a new york gas station in custody what police are saying. the severe storms in the south flood evacuations and rescues, and more dangerous heat. we're tracking it all. donald trump entering his second not guilty plea in 24 hours, this time to new charges in the classified documents case the dramatic video, a ukrainian sea drone striking a warship in the black sea. our richard engel is standing by. simone biles back in action for the first time since withdrawing from the tokyo olympics and do you have your tickets more than a billion dollars up for grabs tonight. >> announcer: this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt good evening, and welcome. we start tonight with breaking news. police in new york city restoring calm tonight after a riot broke out in manhattan's union square neighborhood. a crowd estimated at 2,000 people descended into the area after popular social media influencer kai cenat advertised a video game giveaway. the crowd appearing to be mostly young people turned restless and then unruly, surging into the streets, some throwing objects, others climbing onto vehicles, as well as the roof of a major subway hub all of it paralyzing travel at the height of the evening rush. police quickly moved in en masse working to regain control block by block ron allen is in downtown manhattan now with the very latest >> reporter: tonight, mayhem in manhattan where police say a least 2,000 people mobbing union square, getting on top of cabs and the entrance to a subway, jumping on food carts, pushing, shoving, and throwing objects as police eventually move in. >> it's a lot of people i went over there, and it's like, yikes, a crowd, but like i don't even know how to explain. >> were you scared >> i'm not going to lie. i was kind of panicking. >> reporter: the nypd says it began after a social media influencer event to give away playstations at 4:00 this afternoon. >> we just decided to come not knowing what to expect. >> reporter: by 3:30 hundreds of people had already gathered >> the crowd swarmed when the influencer finally arrived at the park individuals in the park began to commit acts of violence towards the police and the public >> everybody was throwing everything, climbing things. >> reporter: the nypd declaring a level 4 mobilization what appear to be hundreds of police officers quickly on the scene, at one point pulling someone out of the crowd what did you see >> we were there. we were chilling people started throwing stuff like glass, cans, everything, and as we were away, we hear a big thud. >> we just heard anr loud bang. it seemse a firework went off. >> after numerous warnings and after being assailed, hit with rocks and bottles and other debris, we started to make arrests. >> reporter: and the social media influencer is in custody. >> ron, remarkably there appear to be no major injuries in all this. >> reporter: no, but a lot of minor injuries, police say, including officers hit by flying objects. no one transported to a local hospital at this hour tonight, the streets are relatively calm. still a very heavy police presence and still a lot of young people out on the streets, and the social media celebrity who is responsible for all this remains in police custody at this hour police say there is a possibility that he could be charged with inciting a riot. lester >> all right, ron allen starting us off here in new york. thank you. there's breaking news this evening involving the gilgo beach killings on long island an eighth victim has been identified decades after her remains were found, but no link at this point to the suspect in three of the murders. here's stephanie gosk. >> reporter: even though accused serial killer rex heuermann sits in jail awaiting trial, there are still many unanswered questions in the gilgo beach murders case at least 11 bodies were discovered on long island over a decade ago, and heuermann is accused of killing three of the women. today, a breakthrough. >> we are here to announce that as part of the gilgo task force re-examination of all the evidence in the case, we were able to identify fire island jane doe as karen vergata. >> reporter: karen vergata was 34 years old, living in manhattan, and working as an escort her remains were discovered in 1996 on fire island off the coast of long island police couldn'n't identify her nearly 15 years later, vergata's skull was found here in a wildlife sanctuary miles from the other remains. the d.a. did not link vergata's death to rex heuermann. he also didn't say how her skull wound up here in these bushes so far away from the rest of her body what we do know is that where i'm standing is about four miles from gilgo beach. in 2010 police discovered four bodies on gilgo beach rex heuermann is accused of killing three of them. police believed at the time they y had a serial killer in the search for more victims, they found vergata's skull just over five months later, but no i.d. was made until suffolk county officials assembled a task force including members of the fbi last year. >> in september of 2022, the fbi was able, the genetic genealogy review to identify mcconnell vergata presumptively as fire island jane doe >> reporter: heuermann has not been accused of her murder and pleaded not guilty vowing to fight his case in court. >> stephanie, joining me here, do we know how long it took to identify her body? >> the d.a. said no one reported her missing. her family may not have been looking for her. the fbi relied on that database to identify her. >> stephanie gosk, thank you. also this evening, the suspect in a deadly stabbing at a new york city gas station is now in custody according to a senior law enforcement official the nypd previously said it was looking for a 17-year-old in connection with the attack that left a gay man, professional dancer o'shae sibley, dead investigators have been examining whether it was a hate crime. one day after he pleaded not guilty to federal conspiracy and obstruction charges involving the 2020 election, former president trump is back on the campaign trail. garrett haake is tracking it all. garrett, mr. trump is at an event in alabama tonight. >> reporter: yeah, that's right, lester the former president delivering two campaign speeches this weekend in two republican-dominated states where his legal battles are sure to be a major theme. now already today, he's taken to social media to attack the new case against him as bogus and possibly unconstitutional arguing that he's only being charged now with four felony counts related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election because of his strong position in the 2024 election. mr. trump pleaded not guilty to those charges yesterday, and today also used a filing from his attorneys to plead not guilty to those additional classified documents cases that the special counsel unveiled last week lester. >> all right garrett, thank you. in mississippi, six former law enforcement officers have pleaded guilty to federal charges after investigators say the white house officers tortured two black men for hours then tried to cover up the crime. miguel almaguer now with what the victims are telling us tonight. >> reporter: tonight, eddie parker and michael jenkins say justice can be served now that the six white mississippi law enforcement officers who beat them for nearly two hours have entered guilty pleas >> i finally gave up i knew how it was to give up. it wasn't a survive. it was hoping i'll make it to the end >> reporter: prosecutors in mississippi say the officers tortured, used racial slurs, and sexually assaulted the two black men inside a braxton home last january. court documents reveal the officers, who called themselves the goon squad, broke down the door, beat, tased, and threatened to rape parker and jenkins while calling them the "n" word and monkeys as they accused the men of sleeping with white women.nted to do >> they came here to do what they wanted to do which was torture us they came to do what they did >> reporter: the five rankin county sheriff's deputies, christian dedmon, hunter elward, brett mcalpin, jeffrey middleton, and daniel opdyke were joined by richland police officer joshua hartfield. the federal complaint says one officer put a gun in jenkins' mouth, pulled the trigger and nearly killed him. >> what did i do are these, you know, really officers? you know, do they do this why are they doing it to me? >> reporter: authorities say the officers tried to cover up their crime by planting a gun in the home and drugs on the victims after their so-called raid the officers charged with several crimes including civil rights violations and obstruction of justice. >> in their minds the law and the constitution be damned they became the criminals they swore to protect us from. >> reporter: after their guilty plea to federal charges, the members of the so-called goon squad still face state charges and years behind bars. lester >> miguel, thank you. in parts of the south today, dramatic scenes as torrential rains caused flash flood emergencies. people had to be rescued from their homes in northwest tennessee, which got more than 11 inches of rain rescues and evacuations were also reported in parts of kentucky and alabama while in other parts of the south, southwest and plains, almost 50 million people remain under heat alerts with more record-breaking heat expected through the weekend. overseas, a dramatic attack today on a russian warship at a naval base in the black sea from what appears to be a sea drone launched by ukraine. richard engel has late details. >> reporter: the sea drone slips through the water silently under the cover of darkness its target is a russian landing ship in the black sea the pilotless remotely operated kamikaze boat packed with explosives is closing in until the video released by ukrainian security services breaks up afterwards, a russian ship can be seen listing, being guided into a russian harbor. the russian military claimed it stopped the sea drone attack and made no mention of damage nbc news geolocated the video and analyzed ship logs. the damaged ship looks very much like the one attacked by the drone. with ukraine's counteroffensive making little progress so far in the east, it seems ukraine is finding alternative ways to fight back and take the war to russia using small drones to attack downtown moscow and now exploding boats. president zelenskyy, as with other drone attacks, didn't directly claim responsibility for the sea drone, but he did congratulate ukraine's security services for, quote, returning the war to the aggressor state. lester >> richard engel tonight, thank you. now to the economy. employers added 187,000 jobs in july, a slower pace, but a sign the fed's efforts to tame inflation may be working at the same time, many companies still struggle to find skilled workers. with more on that, here's tom costello. >> reporter: that buzz in st. paul, minnesota, is the sound of automation. small business delkor robotics has doubled in three years building machines that can package 600 food products per minute. what's your read on the economy? is it slowing down, or is it still strong >> we see an economy that's still strong. >> reporter: ceo dale anderson wants to hire another 40 to 50 employees by year's end. the challenge, finding qualified workers. half the staff have engineering bachelor's degrees. the others have associates in robotics or automation. what are you looking for in an employee? >> the number one thing we look for is a good attitude, a desire to learn. >> i'm wiring these push buttons to some terminals. >> reporter: like 20-year-old alexis barnett making $27 an hour with no debt. >> when i do go out with my friends, i'm the only one that's not worried about how much we're spending, where we're going, how much gas is going to cost. >> reporter: minnesota's unemployment rate, 2.9%. it's among the lowest unemployment rates in the country, and with 185,000 job openings in minnesota, that's the third most on record while job gains are slowing nationally, wages are up 4.4% in a year national unemployment near record lows, 3.5% >> and as today's jobs numbers make clear, bidenonomics is working. >> reporter: on the factory floor. >> it's a pay for skill knowledge, so the more you learn, the more you get paid. >> in three to four years in that field of robotics, you should be making close to, if not more than $100,000 a year. >> that's a good salary >> that's a great salary >> reporter: upward mobility even without a four-year degree, tom costello, nbc news, st. paul, minnesota. in 60 seconds, for the first time, a promising new pill for the first time helping women suffering from postpartum depression. it could be a game changer fofor millionsns how itit works nexext. postp. it couldld be a gameme chananger. hohow it worksks next. [party chatttter] dancin in n the par—! hey, dad. i got an a on my book report. that's cool. and i went for a walk in the woods and i didn't get a single flea or tick on me. you are just the best. -right? i'm great. -you are great. oh, brother. this flea and tick season, trust america's #1 pet pharmacy. chewy. ♪ i g gotta good d feeling about t this, yeahah ♪ trust america's #1 pet pharmacy. ♪ i'm m with it ♪ ♪ i gotta gogood fefeeling abouout this ♪ ♪ yeah, ♪ ♪ so letet's get it t ♪ ♪ i'm feeleling good v vibes♪ it's being hailed as a potential breakthrough for something millions o new moms experience, postpartum depression. the fda this weekend could approve the first ever pill to treat postpartum depression here's anne thompson's with tonight's health alert. >> reporter: melissa is a happy mother of two today. but after the birth and hospitalization after her firs daughter, she says she suffered postpartum depression >> i told my husband i didn't want to live anymore, and i really believed he and my daughter would be better off without me. >> reporter: it happened to rosa phillips after the birth of her second child. >> i just felt very standoffish, sad, crying, what most people would say was depression >> reporter: both women were diagnosed with postpartum depression, a condition that affects 500,000 women a year symptoms include crying more than usual, feeling numb or disconnected from your baby, and worrying you will hurt your baby. tonight the fda approving a new drug called zuranolone. it is a fast-actin antidepressant pill taken once a day for 14 days. rosa phillips was part of the clinical trial. >> i was able to go back to my normal self and be able to endure my family. >> reporter: the manufacturer says zuranolone works by targeting brain networks responsible for mood, arousal, behavior and cognition, but it is the speed, working within three days, that could be a differencemakers says one of the doctors in the trial. >> it's so important we have treatments that can act quickly, and current antidepressant therapy can take weeks to months to work. >> reporter: news of zuranolone thrills marisa newbury. >> i absolutely wish that this had been an option for me. >> reporter: therapy, a support group, and medication eventually helped her cope, but for suffering moms and their families, time matters. anne thompson, nbc news. and up next, phony bank accounts resurface at wells fargo. customers say they never opened them. our exclusive reporting coming up. never op. our exclusive reportining coming u up. e. e. brezeztri gave m me better brereathing, e. symptom imimprovement,t, and reduduced flare-e-ups. brezeztri won't t replace a rescue i inhaler and reduduced flare-e-ups. fofor sudden b breathing p pro. and reduduced flare-e-ups. it i is not for r asthma. and reduduced flare-e-ups. tell youour doctor i if you e a heart t conditionn or higigh blood prpressure bebefore takining it. tell youour doctor i if you e a heart t conditionn don't takeke breztri morere than presescribed. tell youour doctor i if you e a heart t conditionn breztri i may increaease your r risk of thrhrush, pneumomonia, and o osteoporo. call youour doctor i if worsd brbreathing, c chest pain,, moututh or tongugue swelli, problelems urinatiting, vivision changnges, or e eye pain ococcur. ask yourur doctor ababout bre. hon? woo-hoo. you'u've gotta s see this. hon? the weatathertech's s here. hon? 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toto relieve p pain right whwhere it hururts. salonpas, , it's good d medic. we're back now with our nbc news investigation. wells fargo has faced steep fines in the past for fraudulent accounts opened without customers' consent. now, there are new claims of accounts at the bank being made in people's names without their knowing it here's erin mclaughlin >> reporter: long-time forensic accountant jay patterson says he was alarmed when in june 2022 he received a wells fargo bank statement. the problem, he says he's never banked at wells fargo. >> it was horrifying. >> reporter: more than a month later, patterson received confirmation the fraudulent account was closed per his request, but its origins remain a mystery, and through his own investigation, he learned fraudsters tried to transfer out thousands of dollars the account never had. >> whoever did that had my name and social security number. the date of birth was wrong, and the driver's license information was wrong. >> and how did that make you feel? >> invaded >> reporter: experts say this appears to be a case of synthetic identity fraud when imposters create new identities using both real and fake personal information. nbc news senior investigative reporter gretchen morganson broke the story. >> because some of the information that wells fargo had about thisr particular account holder was incorrect, experts tell me they should have flagged the account, looked deeper, and not opened it. >> reporter: patterson is now seeking a class action lawsuit pointing to at least 50 other victims who formally complained about wells fargo accounts wrongfully opened in their name wells fargo says the allegations are without merit pointing to identity theft as a broad industry problem. >> we're going to see more of this in the coming months, and regulators will really have to step it up and the banks, as well. >> reporter: fraudulent accounts can damage your credit rating the website earlywarning.com can help you see what accounts exist in your name to make sure this type of fraud doesn't happen to you. erin mclaughlin, nbc news and next, the mega millions jackpot surpasses 1.3 billion. and simone biles back on the bars and hoping to be back on the winner's podium soon relapsing ms isn't the only thing i have going on. thatat's why i t take kesimpm. it's the o only b-cellll treatmt for rmrms i can tatake at hoe once a m month. kesimpta w was proven n superr at reducining the rarate of relalapses active l lesions and d slowing didisability progressioion vs aubagagio. don't tatake kesimimpta if you havave hepatititis b and tell y your doctoror if y you have hahad it, as it t could comeme back. kesimpta c can cause s serios side effecects, including g infectionsns. whwhile no casases of pmll werere reported d in rms clclinical tririals, it could h happen. tell your r doctor if f you hd or plalan to have e vaccines, or i if you are e or plan to bececome pregnanant. kesimpmpta may cauause a decree in some tytypes of antntibodi. the most commonon side effefects are upper rerespiratory y tract infectioion, headachche, and injejection reacactions. ask your d doctor abouout treatiting rms witith kesimpt. ♪ limu emu & doug ♪ what do wewe always sasay, so? 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