Reporter Police Rushed in just after the first shots rang out. It was just loud, like one big, loud bang, made my ears ring. I knew it was a gunshot. Reporter witnesses say a 59yearold drifter, john russel houser, stood up in the crowded theater and opened fire. He looked like he was very calm, standing there, kind of walking down the aisle and firing. Reporter two people were killed in the attack, nine others wounded. Shock. Shocked. I dont even know what to say about the situation. Reporter today, as their investigation continues, police are learning more about the man they say is responsible. He clearly knew what he was doing, clearly had some kind of a plan, because he bought the ticket, in the theater, he had the gun. Reporter a plan that according to officers, became more clear as they searched the hotel he had been living in. We found wigs and glasses and disguises basically in his room. It is apparent that he was intent on shooting and then escaping. Reporter things apparently changed when houser spotted officers in the chaos as he was trying to leave. He saw the law enforcement, local police officers, went back inside, thats when he shot and killed himself. Reporter as makeshift memorials grow across this shattered community, police have released the names of the two women killed, 21yearold mayci breaux and 33yearold jillian johnson. Dont lose sight of the fact that these two individuals, they had a vision, they had a name, had a future. It wasnt to die as they did horribly in this theater here. Reporter now, police and so many here are trying to understand how and why it happened. And police say there is no clear indication at this point of a motive in the attack. The theater remains closed as they continue their investigation here. Jay gray, nbc news, lafayette, louisiana. Houser was hospitalized repeatedly for Mental Health issues he also had Domestic Violence complaints against him and an arson arrest and he had a gun. Steve handlesman joins us from capitol hill where the debate over gun laws and Mental Health is back in focus tonight. Steve . Reporter it is wendy, thanks. Up here in congress after the Sandy Hook School massacre, tougher gun control was defeated. Tougher gun control was defeated. At the same time, many states have cut their funding for Mental Health care. Now, both issues are from the burner. Lafayette is the third u. S. Mass shooting in 37 days by a suspect said to have mental or emotional issues. In charleston, where nine died, it was dylann roof. In chattanooga, where five died, mohammad abdulazeez. But all three accused killers got at least one gun. President obama says his failure to tighten gun controls is the greatest frustration of his presidency. But in lafayette today, some suggest the fix is better Mental Health care. In order to hopefully avoid situations like this occurring. Reporter experts say our nations Mental Health system is overburdened and poorly funded. We probably have 3. 5 million adults in the United States with serious and sometimes disabling psychiatric conditions, like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, who arent getting any treatment at all. Reporter but caring for everyone might not mean spotting potential mass shooters. We do not have the data that would show that improving Mental Health for the jeep population would have any impact in terms of these very rare, isolated, high casualty mass violent incidents. Reporter so, Colin Goddard says focus on the guns. He is a survivor of the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007. 32 people killed. Unfortunately, i think a lot of elected officials in this country after Mass Shootings talk about Mental Health as a pivot to getting away from the real issues of how to improve gun policy. Reporter an urgent debate with 16 dead in backtobacktoback Mass Shootings. But the advocates of both tougher gun control and better Mental Health care say far more americans die every day in ordinary incidents of gun violence and Mental Illness than are killed in all of these highprofile, mass casualty massacres. Im steve handelsman, news4. Steve, thank you. the gun control issue is once again thrust into the spotlight large crowds expected at the dallas expo center for a gun show. In our next half hour, derrick ward takes us inside the event to talk with people on both sides of the debate. That teenager ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. A judge ordered jasper spires held without bond this afternoon. Mark segraves was in the courtroom as the defendant began laughing during the serious proceedings. Mark . Reporter that video was played in court this afternoon. It shows the suspect who prosecutors say is jasper spires hanging out in the metro station, following people and just before boarding the train where kevin souther land was killed the suspect is seen putting gloves on and then when that train stops, the suspect is again seen running out of the train station. His defense Attorney Says it wasnt his client. And on the stand today, a detective testified that, in fact, one of the witnesses on that train identified someone else as the suspect. Prosecutors are sure that jasper spires murdered Kevin Sutherland, the two men were on a red line train july 4th. Spires medical i. D. Card was found at the scene. Police who had arrested him in the past recognized spires from surveillance video. Spires Attorney Says its a case of mistaken identity. None of the witnesses have been able to identify him up in of the witnesses on the subway have identified my client as being the perpetrator. Reporter owner oath, one of the detectives on the case confirmed that no witnesses from inside the train have identified spires and, in fact, one witness picked someone else from a photo lineup. He also testified that while the murder weapon was found with the victims blood on it so far, they have not found the suspects dna or fingerprints on that knife. The judge found there was enough evidence to go to trial and ordered spires held without bond. During the hearing, spires often smiled and even laughed. At one point interrupting the hearing. The jim said because of spires demeanor in court he was ordering a mental evaluation. Outside the courthouse, Kevin Sutherlands cousin said the family is still dealing with the loss but is prepared to forgive. We all lose you know, a little piece of ourselves when we see something so brutal like this. And you know, for the defendants family, too. Reporter we will get the rules of that mental evaluation late august. Theres been a lot of speculation that spires was on drugs at the time of the attack. There is no mention of that in court today. Jim, back to you. Mark segraves thank you. During part of his time in d. C. , Kevin Sutherland interned for connecticut congressman jim im hines. His release from jail two days before the murder raised questions but he blasted new Jersey Governor Chris Christie for blaming liberal sutherlands death. Said it was liberal policies that caused the death of Kevin Sutherland. No it was a deranged individual, deranged or drugs, we dont know. Agree or disagree with liberals, thats who devon was and who his parents were. By the way his funeral had been several days earlier. The congressman says sutherlands death points to a larger issue about the overall level of violence in our society. We have seen a spike in violence in the district over the past several weeks. There have been 78 murders so far this year compared to 66 this same time last year. Thats an 18 increase. Police have said an increase in synthetic drug use may be a contributing factor. No word yet on a motive or suspects in the most recent murder murder. It happened southwest in southeast d. C. Someone killed a man not far from patterson elementary elementary. The victim was 25. Donald trump gaining ground despite some damning headlines. Meanwhile democratic hopeful, Hillary Clinton, is making headlines of her own tonight. The Justice Department has been asked to start a criminal probe into whether she improperly stored classified emails on her private server while serving as secretary of state. Nbcs chuck todd has the latest. Reporter ever since we found out publicly that Hillary Clinton had a private email server and thats how she conducted some business when she was secretary of state, it was clear this was a story that was going to be a cloud that would constantly sort of hover over the Clinton Campaign and every once in a while, rain down some problems on her. Today was one of those days where it looked like the rain was gonna be pretty heavy and she might even be struck by lightning when the New York Times first reported there maybe a criminal investigation in how classified documents were handled regarding the email server and what was on there, versus what was at stake. Obviously, we now find out it wasnt and isnt necessarily a criminal probe but a little more of a standard procedure when there the Justice Department has to look at these things when there are questions about misuse of classified information. Big picture though the question is does this knock her off her game for 2016, right now, probably isnt. But her bigger concern is whats going on inside of her party and frankly, seeing in the republican party, that is this rise of populism and on the left, in the form of bernie sanders. On the right in the form of donald trump. But all of it has to do with the larger hangover and issue of economic anxiety with workingclass americans who feel as if they have been squeezed out of this economy and distrust of political elites and frustration with political esheets hurting clinton and thats why sanders is doing well and hurting every other republican, which is why trump is doing well and that is the big story, i think, that we are all missing here in american politics and we need to be focused on and certainly something we are going to focus on this sunday. All right. Chuck todd. Several people overdose on synthetic drugs near a metro station. So what is behind this growing problem . Emotional testimony from the grandmother of a 2yearold murder victim. How a new task force is making it easier to investigate these crimes and get justice for their families. And a popular warehouse store cracking down on a problem that was first exposed in a hidden camera investigation by jamie wanted a taste of the real new orleans and we just couldnt say no to that face. Then we wanted more of that local flavor so betty says. Oh yeah, thats betty. Youre going to want to do this alligator thing. And betty didnt lead us wrong. A little later we passed some dancing. And who doesnt like dancing . Especially when its followed by rks everyones nola is different. Follow yours. Tonight, a maryland man is heading to prison the next 50 years for murdering a toddler who gave him a disrespectful look. It is a horrible case and one of the reasons the top prosecutor in Prince Georges County is refocusing her office on Domestic Violence. Our county bureau chief, tracee wilkins, live in upper marlboro. Reporter this has been a problem for Prince Georges County and the States Attorneys Office has been trying to figure out how they can help with the solution. Now, they are hoping that this new task force focuses on cases like this one and Domestic Violence issues could help make an impact. As Prince Georges County experience experienced a decrease in homicides, they had an increase in dommest innic violence. It is affecting children. Reporter in 2013, 2yearold jam mere was one of those victims. I will never get to see him go to high school never get to see him go to college and i will never get to see him get married. Reporter 2yearold jam mere was killed at the hands of his mothers thenboyfriend, 28yearold clifton bernard. He was sentenced to 50 years in prison today for his murder. Bernard was baby sitting the toddler while his mother was at work. Somebody like mr. Bernard should not have ever had the opportunity to be in the presence of any child, let alone being alone with a child like this one. Reporter cases like this that have inspired Prince Georges County states attorney to begin a Domestic Violence task force within her office. It will bring 11 attorneys who handle domestic cases together in one room. And now, we will talk, discuss our cases, to make sure that when a case of Domestic Violence occurs for example if there is any indication that there may be some abuse related to a child, we will have an attorney come over aed deal with that. Reporter the hope is with more concentrated resources, families wont have to feel the loss and pain jam meres family now has to live. I will never get to hear him call me grandma, cause he was just learning how how to talk. Reporter in court it came out that the defendant had some Mental Illness and some anger issues that no one was aware of until this case happened. In upper marlboro, tracee wilkins, back to youall in the studio. Thank you. A popular warehouse store is taking action against potentially illegal activity with cigarette smuggling. It follows a news4 iteamfarlane joins us with the since you may notice the next time you go shopping. The iteam showed you how virginia tax officials were concerned about cigarette traffickers buying cigarettes and selling them on the black market. They can make a huge profit selling the smokes in other states for more than they paid at the big box score stores. Our cameras found them buying huge loads, tens of thousands in cash worth so much product, they needed help wheeling the cart loads out of the stores. You could see it there on your screen. We traced some of the addresses listed for these businesses back to a private home even to a vacant lot. Virginia tax Officials Say after our stories, costco started posting these signs in virginia requiring, in part tobacco purchasers show more i. D. , complete specific irs forms for some purchases of more than 3000, and provide their license plates for transporting cigarettes. We reached out to costco today about why they posted those signs, havent heard back great, but to see all that undercover video from our original smuggling series on the tobacco trail just visit our nbc washington app and click on investigations. Scott macfarland, news4 iteam. Turning now to our forecast, dougs live in tacoma park maryland. How are we looking for the bond . Looking awesome. You have a great backyard or you just want to go out in the city, a perfect, perfect night. We are in pats backyard. Look at all the food. These are from the neighbors, some of the friends that came by a little bit earlier. I have been eating all day long. I got to tell you guys, probably the most i have eaten in a while. Im not done yet pat. People keep coming. Oh, yes, we want people to come out and play until the street lights come on. You put on events and do it monthly in tacoma park. Yes, we do we held a splash and play pool Party Indoors in january and then a midwinter play day in february held at our community center. Lets see. And all of that is free. You said you had 130 people come out to that first one in january . Thats right. The indoor pool . Yes. You dont need the weather to be good there we have all kinds of activities they have been playing out there today. As far as the weather is concerned, again, another picture perfect evening. Look at the numbers around our area, current temperatures 89 in d. C. , we are at 88 in frederick. These are the highs today, 89, d. C. , 86, leesburg, 86, warrenton. Again hot but not humid. Very comfortable all afternoon. Temperatures around the region now sitting down at 86 degrees, that dew point still not much of a factor, but it will be increasing, that means the humidity will be going back up. At this hour, 84 leesburg 82 culpepper. We move on through the rest of the evening hours, thinking about getting out there do not worry about any rain, not worried about that at all, through the next couple of days, got some fantastic evening weather, going to be outdoors, maybe Walking Around the Verizon Center perfect tonight 86 at 7 00, 84 by 9. 11 00, coming in around that 80degree mark. Move around the next couple of days what are we going to be seeing in take a look, no clouds, a beautiful beautiful night tonight another great day tomorrow. High temperatures tomorrow though will be climbing a little bit, we move on through the day tomorrow, 85 at noon. By 8 00 tomorrow night, we are back down into the upper 80s after a high of 92. Lets hit that sevenday forecast for you if you are thinking about washing the car, yeah, do it dry throughout the day, really throughout the weekend. Lets look at that sevenday forecast here it is 93 on your sunday, the hot and humid day 91 monday, 40 chance of showers, does look like the heat does return as we move back into wednesday and thursday. Temperatures into the mid90s. All right guys, i got to give one shoutout here before we go on out. What do you think, double or nothing right here, i just got beat. Oh, you made it look easy buddy. Thats the kammerer we know. And no injuries. I think i saw an edit in that. Youre having fun out there, doug. Thanks so much. When we come right back tonight on news4, our coverage of the Movie Theater shooting continu