are now comparing log books and Surveillance Video to see if there were any gaps and if guards fell asleep when they should have been watching epstein. Authorities also want to know why epstein was taken off suicide watch after he was found injured with marks on his neck last month. The mystery deepening over epsteins inner circle, Ghislaine Maxwell accused of recruiting underaged girls for his sex trafficking operation. Maxwell has never been charged and denies ever being an enabler. The fallout over the ongoing scandal isnt over. So then if their lawyers arent satisfied or if epsteins lawyers arent satisfied, what are their options . What are they doing next . They believe that protocol was broken in the jail, so they want to get ahold of any footage that might exist around epsteins jail cell and theyre prepared to take legal action if necessary. This morning customs and Border Patrol officials are trying to figure out what went wrong last night when a computer outage shut down the customs system nationwide, meaning travelers coming in from overseas they just couldnt enter the u. S. For hours. Nbcs blayne alexander is at l. A. X. , Los Angeles International airport of course with more. Good morning. Reporter good morning to you. Imagine getting off of a Long International flight and then having to stand and wait atti s at customs for two hours or more. Thankfully this morning, systems are back up and running, but it happened at one of the worst possible times, a busy friday afternoon during the summer rush. It was enough to bring busy Summer Travel to a stressful slowdown. It was very slow, very unorganized, and very disappointing. Reporter a massive nationwide outage of the u. S. Customs and Border ProtectionComputer System left flyers frustrated from coast to coast. This is crazy. Reporter at washingtons Dulles Airport in customs long lines everywhere, from one passenger at chicagos ohare airport, still waiting in immigratioline. I can see maybe a thousand others. It was the same story in dallas, new york, and philadelphia where some passengers waited nearly two hours. In a statement, ours. In a statement, cuss thomas and Border Protection calls it a Technology Disruption at various airports of entry. The outage itself resolved in lease than three hours. Affecting only Inbound International travelers. As for what caused the temporary shutdown, customs is ruling out one cause, tweeting, there is no indication that the disruption was malicious in nature. And again, if youre heading out to the airport this morning, fortunately, most are tweeting that it is business as usual. We took a look at the flight aware misery map, which is thankfully looking pretty clear this morning. Misery map, not so miserable. At least for the moment. Blaine alexander, thank you very much. This morning, residents in Portland Oregon are bracing for the possibility of violent conflicts as a number of right wing activists are looking to take action in the famously liberal system. Steve has more. Reporter this is deja vu, here we go again, with the city of portland, bracing for another series of violent conflicts between left and right wing extremists. In a few hours, this hour, portlands water front, set to transform, with hundreds, if not thousands of protesters will descend here for a socalled end of domestic terrorism event. Which is really just a whowho of these right wing groups scheduled to come here to protest progress ive issues. When youre coming to a city like this, with a message like that, it is clear that part of the objective is to stoke a fight with these left wing antifascists. So the rose city antifa says they plan to be here as well in a large counter protest. The third faction in all of this, city officials nearly every member of the thousand Member Police force is scheduled to be also out in force in some way, ready to use force, if necessary. The last time Something Like this happened, was just in late june, when a reporter was reportedly beaten by members of antifa. Before that, in early may, several members of right wing groups were served warrants, stemming from a street brawl incident. One of them, joey gibson, the leader of a prominent right wing group, Police Obviously hoping that serves as a deterrent here. But already, we are seeing groups like the volatile proud boys, scheduled to come here as well, gearing up for what is yet to be another Inflection Point of the series of volatile ideological battles, playing out in the streets of portland. We of course will be here for it all guys. Back to you. Steevl patterson, thank you. We turn to el paso right now, and a overwhelming turnout at a memorial for one of the victims of the walmart shooting. With no family in the area, a grieving husband worried that no one would attend his wifes services. Instead, hundreds showed up, from all over to pay their respects. Nbc was there. Reporter they came across el paso, a line of strangers stretching for blocks, people hoping to hug a man named antonio. We love you, tony. We love you tony. Who lost his wife margie in the walmart massacre and wanting to tell them, he wasnt alone. We love you, antonio. Love you, too. For two weeks now, he has spent every morning at a makeshift memorial by a cross bearing margies name. Sometimes staying late into the night. After 22 years together, margie was the only family he had nearby. And when it came time to plan her funeral, he was scared no one would show up. The funeral director Harrison Johnson posted this on facebook, inviting everyone. He represents what this community is all about, and thats about caring for one another. Did you know him . No, i didnt. I didnt. Just you coming together as a community . Exactly, yes. And the city of el paso responded with overwhelming love. Services moved to a larger space to accommodate everyone. This will be the last funeral for the 22nd victim of the el paso tragedy that rocked this community to its core. Its very emotional. Because this is, to see all of us here and supporting him. Those gathering here to grieve with antonio, now promise to remember margie, his family, loved as one of their own. For today, nbc news, el paso. Turning now to politic, and President Trump taking another shot at one of his favorite targets, congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, the president bashing her on twitter for announcing she will not go to the west bank to visit her grandmother even after israel gave her the okay to do it. Mike is near the president s new jersey estate, mike, good morning. Reporter good morning to you sheinelle. On again and now off again. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib wont be visiting her grandmother or anyone else in israel or the occupied west bank prompting President Trump to spend part of last evening taunting her about the controversy. After the congresswoman Rashida Tlaib rejected israels office to let her visit her grandmother in the occupied west bank, President Trump took to twitter late friday, suggesting tlaib was only out to make israel look bad. Her mission was quickly granted whereupon tlaib be a noxiously turned the approval down. A complete setup. The only real winner here is tlaibs grandmother. She doesnt have to see her now. After she was first barred, tlaib appealed to the israeli government, citing her grandmothers age, 90, and suggesting that there may not be many more chances to see her. The israelis relented. But their offer came with strings attached. While there, tlaib, talib a critic of israels treatment. After initially agreeing talib decided it wasnt worth it stands against everything i believe in nbc news con greenland. Thgres massive resource rich isu is home to a u. S. Militaryt buy. And 56,000 citizens greenland. Its home to a military base and 56,000 citizens living in a part of denmark whose Prime Minister mocked the idea calling it an april fools joke. It feels as if hes per p petizi petizing it doesnt feel like he understands like the reality and its stupid. Reporter peter, chanel, the president convened a meeting of policy players yesterday in new jersey, the subject afghanistan and peace talks with the taliban to end involvement in the longest war in history. Thanks for that report. President is wrapping up his working vacation there, hes also facing a host of issues when he gets back to washington from americas relationship with israel to fears of a Global Economic slowdown. Lets bring in phillip rut ker. Good morning. Lets start with israel and back and forth and netanyahu and not letting talib in the country. What is he trying to accomplish here a couple things chanel. Hes trying to lack out at political foes and congresswomen criticizing trump for months now and trump is trying to get back at them but elevate them as the 2020 election gets going to make them the face of the Democratic Party and say they are anti israel, therefore the Democratic Party is anti israel he doesnt have a lot of basis for that in linking them to the party but thats the attempt, the political move. When he brought up the democratic lawmaker, he changed the conversation focused on the economy. The dow losing 800 points at one point. The economy is the president s key message. Thats the key item to sell as he tries to seek reelection here how concerned is he about the warning signs a recession could be on the horizon . Quite concerned, peter. My reporting is the president is alarmed and rattled by the Economic Indicators because he knows without a strong robust roaring economy, hell have a hard time winning reelection so hes trying to do what he can to keep the economy steady, to keep things growing but there are increasing warning signs, yellow flags if you will that a recession may becomine coming soon. What ardent that he may be buying greenland. It kind of came out of nowhere, the president has been talking about this for weeks, interested in buying greenland because of the Natural Resources there. Greenland says theyre not for sale. I dont think thats going to quiet the president and our reporting shows hes going to continue to express some interest in this. Well have to follow that one, phil rucker as always, thank you. Now to the passing of a hollywood icon, actor peter fonda died friday at the age of 79 after a short battle with lung cancer. While he came from hollywood royalty, the son of henry fonda, the brother of jane fonda, he made an indelible mark on the big screen starring in one of the most memorable movies of all time. Get your motor running, head out on the highway peter fonda was the voice of his generation back in the 60s, a Counter Culture hero with his motorcycle, leather jacket, and flag stitched on his back. Fonda was best known for the 1969 iconic film easy rider a film he cowrote starring alongside Dennis Hopper and jack nicholson, earning him fame and Academy Award nomination for best original screen play. He was the son of legendary actor henry fonda, younger brother of jane fonda and father of bridget fonda. In 2003, he earned a star on the hollywood walk of fame where a wreath lie in his honor this morning. Fonda passed away peacefully at his home in los angeles from respiratory failure due to lung cancer. He was 79. Sister jane fonda remembering him fondly. I have had beautiful alone time with him these last days, she wrote. He went out laughing. The family writing in a statement, while we mourn the loss of this sweet and gracious man, we also wish for all to secelebrate his love of life asking that we raise a glass in his honor to freedom. Easy rider is credited with ushering in a new era for hollywood. It became the fourth highest grossing movie in 1969 and was added to the library of Congress National film register. It was his generations captain america. Dylans here with a check of the weather. A little video that shows you need to be careful in a thunderstorm. This video is wild. Check out this man who is walking in south carolina, a bolt of lightning struck right in front of him. I mean, he is just so lucky it didnt come just a couple of inches closer and it just goes to show you how dangerous it is to be outside during a thunderstorm, especially when theres nothing else around and you are then the tallest object in that open space, so just something to keep in mind. Always stay indoors during a thunderstorm and wait for it to pass. We do have more thunderstorm activity along the coast of south carolina, North Carolina also the coast of georgia and down through florida, too. Heavy rain has been falling for days in florida. Weve seen three to four, five, six inches of rain, some areas reporting eight inches of rain and we have the possibility of more flooding rain through the day today and into tomorrow, too, where we could see another three to four inches. Another area where were dealing with the potential for some flash flooding is back to the midwest, northern missouri and parts of west central illinois. We have heavy rain moving through right now. Weve had some severe storms and we could still see more storms fire up this afternoon. In fact, we could see large hail, damaging wind, isolated tornados in this general area. Especially farther north as we go into this afternoon and the overnight hours especially, through southern south dakota and also parts of southwestern minnesota, so watch out for some severe storms there and also the potential for some flash flooding with an additional one to two inches of rain with some isolated higher amounts. Youre going to notice significant cooling today. As you wake up this morning weve got the fog rolling in through San Francisco, and the temperatures right now in those 50s. 56 in fremont. The temperature change so far is most noticeable in inland areas including livermore, 5 degrees cooler. San jose, 10 degrees cooler. Still kpegtexpected to be warm, triple digits today. Thats your latest forecast. Thank you very much. Coming up, jayz, teams up with the nfl, a surprising turn, after he criticized the league for its handling of the colin were back on the saturday morning with the weekly download, a look back at the week that was. Frightening shootouts with police on both coasts. A Dramatic Police shootout, a gunman shot six officers in philadelphia, wednesday, while they were attempting to serve a warrant. The suspect barricading himself inside a home and spraying officers with bullets. We need s. W. A. T. Asap. Long guns, asap. S. W. A. T. Teams storm a house after a standoff that lasted into the night. They arrested the suspect. All six officers have been released from the hospital. In california, another shootout with police. A traffic stop during rush hour turned deadly. When Authorities Say the driver pulled out a rifle, and opened fire. In the chaos, two officers were wounded, another critically shot, and later died. That officer, identified as california highway patrolman andre moy. A miracle over moscow, a passenger plane had just taken off in russia where a flock of birds crippled both engines forcing the pi