on this sunday night, damage control. the white house intensifies its efforts to combat revelations about the russia investigation as the president says many white house leaks are fabricated lies made up by what he calls the fake news media. deadly rampage. a man is in custody tonight after eight people are killed in a small town in mississippi. the suspect caught on camera talking about the shooting. neighborhood recruits. how the police in one city reach out to the community to build the ranks and build trust. no more pain. the remarkable treatment discovered by accident that tricks the brain with no drugs involved. and brothers in arms. our salute on this memorial day weekend

to a memorable american family. all three brothers graduating from west point, now serving their country. "nightly news" begins now. ♪ from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is nbc "nightly news" with kate snow. good evening. with so many public revelations over the past week about the investigation into links between trump officials and russia, the white house is now stepping up efforts to combat critical story lines. after a nine-day overseas trip the president billed as a great success, the administration is hoping this week to get back to legislative priorities and promises made during the election like health care reform. but the shadow of that investigation and nearly daily staff shake-up rumors loom large. we begin tonight with hans nichols at the white house. president donald trump returning home late last night and wasting no time to go

on offense this morning. it is my opinion that many of the leaks, he says, coming out of the white house are fabricated lies made up by the fake news media. but the white house is now prepping a war room to push back on the russia investigations which has his son-in-law and senior adviser as a focus as first reported by nbc news. "the washington post" on friday saying kushner asked the russian ambassador for a secret communications channel in december. kushner's lawyers saying he's willing to talk with investigators. homeland security secretary john kelly insisting kushner did nothing wrong with russia. >> i don't see any big issue here relative to jared. i think any time you can open lines of communication with anyone, whether they're good friends or not so good friends, is a smart thing to do. >> reporter: former director of national intelligence james clapper asked on "meet the press" about kushner's reported contacts with the russians. >> just from the theoretical standpoint, i will tell you that my dash

board warning light was clearly on and i think that was the case with all of us in the intelligence community. >> reporter: the white house now bracing for long-term legal and media battles. today the president's attorney marc kasowitz who will represent him in the russia probe was at the white house, seen talking to ivanka trump. and the president is reportedly considering a staff shakeup, stripping press secretary sean spicer of his on camera briefing duties and giving them to his deputy, sarah huckabee sanders or perhaps even canceling daily briefings. the trump team on offense about the classified leaks including the name of the manchester suicide bomber which angered british prime minister teresa may. >> i believe when you leak is the kind of information that seems to be routinely leaked, high, high level of classification, it's darn close to treason. >> reporter: trump still facing a decision on who to name as a replacement for james comey to run the fbi and whether to withdraw america from the paris climate accords, a move that

would further unsettle european allies. president trump has already cancelled a previously planned trip to iowa this week, hunkering down to focus on his agenda and sharpen his defense to growing legal and political peril. kate. >> hans nichols at the white house. thank you. police in central mississippi are investigating what appears to be a deadly family tragedy that played out last night and early this morning, and a suspect is in custody tonight. we get details from nbc's morgan radford. >> reporter: a massacre in a tiny town of 500. eight people including a deputy killed in cold blood when police say a mississippi man went on a three-part shooting spree. one woman in tears, saying she's related to the victims. >> this here my daughter. >> i'm so sorry. >> he killed my two sister-in-laws, my niece. >> reporter: the suspect, 35-year-old corey godbold, seen here in cellphone video captured by a local reporter moments after his arrest.

>> i ain't fit to live, not after what i done. >> reporter: teress april is the ledger reporter who took the video and says the suspect got into an argument with his wife over their kids. >> reporter: he said he had been there to discuss picking up the kids, taking them to his house, i think. that's when some kind of fight started and a neighbor had called the police, and then that's with the deputy was sent and everything went south. >> reporter: authorities say the shooter targeted three separate homes at 11:30 saturday night. first, a home in bogue chitto where he killed three women and 36-year-old deputy william durr, a husband and a father who was responding to a domestic call and who godbold says got in the way. >> my pain wasn't designed for him. he was just there. >> vincent mitchell was in that house during the shooting spree. his stepdaughter was godbolt. >> i honestly believe he came to kill everybody in the house, i honestly believe that. >> godbolt then allegedly drove 16 miles north to a

second home where police found the bodies of two underage boys. finally, authorities say he went to a home near a truck stop two miles south where he killed one man and one woman and was arrested nearby just before 7:00 a.m. >> this is just unbelievable. a nightmare, just come real. >> according to our local affiliate, the suspect is being held on one count of capital murder and seven counts of first degree murder. now, at one point in the video he actually says he wanted to die and that his goal had been for a police officer to kill him. kate. morgan, thank you. a tragedy today during a demonstration by the u.s. navy parachute team. it happened during fleet week festivities in new york harbor. and tonight, one of the sky divers has died. nbc's richard lui has more. >> reporter: it was supposed to be a highlight of new york's fleet week, a demonstration by the elite u.s. navy seal parachute team called the leap frog. instead, something went very wrong. >> liberty park, diver down in the water.

>> one of the s.e.a.l.s was killed when his chute apparently mag if you thinked. >> the navy s.e.a.l.'s parachute failed to open properly and he landed in the water adjacent to liberty state park. he was retrieved immediately by u.s. coast guard personnel and the jersey city fire department marine unit. >> reporter: the s.e.a.l. was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. a piece of the broken chute apparently cut lose during the fall recovered after dropping into a parking lot nearby. a celebration of service turning to tragedy on a weekend when the nation honors its military. richard lui, nbc news. six days after a suicide bomber killed 22 people at a concert in manchester, england, the city came together in the spirit of unity today as investigators continued to target those who may have been linked to the attacker. lucy cavanaugh is in manchester with the latest. >> reporter: in manchester today, fresh raids and more arrests, as police continue to dismantle the suspected network

linked to suicide bomber salman abedi. the total number in custody now 13. armed police patrolling today's great manchester run where tens of thousands turned out to race and to remember. it began in silence, a minute to honor the 22 lives cut short. followed by applause for the first responders to monday's attack. and then they were off. >> this is the spirit of manchester at its very best. nearly 40,000 people running for different causes, united in response to one attack, standing strong in the face of terror. >> it wasn't a question of if this event would go ahead, it was a question of how do we do it. and we're doing it. >> we thought about coming here, whether we should honor today, but we wanted to stand with manchester and show them that terrorists won't win. >> reporter: it is an event that brought the city together in

defiance. the young and the old, olympic athletes and those simply trying their best. >> this is our first time. >> reporter: your first time? are you excited? after last week we wanted to be here, we want to say that we are not scared. >> reporter: not scared but still emotional. >> we did this for manchester, so it is just so -- have to be here. >> reporter: this is a city changed forever by monday's violence, changed but unbowed. lucy cavanaugh, nbc news, manchester. north korea has conducted two more military tests in as many days including the launch of a new anti-aircraft weapon system. the test was supervised by north korea's leader kim jong-un. the country's news agency said he ordered the mass production of the new system. for its part the u.s. is hoping that china will exert its influence over north korea to get it to scale back, and to

encourage china, the u.s. has put on hold a big delivery of weapons to china's arch rival taiwan. nbc's janis mackey frayer is in taiwan and had exclusive access to a military exercise there. >> reporter: taiwan's military is testing its fire power against the threat of invasion by china. most of the weaponry here is american-made. under a long standing deal that makes the u.s. the island's sole arms supplier. this is a drill that the military threat taiwan sees is real. mainland china, just 110 miles across the strait, and relations with beijing are getting worse. but despite early pro-taiwan signals including a controversial phone call with taiwan's leader, the trump administration has stalled on delivering a billion dollar arms deal for jets, anti-ship weapons and missile systems. a u.s. official told nbc news that holding back arms for taiwan

was discussed as a way to improve ties with china at a time when president trump wants chinese help to rein in north korea. >> every single administration since bill clinton has eventually realized that beijing will not deliver on north korea because beijing sees no interest in the issue being resolved completely. >> reporter: since the president's april summit with china's president xi jinping, criticism of china's island building in the south chinese sae has waned. only this week did the u.s. resume operations scaling a u.s. navy ship near one of china's artificial islands. on taiwan washington is steering clear. a state department official said only that u.s. arm sales to taiwan are based on an assessment of taiwan's defense needs. as it stands, taiwan can't keep pace with the $146 billion china will spend on defense this year. with tension growing in the region and an arms deal in limbo.

janis mackey frayer, nbc news it, taiwan. in this country, an innovative program aims to reduce tension between police and the community by engaging students still in school with an eye toward becoming police officers themselves. it is happening in washington d.c. in an area that's seen its share of crime. we sent anne thompson to take a look. >> reporter: this is not your typical field trip. high school students at washington d.c.'s department of forensic science lab, learning how to investigate crimes and looking for clues to their future. they are students at anacostia high school's public safety academy, an area where 20% of the city's violent crimes occurred last year. >> my mom pushes me hard. she always told me just because you come from the hood doesn't mean you have to stay in the hood. >> reporter: along with a high school degree, andre davis and his classmates get six community college credits and the chance

to become a metropolitan police cadet. >> i want to be in the fbi, an agent. >> reporter: and the cadet program is the first step? >> yes. >> reporter: a cadet earns $32,000 a year and an associate's degree paid for by the department. >> everybody's on the same page with the packet. >> reporter: she runs the academy, grounded in reality. >> some students have either been stopped by police officers getting off the metro, walking home. so we try to tackle what they believe the issues are. >> reporter: police shootings nationally and police in her neighborhood made taijay odom suspicious. >> i felt annoyed by their presence at one time, but now i understand why they do the things they do. >> reporter: it works both ways. >> you do get a sense of what some of the things that these young kids are struggling with. any time we can relate better with our kids here in the city it is good for both of us. >> newsham wants future officers to come from the neighborhoods they patrol. >> i want to be the

person who prevents their next move, stops them from getting arrested again. >> reporter: making their neighborhood a better place to live and a career for themselves. anne thompson, nbc news, washington. still ahead tonight, a promising new technique for controlling chronic pain with no drugs involved.

tens of million also of americans suffer from chronic pain, and while drugs can offer relief there's a lot more awareness now about the addictive nature

of some of those pain killers. but now a new way of controlling pain has emerged using virtual reality to trick the brain. we get more from our medical correspondent dr. john torres. >> reporter: six months ago, pierre martino's left arm was in such excruciating pain, he couldn't lift a kitchen skillet, let alone this desk. >> it was getting worse and worse and worse. >> reporter: the 57-year-old didn't want to mask the problem with pain killers so he stuck it out until he found dr. kim bullock at stanford who offered him an unconventional treatment. >> so you see both hands are moving together. >> reporter: virtual reality with high tech goggles often associated with video games, now being used for something much more serious. >> what i'm finding most surprising and promising is the amount of pain relief people are having. >> reporter: dr. bullock, a neuro psychiatrist, says she made the remarkable discovery by accident while studying virtual reality for conditions like severe anxiety.

a welcome side benefit of that treatment, patients' chronic pain disappeared and quickly. >> they'll have the pain relief for at least a week, and then for some people, they have months of pain relief. >> reporter: for pierre, he is moving his pain-free arm. but when he looks through the goggles, he sees the injured arm doing the work, in this case, trying to pop balloons that are floating all around him. after five sessions he says his pain disappeared. >> the cost to me was really minimum, just a little bit of time and no side effects. >> reporter: dr. sean mackey, one of the nation's top pain experts, says the treatment works by tricking the brain. >> and that's where the excitement for vr comes in, is the opportunity to rewire our brains into a more normal state so that we're not experiencing as much pain. >> reporter: is this the future of pain management? >> i think it is one of the critical futures of pain management. >> reporter: for

patients like pierre, the future is already here. dr. john torres, nbc news, palo alto, california. very cool. up next, full military honors for a u.s. navy pilot killed in action long ago. a promise to bring him home finally fulfilled.

a solemn ceremony today in southern california where a u.s. navy pilot was finally laid to rest more than half a century after he was shot down over vietnam, and for his family, it was a promise kept. steve patterson has more tonight. >> reporter: honor and a homecoming half a century in the making. navy pilot lieutenant commander fredrick crosby, classified as killed in action for more than 50 years, was given a full

military burial in san at for the rosekrantz national cemetery in san diego. remembered today by his four children. deborah crosby was only six years old when she received the news that her father was presumed dead, likely shot down during a recon mission in north vietnam in 1965. but his body wasn't located, haunting the family for years. >> it was just such a sad story that my dad was still in vietnam and not recovered. >> reporter: she made a vow to her grandmother to one day bring his remains home. >> she lit a fire underneath me, and it was hopeful to actually take some steps towards doing something. >> reporter: the u.s. military actively searches for missing service members involved in conflicts. deborah never gave up, tracking her father's case regularly, even after her mother and grandmother passed away, until a break through just two years ago when military investigators drained

a fishing pond near where the plane went down, discovering his wedding band among the remains. >> i just burst out into tears. i was just like overwhelmed. >> reporter: lieutenant commander crosby finally returning home. >> instead of being filled with pain, we're filled with pride and we're just so happy that he's home. >> reporter: his daughter fulfilling that once far-away promise as the country honors his service and sacrifice. steve patterson, nbc news, los angeles. and when we come back, graduation day at west point and one family's extraordinary achievement.

on this memorial day weekend, we end tonight with a story about service to country and the contribution of one remarkable family. among those graduating this weekend from the u.s. military academy at west point, three brothers, a rare accomplishment that hasn't been seen at west point in decades. maya rodriguez was there. >> reporter: it's graduation time at america's oldest military academy. west point's class of 2017 preparing to leave school to serve their country as army officers. among the new second lieutenants, the three ogrydziak brothers. 23-year-old noah and 21-year-old fraternal twins cole and sumner, all graduating together. >> after high school, you know, that would

kind of be it. we'll all do our own thing, whatever that would be. >> reporter: but that's not how it turned out. each brother deciding on his own to apply to and attend west point. surprising their non-military older brother and their mom and dad, both of whom served in the coast guard. >> it was their decision to go there, not pressure from us. i'm proud as heck that they are. >> it is an honor and we're tickled. >> reporter: it is also a rarity. the last time three siblings graduated from west point at the same time, more than 30 years ago. >> they made it through this 47-month crucible. i think everyone has realized how special that is since it really does not happen very often. >> reporter: for these brothers -- >> i always think friday night pizza night, that's kind of our thing. >> reporter: that meant relying on each other through the grueling years here. >> we all go through our individual trials like every cadet does here, but it is nice when we get down time. >> i can reach out to them. >> reporter: now the trio prepares for life apart, each aware of the potential risks

ahead. >> whether you are in training or deployed in a combat scenario, there's always a chance that something could go wrong, but we accept that risk. >> reporter: but before that, one final west point task together, a pinning ceremony. their coast guard captain father getting their first salute as newly commissioned officers. >> welcome to the officer corps. >> not everyone gets this opportunity, especially siblings, so very fortunate. >> reporter: a gratitude shared among this band of brothers. maya rodriguez, nbc news, west point, new york. and we thank them and all members of the armed services. that is nbc "nightly news" for this sunday night. i'm kate snow reporting from new york. for all of us here at nbc news, have a great night. [ taps ]

more amerijust one day... s wild ride down a slide at a . right now at 6:00, just one day after a child wild ride down a slide at a dublin water slide, a third slide is now shut down. the news at 6:00 starts right now. good evening, i'm terry mcsweeney, peggy bunker is off tonight. state inspectors were on-site today trying to figure out how a 10-year-old flew out from one of the slides on to concrete. sergio quintana is live in dublin with information on another slide that closed down today. >> reporter: well, terry, there are now three slides that are built into that tower up there that are off lying, two, and including the green one called the emerald plunge where the little boy slipped off were