comes together to mourn the three people killed, all of them black. the white gunman leaving behind what the sheriff has called a diary of a mad man >> he hates a group of people and decided he wanted to kill them. >> new questions about why he let some people go and how it fits into an awful trend -- hate crimes on the rise tragedy in training three u.s. marines killed when a military aircraft crashes during a drill in australia the aircraft has a history of accidents. a new hurricane threat heading toward florida. a state of emergency declared we are tracking the storm's path another fire in maui but this time the sirens went off, warning residents. >> i've got to go. i have staff members who need to be evacuated. a terrifying nascar crash, this car flipping ten times. how on earth did the driver walk away and the great loch ness monster hunt the greatest gathering of searchers in decades our correspondent takes the plunge >> announcer: this is "nbc nightly news" with kate snow. good evening the true horror of what happened saturday in jacksonville, florida is coming into sharper focus tonight. there is a prayer vigil under way as we come on the air. the community coming together, struggling to make any sense of what the sheriff called a shooting motivated by racial hatred we learned the names today of the three lives lost and police now say the suspect first went to an historically black university but left after encountering campus security and then moved on to a dollar general store. president biden saying in a statement today we must refuse to live in a country where black families going to the store live in fear of being gunned down because of the color of their skin marissa parra is in jacksonville tonight. >> reporter: in jacksonville tonight a community grieves over lives tragically lost. >> this is tough this is home. >> reporter: angela carr, jerrald gallion, and aj laguerre were shot and killed saturday after a gunman old fire at a dollar general store. >> pretty sad what happened >> it is really sad. >> the fbi identifying this as a hate crime. >> he hates a group of people and decided he wanted to kill them. >> reporter: the gunman was a 21-year-old identified and penned writings detailing what he thought about the black race and what he planned to do. today florida's governor calling the violence unacceptable >> targeting people due to their race has no place in the state of florida. >> reporter: authorities released these short clips. at the dollar general store here he is seen wearing a tactical vest armed with two guns one of them hand drawn with swastikas. >> my lord can't even go to the dollar store. >> reporter: his day of horror witnessed by shocked neighbors outside. >> i heard five shots. >> reporter: officials say before driving to the dollar general the shooter stopped at an historically black university nearby police say this video shows what they believe is the gunman getting ready with his bullet proof vest at 12:57 p.m. authorities say the shooter leaves campus, drives to the dollar general, and minutes later fires 11 rounds into a car outside. >> the suspect is on video in the parking lot in front of the store shooting into a black kia and murders the first victim. >> reporter: they say the gunman enters the store and continues firing killing two others >> he let several people out why i don't know some of them were white. i do believe there were a couple that were not >> reporter: at 1:18 p.m. the shooter texted his father to enter his room and what he found was almost 30 pages of writings and a suicide note on his laptop meanwhile law enforcement say they arrived 11 minutes into the gunman's rampage right before he took his own life with his own gun. where did the firearms come from were they legal guns were they legally possessed? >> they were 100% legal. as i stand here with you today, they were legally possessed. >> reporter: the heart break in jacksonville the latest hate crime in the country. last year at a grocery store in buffalo, new york, a shooter motivated by white supremacists ideology killed ten people most victims also black the latest fbi data showing a nearly 12% increase in hate crimes between 2020 and 2021 tonight where hate robbed lives and shattered hearts -- ♪ amazing grace ♪ -- a community leans on love to piece them back to process. >> it is really hard to process did the shooter have a past criminal history >> reporter: the sheriff's office said they found one domestic call to his house when he was a teenager and one instance in 2017 where he was committed for psychiatric evaluation so far no further details on that and no criminal record or history. kate >> all right thank you. to the other big story three u.s. marines have been killed after a crash during training exercises in australia. the military is now investigating. the type of aircraft they were on has been involved in other deadly accidents before aaron gilchrist has the latest. >> reporter: tonight a military aircraft similar to this at the center of a deadly crash in australia. the u.s. marine corps confirming three marines died and five were hurt. the accident happened on melville island, just off the northern coast of australia >> this is a regrettable incident the australian defense force are cooperating with our friends in the united states to make sure we provide every assistance possible. >> reporter: the marine corps is saying 23 personnel were being transported participating in exercise predators run, a multi-national military training involving more than 2,000 troops from five countries. this is a former accident investigator for the navy and marines. >> this is a very unique aircraft and does have a higher accident rate than other types of aircraft used by the military for that very reason >> reporter: the tilt rotor osprey is a widely used support aircraft in the marine car and can lift like a helicopter and tilt the engine housing to achieve speed like a plane. but it has a controversial history of problems. march, 2022. four marines died in a training flight in norway the marine corps says pilot error caused the crash. june 2022 five more marines died when their osprey went down in california. investigators say the result of a catastrophic mechanical failure. still, he says the osprey is an extremely useful, life saving tool for the military. >> i think it is worth it to have these types of aircraft out there, even though they do present additional hazards that need to be mitigated >> aaron, do we know anything more tonight about the survivors of the crash >> reporter: the last word from the marine corps was that the five critically injured marines were in serious condition at a darwin hospital. the australians added there was a wide range of injuries among all 23 people on board. thank you. florida has declared a state of emergency across much of its gulf coast as a tropical storm heads straight for it. forecasters believe it could strengthen to a hurricane before landfall let's get right to our meteorologist angie lassman tracking the storm for us. >> we have new alerts up hurricane watches stretching from the panhandle down to parts of southwest florida expecting the hurricane conditions in the next couple days right now tropical storm idalia with 40-mile-per-hour winds and moving northeast at 3 miles per hour but is expected to pick up its pace as it moves over the very warm waters eventually becoming a category 1 hurricane, down the line a category 2 hurricane spreading rain into florida as we get into tuesday but landfall expected wednesday into the overnight hours. by the time we get into the later parts of the day now the carolinas are in the mix with some of the heavy rain working in we're talking storm surge, strong winds, but the heavy rain anywhere from 2 to 6 inches when this is all said and done we could have amounts as high as 10 inches as we get through the next couple days this is going to be something worth watching for florida and other parts of the southeast. >> i know you'll stay on it. angie, thank you. to tensions rising in hawaii after another fire broke out in maui prompting evacuations. sam brock is there for us sam, this time warning sirens did sound, right >> reporter: yes, that's right, kate the sirens were activated around 1:30 p.m. yesterday afternoon perhaps a reflection of lessons learned. i am standing on a hillside where the brush fire swept through. look at the foot print and how close it came to homes. the reason this earth i'm standing on is black is because the grass burned it came right up to the bushes as a charred tree was virtually on the door step of all of these homes. this video shows plumes of smoke and flames as residents are fleeing under a go now evacuation order about a mile and a half outside of lahaina town this woman was being interviewed as sirens started blaring. >> you lost your jobs because your business is gone. hi >> i have to go. i have staff members who need to be evacuated i must go evacuate more staff right now. >> okay. >> thank you so much get the word out >> thank you >> reporter: the evacuation order was ultimately lifted after about three and a half hours. west maui right now is bone dry and windy meaning this could go on for days or even weeks. kate >> all right sam, thank you tonight investigators in louisiana say one of the rare wildfires tearing through that state was started on purpose. it is just one of more than 440 fires that have raged there this weekend. another fire forced an entire town of a thousand people to evacuate the brutal heat wave in the south helped fuel those fires russia confirmed today what many suspected yevgeny prigozhin the leader of the wagner mercenary group did die in the plane crash last week investigators say they used genetic analysis to identify all ten people onboard the kremlin denied any ties to the crash. tomorrow former president donald trump's chief of staff mark meadows will be in court for a pretrial hearing in georgia. it will be the first time the public will hear some of the evidence against mr. meadows, mr. trump and their 17 alleged co-conspirators. >> reporter: as former president donald trump remains defiant in the face of four criminal indictments -- >> we did nothing wrong. i did nothing wrong. >> reporter: a high stakes hearing is set for fulton county, georgia on monday mark meadows, trump's former chief of staff and one of 18 trump associates charged in fulton county for running what was akin to a criminal enterprise to conspire to steal the 2020 election requesting his case be moved to federal court. >> mark meadows is essentially arguing that he fits within the federal criminal removal statute because he was acting at the behest of a federal official. >> reporter: district attorney fani willis issuing subpoenas for elections investigator francis watson and secretary of state brad raffensperger to testify. raffensperger is the republican secretary of state who took this call from trump in the wake of the 2020 vote. >> i just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have because we won the state. >> reporter: the hearing will be the first opportunity to hear from some of these key witnesses in open court. if meadows is successful moving the trial to federal court, it could have an impact on other defendants, including trump himself. >> the jury pool will come from a larger geographic area they may be able to drag in some of those suburban trump voters you'd also be taking the state prosecutors out of their home court advantage. >> meanwhile, trump continues to try and use his arrest as a way to rally his base. his campaign announcing they've raised more than $7 million since his mug shot was taken and released kate >> thank you. still ahead tonight why some schools are closing down just as students come back for the new year plus we'll take you to scotland for the biggest hunt for the loch ness monster in 50 years. what did they find ness monster in 50 years. what did they find >> we're back with the last thing parents want to hear, schools closing down due to a covid outbreak the rising covid cases prompting some colleges and businesses to require masks once again emilie ikeda with what you need to know >> reporter: across the country kids are filing into classrooms and with students back at a handful of schools so is covid. >> almost all of the precautions, including regular testing, have been taken down. we have all sorts of other colds and coughs and viruses which make it very easy to pass a number of things including covid. >> reporter: in lee county, kentucky school attendance dipped by roughly 20% within the first two weeks prompting the district to close for several days in atlanta morris brown college announced a two-week mask mandate because of an uptick in positive cases some hospitals in new york, massachusetts, and california are bringing back mask requirements the cdc director has this warning for the months ahead >> covid is here and we need to make sure we stay vigilant. >> reporter: the cdc's data show hospitalizations have been on the rise since july jumping more than 20% earlier this month. still, when you zoom out to consider what it was like during the height of the pandemic health officials aren't sounding the alarm yet but are closely watching a highly mutated emerging variant and hoping the next booster will slow its spread those shots are expected out the end of next month. with the flu and rsv likely to ramp up this fall doctors recommend having covid tests at home to help tell the difference experts believe covid tests can detect all current strains. before you go pulling out an old kit in your pantry, you're going to want to double-check the expiration date. doctors caution expired tests may not be as effective. peace of mind to help protect yourself and others emilie ikeda, nbc news, new york up next the great loch ness monster hunt will new modern techniques and a whole lot of hope find any answers? and the incredible survival story after a terrifying nascar crash. we're back with video that is terrifying and has a happy ending the terrifying part because that is a race car driver his car flipping over and over and over ten times before coming to a violent stop saturday night the happy ending is this preece survived an was released from the hospital today tweeting he will race again. this season's new safer nascar car model may be one key reason he survived that now to scotland. for 90 years the world has been fascinated by the possible existence of a loch ness monster. this weekend researchers and true believers and even curious tourists and reporters gathered in scotland for the biggest loch ness monster hunt in half a century. our mat bradley joined the hunt. >> reporter: it has fascinated generations of curious minds but this weekend the loch ness monster is getting another close up this time i joined the hunt for what is being called the biggest nessy quest in 50 years. >> reporter: in this region of scotland the legend of the loch ness monster is still kind of a big deal and organizers hope this weekend will excite a new generation of nessy hunters. >> for a very selfish reason i don't want the loch ness mystery or interest in loch ness itself to diminish >> it'll be hard for nessy to hide from this high tech hunt, launching drones overhead, scouring the surface, while also listening below. >> we are dropping an under water microphone 60 feet down below the depth. we'll be doing some audio testing to find out what noises exist down there. >> reporter: they are using sonar to map the lake, which has a depth of nearly 800 feet >> the maximum depth here, this is the deepest part but it is a huge area. >> reporter: somewhere in all of this dark water there is a monster lurking but it is up to us to find it or find her. ken gerhart traveled from the u.s. to hunt. he researchers animals on the fringes of known reality. you've studied big foot, moth man, all of these other fantastical ideas. where does nessy rank in terms of likelihood >> oh, personally i'm 90% convinced nessy exists i've never had a sighting or observation but if you immerse yourself in the evidence, you have over a thousand good sightings that are very consistent descriptions >> reporter: spoiler alert, nobody found the monster this weekend, not even me not for lack of trying but maybe that's not what this is all about. just a fun myth? >> yeah. if it is not real. >> reporter: are you a believer or not a believer >> i'm a believer. >> reporter: in the world of high tech and hard facts it is nice to know there is still a place for magic and mystery. >> someone is always going to say there is going to be something that makes you believe, that wants you to believe again, the same with every myth out there, it just takes one person to believe it and it just continues. >> reporter: matt bradley nbc news, scotland >> when we come back, riding waves to recovery the surfing instructors in maui helping kids who lost their homes to the wildfires. there is good news tonight about finding solace in the sea and the surf mentors in maui helping children there get on to the path to healing. here's steve patterson. >> reporter: much has been said about the calm that comes just from feeling the sky kiss the sea fitting that in its darkest hour this small stretch of sand in west maui is where the community is starting to come back. >> this is the first time all of the families in west maui will have been in one place since the fire so i just expect a lot of joy. >> in lahaina, a skate and surf after school program was established until the wildfire took it all away this woman's home was destroyed and she says she is lucky she and her children made it out alive but she soon noticed not without scars. >> my 3 1/2-year-old always wants to talk about the fire >> reporter: that is when she knew her life's work had to continue now once again an escape from maui kids, to being, well, maui kids again. you just came from the water. how does it feel >> it was fun. super nice to be in the water. >> definitely the ocean changes things >> reporter: over the years lahaina legend robert cotter affectionately known as uncle bully taught most of these kids how to surf. now he is teaching them how to heal >> joy is one of the most powerful tools as far as medicine goes to helping people recover. >> reporter: as long as there is a little bit of a slice of joy she'll be ready with the boys. >> they don't know where they're going to live, when their school is going to be ready. there are so many unknowns right now that is one thing we want to give some certainty and it is where there is no certainty. >> reporter: a wave of ocean therapy washing in just when it's needed most. steve patterson, nbc news, maui >> love to see that joy. that is "nightly news" for this sunday night. lester holt will be back with you tomorrow i'm kate snow. for all of us here at nbc news, stay safe and have a great nbc news, stay safe and have a great night. it's started. it's... the side hug. tween milestones like this may start at age 9. hpv vaccination—a type of cancer prevention against certain hpv-related cancers, can start then too. for most, hpv clears on its own. but for others, it can cause certain cancers later in life. you're welcome! now, as the “dad cab”, it's my cue to help protect them. embrace this phase. help protect them in the next. ask their doctor today about hpv vaccination. right now at 6:00, a deadly night across the bay area roads. at least five people killed in crashes from the north bay to the peninsula. plus a show of