begins right now. announcer: from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is nbc nightly news with lester holt. good evening. we have seen political standoffs of all kinds in washington, but nothing like what is playing out right now in the chambers of the house of representatives. old-fashioned sit-in led by a civil rights icon. democratic representatives literally occupying the house floor, refusing to budge until a gun control bill is brought up for deba debate. social media continuing to provide images of the revolt, even after house-controlled tv cameras were ordered turned off. nbc s peter alexander is at the capitol right now with the latest. not next year, but now! today! reporter: an unprecedented demonstration, dozens of democrats today calling for a vote on gun control. rise up, americans. this cannot stand. we will occupy this floor. reporter: disru disrupting the house session. the house will be in order. reporter: republicans in retreat,
nightly news begins right now. announcer: from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is nbc nightly news with lester holt. good evening. we have seen political standoffs of all kinds in washington, but nothing like what is playing out right now in the chambers of the house of representatives. an old-fashioned sit-in led by a civil rights icon. democratic representatives literally occupying the house floor, refusing to budge until a gun control bill is brought up for debate. social media continuing to provide images of the revolt, even after house-controlled tv cameras were ordered turned off. nbc s peter alexander is at the capitol right now with the latest. not next year, but now! today! reporter: an unprecedented demonstration, dozens of democrats today calling for a vote on gun control. rise up, americans. this cannot stand. we will occupy this [000:01:58;00] reporter: disrupting the house session. the house will be in order. reporter: republica
the hildebran town hall building. christine: brody o connell following the details now in the alert center. brody, what do you know so far? brody: this is up near i-40 off i-40 near morganton at the hildebran town hall. here is the map giving you an idea where it is while i give you the latest details. we called dispatchers to see what was going on, we reached an official who gave us the address of 202 center street. we specifically asked if this was the town hall that was on fire, dispatcher said they were responding to a fire at the town hall, which is in a complex that shares office space with other buildings. so the town hall and other offices are located in a bigger building, that used to be the old hill hildebran high school. steve ohnesorge has done thorough coverage whether they were going to tear down the building. they are in the newer part of the section slate forward demolition was the oldest part of the build, built in 1917. we ll bring you updates whether we
shared after the attack. i was scared. my heart was beating fast. what did i do? the cops went in my room and told me to get out because i didn t know what was happening. why would someone want to do that? reporter: investigators say the suspect also had vaseline inside the backpack. that can be set on fire and thrown at people. so this attack they say could have been much, much worse had it not been largely thwarted. in merced, devin fehely, kpix 5. now to kpix 5 s len ramirez, who spoke to mohammad s former high school classmates in santa clara and len, no indications of trouble when he was there? reporter: no indications at all. he had a very small social circle. everyone who knew him said he was very smart and quiet. we talked about it in one of my classes and we were all pretty shocked. reporter: joanne baldonado is talking about her former classmate faisal mohammad, seen here in his senior portrait at wilcox high school in santa clara. mohammad graduated wit
announcer: from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is nbc nightly news with lester holt. good evening. we have seen political standoffs of all kinds in washington, but nothing like what is playing out right now in the chambers of the house of representatives. old-fashioned sit-in led by a civil rights icon. democratic representatives literally occupying the house floor, refusing to budge until a gun control bill is brought up for debate. social media continuing to provide images of the revolt, even after house-controlled tv cameras were ordered turned off. nbc s peter alexander is at the capitol right now with the latest. not next year, but now! today! reporter: an unprecedented demonstration, dozens of democrats today calling for a vote on gun control. rise up, americans. this cannot stand. we will occupy this floor. reporter: disrupting the house session. the house will be in order. reporter: republicans in retreat, forced to go into recess, cam