>> my good snoons almost a 30-degree jump from tony. >> way to go, jeff. >> thank you for joining us, nightly news with lester holt is coming up next. developing news tonight. a deadly terror attack in france and a dramatic end to a supermarket hostage drama. isis claiming responsibility as a gunman goes on a rampage. police storming in with the help of a hero officer who traded places with the hostage. also developing. the stock market tanks again giving wall street its worst week in two years. retirement funds taking a hit amid new white house whiplash. is it picture proof? the lawyer for stormy daniels sends speculation to a fever pitch by issuing a challenge with a single cryptic photo. a family of four from iowa found dead in their condo on vacation in mexico. and authorities say there are no signs of bodily harm. a growing mystery tonight in paradise.

and students from across the country descending on washington preparing for a massive history-making march. >> it's not a red and blue problem. it's a red, white and blue problem. it's an american issue. >> an american generation demanding action. >> this is nbc "nightly news" with lester holt. good evening. welcome to our viewers from the west. france has been rocked again by an act of terror. after a period of relative quiet and isis defeats on the battlefield, a lone attacker reportedly calling himself a soldier of the islamic state went on a bloody shooting rampage in southern france today before being cornered at a supermarket with hostages. tonight outside paris a minute of silence as 80,000 soccer fans in france's national stadium honor the three people killed and 16 wounded in the attack.

a toll that might have been considerably higher if not for an incredibly brave act by a police officer. our chief foreign correspondent richard engel has details. >> reporter: it's a scene france and the world know too well. a lone attacker pledging allegiance to isis unleashing terror. this time holding hostages in this supermarket. police identified him as redouane lakdim, a smalltime drug dealer, police say, seen walking his younger sister to school before the shooting spree. at 10:13 a.m., lakdim hijacks a car, killing a passenger. before 11:00, he drives past a group of police officers, opening fire, injuring one of the officers. minutes later, lakdim arrives at the supermarket. i saw a person very agitated with a handgun in one hand and a knife in the other shouting allahu akbar, says a man who helped other shoppers hide in a meat locker. the dramatic standoff ending after the heroic actions of a police officer identified as arnaud beltrame selflessly trading places with

the hostages smartly leaving his phone on so officers outside can listen in. s.w.a.t. teams enter when they hear gunshots. beltrame is injured, the suspect is killed. france has been a magnet for isis violence. from an islamic radical killing four in a kosher grocery store to attacks on a concert in a stadium in paris. tonight authorities raiding the gunman's apartment and praising the actions of one brave police officer who may have saved many lives. richard engel, nbc news. it was another rough day on wall street. stocks tanking again finishing down 424 points and capping off the worst week in two years. it comes amid white house whiplash, first the fear that president trump is starting a trade war with china, then a surprise shake-up in his national security and legal teams. and this morning the sudden threat from the president that sent washington scrambling.

here's nbc's peter alexander. >> reporter: president trump tonight complaining the trillion dollar six-month spending plan cost too much without giving americans enough in return. >> i will never sign another bill like this again. >> reporter: but this time the president did, just four hours after this tweet threatening to veto it. it comes as the president takes a sharp right turn on foreign policy. president trump moving out moderates, elevating hawks. incoming national security adviser john bolton alongside hard-liner mike pompeo just tapped for secretary of state. >> i think that their history over decades is that they, like iran, like others, use negotiations to buy time to conceal their nuclear weapons and ballistic missile activities. >> reporter: the former u.n. ambassador recently calling a preemptive strike in north korea perfectly legitimate. bolton to this day a fierce defender of the u.s. military invasion of iraq. among his positions seemingly at odds with candidate trump's america-first campaign

promises. >> it's time to shake the rust off of america's foreign policy. it's time to invite new voices and new visions into the fold. >> reporter: some republicans backing bolton. >> and i think he's going to help the president shape policies that make us all safer. >> reporter: but critics warn he's a dangerous and destabilizing presence. >> john bolton may have a fuzzy mustache, but he has very sharp elbows. you can hear the drums of war beginning to rise. >> reporter: the dramatic changes come at a crucial time just weeks before president trump said he'd meet with dictator kim jong-un ahead of a looming deadline over whether to recertify the iran nuclear deal and a scheduled move of the u.s. embassy in israel to jerusalem. lester? >> peter alexander at the white house tonight, thank you. we'll turn now to the scandalous allegations against president trump. the attorney for an adult film actress now appearing to suggest photographic proof of her alleged affair with the president while a former playboy playmate is breaking

her silence about her alleged sexual relationship with mr. trump. nbc news white house correspondent kristen welker has the story. >> reporter: tonight the president ignoring questions about the sex scandals swirling around him. >> thank you all very much. >> reporter: but now the attorney for one of those women, porn star stormy daniels, tweeting this mysterious photo. if a picture is worth a thousand words, how many words is this worth? as another woman holds nothing back in her emotional new interview. >> i know it's the wrong thing to do. >> reporter: karen mcdougal claiming she had a ten-month affair with donald trump. the former playboy playmate telling cnn's anderson cooper it began in 2006. >> what everyone sees on tv, i didn't see in that man because that man was very sweet, very respectful, very loving. >> were you in love with him? >> i was, yeah. mm-hmm. >> and do you think he was in love with you? >> he was, yeah. >> reporter: mcdougal claiming mr. trump once handed her money

after sex. >> i looked at him and i said, that's not me. i'm not that kind of girl. >> reporter: she says she ended the relationship out of guilt. >> if melania trump is watching this, what would you want her to know? >> i'm sorry. i wouldn't want it done to me. >> reporter: the proof mcdougal offered of the affair, her journal entries with d.t. to mark time they spent together and group photos with the president and his family. mcdougal now suing the publisher of "the national enquirer" saying it bought the rights to her story in 2016 never intending to publish it, but the publisher tells nbc news that's untrue and that karen has been free, has spoken freely and remains free to speak regarding her story. the white house has called her allegations of an affair totally untrue and fake news. kristen welker, nbc news, the white house. a late move by the justice department tonight issuing a proposed ban on firearm bumpstocks that president trump promised in the wake of the parkland high school massacre.

under the proposal, anyone who owns a bumpstock would have to destroy it. this comes on the eve of what could be one of the largest protests in u.s. history called the march for our lives. students from parkland joining millions of other teens in cities from coast to coast to demand gun law reforms. nbc's kerry sanders has more from washington where they're expecting a massive crowd. >> reporter: today hundreds of marjory stoneman douglas students arrived in washington fed up with school shootings in parkland, florida, and across the nation, upwards of 500,000 people here planning a march for our lives tomorrow. are you touched by the fact that kids are coming from all over the united states for this? >> i'm absolutely touched by it. i think it shows that there's a massive amount of support for this movement. >> we call b.s. >> reporter: they say they're protesting legislative inaction. >> it's not a red and blue problem. it's a red, white and blue problem. it's an american issue. it's a public issue that we need to get that through

everyone's, like, mind. >> reporter: this movement still raw for many of the kids coalescent in a remarkable five weeks and three days. virginia senator tim kaine telling the teens too young to vote this just doesn't happen in washington like this. >> you have started something that is incredibly powerful. >> reporter: former vice president joe biden today. >> they're going to change the gun culture because they have no agenda. >> reporter: with rallies in 800 locations in the nation and around the world, there's a sense what's happening now is not far removed from another powerful movement. >> i absolutely think this is kind of like the protests of the vietnam war because we're having a war on our streets. blood, american young blood is being spilled every day. >> reporter: hoping their message takes root from the streets of washington all the way back home. kerry sanders, nbc news, washington. in a tragic reminder of why these students are protesting, one of the victims wounded in a shooting at a maryland

high school on tuesday has died. 16-year-old jaelynn willey's family took her off life support overnight. she was shot by a fellow student. police say the two had a relationship that recently ended. the shooter died at the scene. for a second day, protests have spilled into the streets of sacramento as outrage grows over the police shooting death of an unarmed man who was standing in his grandparents' yard. as we reported, police have released videos of the incident. we do want to warn you, the images are disturbing. nbc's joe fryer now with the latest. >> justice. >> no peace. >> reporter: on sacramento's streets anger amplified over the death of stephon clark with protesters marching again today through downtown. >> i don't care what color he was, no person on this earth deserves to be shot down like that. >> reporter: last night hundreds shut down interstate traffic before forming a human chain around the sacramento kings basketball arena keeping most fans from getting in the game. >> this is what we

have to do not only for this young man but those who will come behind him. >> reporter: this all comes after the city released video and audio clips of the shooting which left clark, a father of two, dead. >> all i can tell is he's got a hoodie on. >> reporter: after reports of a man breaking car windows, police confronted clark in the backyard of his grandparents' house and say they thought clark was holding a weapon. >> show me your hands. gun, gun, gun. >> reporter: after two officers fired 20 shots, they found no weapons only clark's cell phone. >> he was judged, he was sentenced and he was executed. >> reporter: police say more videos from other officers who responded will eventually be released. what is your message to the community right now? >> at this point, we're asking for the community to be patient. >> black lives matter! >> reporter: as the investigation and the protests continue. joe fryer, nbc news, sacramento. investigators are searching for the cause of a massive

five-alarm fire overnight on the set of a new movie directed by edward norton starring bruce willis and alec baldwin. tonight the new york city fire department is mourning one of their own who died while fighting the inferno. nbc's kristen dahlgren has the story. >> we have a missing member. the fast truck has yet to find this guy. >> reporter: as the fire consumed what had minutes before been a movie set, 15-year fdny veteran michael davidson was at the front of the hose team. >> somehow while backing out of that building firefighter davidson was separated from the rest of the unit. >> reporter: the 37-year-old father of four young children, cited for bravery and life saving actions in the past, didn't survive. >> i was scared. i was really scared. >> reporter: spellman was in his second floor apartment when he was rescued by firefighters. >> i mean it's big because they risk their lives. >> reporter: the blaze began overnight in the basement below what used to be a historic jazz club converted into a set for the edward norton film

"motherless brooklyn" starring bruce willis and alec baldwin. many cast and crew on the scene as the fire started. >> we were ready to wrap up and go home and smoke was coming from the ceiling. >> reporter: tonight vintage cars from the movie still line the street as investigators try to determine what sparked the inferno. the film's producers offering condolences calling the firefighters real life superheroes. heroes hurting today, mourning the loss of one of their own. kristen dahlgren, nbc news, new york. here in california, dramatic high water and swift water rescues after a record-shattering amount of rainfall one after the other from the air, on boats and in the water. first responders and good samaritans scrambled to pull the trapped to safety. one man saved when a stranger smashed his window with a rock as the water rose around his vehicle way too fast. the good news tonight the rain has finally stopped. the fallout continues tonight for

facebook as leaders of house and senate committees have both asked ceo mark zuckerberg to testify. and there are reports of overseas that uk authorities have raided the london offices of cambridge analytica, the data firm accused of accessing the personal information of millions of unsuspecting facebook users. just weeks ahead of president trump's pending meeting with north korea's kim jong-un, the u.s. is making a major show of force in the region with its advanced new stealth fighter jet which has experienced some turbulence on its way to deployment. nbc news pentagon correspondent hans nichols gives us an up close look aboard the "uss wasp" in the philippine sea. >> reporter: in the air, it's stealth. but taking off in asian waters its roar is loud and clear. a message to china and north korea that the u.s. has placed its most high-tech fighter within striking range. this month combat ready at sea these stealth marine fighters can quickly launch and land nearly

undetected by enemy radar. these f-35s turn amphibious assault ships into mini aircraft carriers. it's a new capability. the $120 million planes are arriving at sea after major cost overruns and delays. there have been some problems with this plane. is it really ready to fight tonight? >> our aircraft and our squadron is ready to fight and win at any moment our nation calls upon us. >> reporter: and that means fight tonight? >> yes, sir, fight tonight. >> reporter: the technology is a quantum leap. >> stealth fighters from the sea teamed with a broader navy group of ships. >> reporter: this aircraft designed to outfly and outsmart fighters from russia and china, but the more immediate threat is from north korea and next month war games with allies. is "the wasp" going to take part in those training exercises? >> what i will tell you is we operate routinely with all the partner navies in the region. >> reporter: awaiting orders the f-35bs are ascending a strong message simply by their presence. hans nichols, nbc news, aboard the "uss wasp" in the philippine sea. still ahead tonight, spring break

nightmare. an american family of four on vacation in mexico found dead inside their condo. what caused such a horrifying tragedy? also scary moments at a theme park. a prehistoric attraction suddenly bursts into flames. stay with us.

we're now back to tell you about a family tragedy and a growing mystery in mexico. an american couple and their two children found dead during their vacation. authorities are searching for answers about how they died. we get late details now from nbc's blake mccoy. >> reporter: tragedy in paradise. iowa family kevin and amy sharp along with their two kids, sterling and andrianna, found dead in their vacation rental condominium today in akumal, mexico, near tulum. they were found a week after their family had last heard from them prompting social media posts and worry in tiny creston, iowa. there was no foul play.

mexican authorities saying no trauma to the bodies. autopsy results are pending. >> just heartbreaking to think you know they probably saved for how long for this trip and they were excited about it. and for something like this to happen is just unfathomable. >> reporter: a new security alert was recently issued by the state department for that part of mexico after an explosion on a tourist ferry in playa del carmen. 25 people injured including u.s. citizens. local media reported a drug gang had taken credit for the blast. tonight, with this young iowa family dead, fresh concern about travel to the spring break hot spot. blake mccoy, nbc news. we'll take a break here. when we come back, the troubling sight in the ocean. twice as big as texas and getting bigger by the day.

caught on camera. the ball of fire that wiped out the t. rex. not tens of millions of years ago, but

yesterday at a theme park in colorado where a life-sized animatronic tyrannosaurus rex went up in flames. the co-owner of the park says it appears to have been triggered by an electrical malfunction. he joked about the loss of the 24-foot-tall t. rex. he said we knew he had a temper but today he blew his top. there's a staggering new look tonight at the amount of pollution flowing through our oceans. researchers say the so-called great pacific garbage patch, a massive collection of floating trash between california and hawaii is now 600,000 square miles. by comparison, that's twice the size of texas. it contains about 1.8 trillion pieces of trash. absolutely amazing. when we come back, your first look at our powerful new nbc news special. as we near 50 years since the assassination of mlk. what we )

the driver )s connection to the bay area. and a bad break for the giants ) best pitcher. madbum )s freak

injury and how long he )ll be out. next finally tonight, as we approach next month's 50th anniversary of martin luther king jr.'s assassination, i'm hosting a special documentary tomorrow night that looks at the civil rights movement through the lens of how television news captured it at the time and how dr. king proved to be far more media savvy than he's often remembered for. >> we have no moral choice but to continue the struggle not for ourselves alone but for all americans. >> reporter: king developed a strategy of resistance that was designed to challenge the status quo. while never making white america feel threatened. he consciously set about creating a character palatable to all of america. martin luther king understood that if you're only telling

the story, you know, among the black press and among black people, you're preaching to the choir. you've got to get outside the church. >> what special instructions or advice has been given to the negro people? >> if there is violence, that it must not come from negro people. >> reporter: king's efforts to woo the media started to pay off. soon king was the story, and the story was the movement. >> more than 12 months now we, the negro citizens of montgomery, have been engaged in a nonviolent protest. >> reporter: the boycotters faced death threats and persecution, but under the leadership of dr. king they mounted a successful and peaceful campaign. facing financial crisis and failing in the courts, the city of montgomery relented and ordered that black passengers be allowed to sit anywhere.

the two-hour premiere of "hope & fury: mlk, the movement and the media" airs tomorrow night at 8:00, 7:00 central here on nbc. that's "nightly news" for this friday night. i'm lester holt. for all of us at nbc news, thank you for watching and good night.som right now at 6:00, propane tanks, gas cans and lighters. some scary new details tonight about a bay area cabdriver who stormed a local air force base. the news at 6:00 starts right now. thanks for joining us, everyone. >> tonight fbi agents say that attack at travis air force base does not appear to be terrorism. a few hours ago. the driver, a 51-year-old man with ties to the area had a gasoline can on his lap that he set ablaze when he roared

through the checkpoint. laura, at this point do we have any idea what the motive is for all this mayhem? >> reporter: no, we do not. and that all happened right here at the main gate at travis air force base. take a look at some cellphone video that captures the moments right after the crash and the explosion. we learned that the driver was a 51-year-old. the fbi says he is a legal permanent resident of the united states originally from india. he's lived in the u.s. since 1993. investigators say he had five propane tanks and three plastic one gallon gas cans in his suv. the fbi is still trying to figure out where he last lived. they say he lived in the bay area at some point. most importantly investigators are trying to determine his motive. they're not calling it a terrorism investigation at this point. agents can