Llg ndrainti, President Trumps leadership during the pandemic that has killed nearly 180,000 americans as the president gets set to close out the Republican National convention tonight. Overnight authorities reveal the identity of the officer who shot jacob blake in the back and a new report there may have been a knife in blakes car. Also Police Arrested a 17yearold accused of the Fatal Shooting of those protesters. Sports on strike. The nba playoffs shut down by players, demanding justice over the Police Shooting of jacob blake. Lebron and the lakers reportedly voting to end the season. Protests in the wnba, soccer and mat me t wide world ofports . President Trumps Administration accused of pressuring the cdc to stop testing asy. Dr. Anthony fauci not signing off on these new guidelines. What the white house is saying this morning and why men might be more susceptible to the virus than women. Dr. Jha joins us live. Plus, baby daisy is here. Cover me in daisies, daisies, daisies reporter katy perry and Orlando Bloom welcome their baby girl to the world. How the new parents are celebrating and joining forces with an amazing cause. They tell me that im crazy and good morning, america. So many crises colliding in the country right now and we want to get right to the latest on hurricane laura. It made landfall overnight with a hard hit on southern louisiana. This is the strongest hurricane to hit this part of the gulf coast in history and take a look. Video from lake charles, powerful winds tearing apart skyscrapers. Theyre already seeing the catastrophic damage caused by this storm. The images coming in are terrifying. Let us tell you what we know right now. That monster storm made landfall as a major category 4 hurricane. That dangerous storm surge as high as ten feet with winds topping 150 miles an hour and there are already nearly 500,000 without power this morning. Our team is tracking it all across the storm zone. Ginger starts us off from port arthur, texas. Good morning, ginger. Reporter george, here in port arthur, texas, we were on the west side of the storm. We escaped the worst of it. Close to half a million customers are without power and that number is going to grow and ill tell you why. Lets first go to this stunning image of when this category 4 made landfall. Houston on the left was spared from the storm. The worst of it fell in southwestern louisiana, lake charles. Thats where we see the unbelievable pictures of damage today. But we still have a hurricane circulating through northern louisiana and arkansas is going to get into tornado watches and eventuallyough later today. That outer band is going to have heavy lightning and gusts. We are not going to be done with this for a while. Some of the highest wind gusts reported, 137 Miles Per Hour at lake charles. Thats the preliminary report and we may see even higher. Some of the storm surge up to ten feet so those numbers could still climb as the water pushes but for the most part were going to watch Power Outages and more inland effects from this hurricane and eventually Tropical Storm and well lose it by the weekend. T. J. . All right, ginger, thank you. Well check in with you again. We want to head over to rob marciano. Hes in lake charles, louisiana. Rob, as she just mentioned, that area saw wind gusts of 137 Miles Per Hour. Reporter hey, good morning, t. J. The rain has stopped. The winds are beginning to calm down but i can tell you it was one terrifying night. At sunset yesterday winds werent blowing at all. By midnight this hotel was swaying. Shortly after that the power went out and now debris litters this area as it does much of west lake charles with significant damage being reported here. And now we have the first confirmed fatality from the governor, a 14yearold girl killed when a tree came down on her home. I fear well see more of that as reports come in throughout the day today. Hurricane laura coming in with a vengeance. Overnight, hurricane laura tearing into the gulf coast. You can see the winds shredding this skyscraper. The whole building is falling apart reporter making landfall around 1 00 a. M. Local time in cameron, louisiana, as a category 4 hurricane. Oh, i got to get out of the debris. Reporter the monster storm bringing maximum sustained winds of 150 milvi persibi ge to zero, flying debris happening. Wind just blasting us. Reporter watch as this rv was flipped onto its side as the storm moves in. Widespread catastrophic damage expected to be revealed. You can see power lines just littering the streets and igniting. Power surges leading to this massive fire. 1 30 in the morning power went out in lake charles. The wind is buffeting our hotel. You can feel the building swaying. Reporter traffic signs ripped from the ground. Over nine feet of storm surge reported described by officials as unsurvivable. The rain has started to come down pretty fiercely and this is just the beginning. Im scared to death. Reporter over half a Million People forced to evacuate. The entire National Guard in louisiana activated. Officials warned residents staying in place could be deadly. The grounds of this hotel littered with pieces of the hotel quite frankly, the sides, parts of the roof. As a matter of fact, the manager telling me that parts of the roof actually collapsed. This place is built like a fortress so i cant imagine riding this storm out ie d it mobile homes. Well see how they faired. Right now the winds though, although theyre less, theyre blowing upstream. The storm surge is going to be an issue all day long today and debris on the roadways too. So water, debris, going to be very difficult for First Responders to get around and start recovery. Cecilia . Rob, thank you so much. We are thinking of everybody there. We want to bring in now Ashley Thomas who is in sulfur, louisiana. That is right near lake charles. Ashley, good morning to you. I know that you and your family decided to ride out this storm at home. Youre joining us now by phone. How is everybody this morning . Everybody is safe and unhurt. Okay, that is good news. Tell us about your night. I understand this ended up being much worse than you thought it would be. It did. It did end up being much worse. We thought we were safe. We had generators and our windows boarded up. We were in a home instead of a mobile home and around 2 00 a. M. , you know, the weather started getting to where it was just super bad. We got our family in our home underneath the Kitchen Table and then after being under the table for about five minutes we lost our roof. The roof came off your house, you said, while you were under the table. Yes, maam. And what happened then . Well, we heard lots of noises. The insulation fell down on top of us. After we collected our thoughts and things like that, we went to the closet, you know, just drug everything out of the closet and stayed in there until the eye passed over us. Once the eye passed over us, a friend of ours who was staying with us during the storm came to a duplex that is currently under construction at about 95 completion, and we broke through a window and we got ourselves and two other families inside the house with us. You left your home. You went outside. You went to a nearby house, ended up breaking into that house. Youre with that other family now and thats where youre calling us from . No, there is no family currently living in this house. Its under construction property and we got the other two families that stayed as well off our street into the duplex with us. Thats where you are right now calling us from safety . Yes. And did you have a sense of the conditions outside . We had three large oak trees. Theyre all down. As far as other damages, we know weve got power lines down but its still very dark here so we cant really see other than where there were trees and there are no longer trees. I know you have called police and asked for help with a rescue. Whats the status of that . We just have to wait for the storm to calm down enough to where they can send people out. I let them know we are safe and everyone is unhurt but that when resources become available and people start moving, we will need help. We are thinking of you and all of your neighbors right now. Ashley, stay safe and thank you for joining us this morning. George. Thank you. Thank you, cecilia. Lets get more now from louisianas Lieutenant Governor billy nungesser. We heard about the situation in southern louisiana there, Lieutenant Governor. What more do we know about t damage . Well, we know anyone that stayed thats close to the coast, weve got to pay for them because looking at the storm surge, there would be little chance of survival and we know as many weve heard from 50 to 150 people may have stayed behind to ride this out and in holly beach where they raised homes 15 feet after rita and many thought that might be safe, that would not survive this tidal surge. Were hopeful most people got out, but as soon as its safe for the First Responders to get in there, were hopeful that we dont find people that didnt make it. When do you think the First Responders will be able to make it in . As soon as its light enough and the winds have died down enough and they feel its safe, theyll go in. I spoke to a family around 3 30 this morning 50 miles from the coast and they said they will never ride out a storm again. They were fearing for their life about 3 30 in the morning. Do you have a sense of how many families tried to ride out the storm down there . Ive heard everything from 50 to 150. I know many family members that called me were asking me to make calls to urge their family to get out. I rode out katrina 14 miles from the eye in Plaquemines Parish and know what i went through, not a good decision, and so i tried to encourage as many people as i could to leave. Some people just dont want to leave their belongings and its very difficult along the coast of louisiana that everything theyve worked for is in those communities. Its hard to get them to leave sometimes. Were going to speak to the fema director in the next hour. Whats your greatest need right now . Getting the resources in to wres rescue people first and foremost and then making sure everyone gets a roof over their head thats lost their home. Were going to be working with that may have lost their homes and need a place to stay because were still trying to te because were still dealing with the covid19 issue and weve got to be concerned with their health in that regard as well. It is so difficult. Stay safe, sir. Thank you. T. J. . George, want to head back to ginger in port arthur, texas, for us. Ginger, whats next . Reporter t. J. , we are not done with hurricane laura yet. It is still moving through northern louisiana. Some of the gusts will topped 80 Miles Per Hour. If youre in shreveport or monroe or along the state line through arkansas, youre going to see gusts through late morning and early afternoon. Pine bluff will see a gust close to 60, 70 Miles Per Hour. Little rock could easily feel Tropical Storm force winds going into tonight. By tomorrow morning, we could even talk about a gust to 40 in memphis. Thats how hard laura is trying to hold on but this trough is going to pick her up and kick her out which well talk about just as well. For now back over to you. Cecilia . Thank you so much. Well have much more on the hurricane coming up but want to turn to the latest on the Police Shooting of jacob blake. Authorities now revealing the identity of the officer who shot the 29yearold father in the back. Alex perez is there with the very latest and, alex, another night of protests. Reporter yeah, good morning, cecilia. After three nights of violent and deadly protests, additional National Guardsmen were called in and things were peaceful here overnight. Now, authorities this morning are telling us more about the officer who shot jacob blake. Authorities identifying the kenosha officer seen in videos shooting jacob blake seven times in the back as rusten sheskey. Authorities say he is a sevenyear veteran of the force. Investigators say before the shooting, blake admitted to officers he had a knife. That knife was found on the floor inside of his vehicle. Now, separately authorities have arrested 17yearold Kyle Rittenhouse from neighboring illinois on charges of first degree murder in connection with shootings tuesday night that left two people dead and one injured. Authorities confirm rittenhouse was armed with a long gun captured on video saying he had come to the area to protect property. Now, sheskey and the two other officers who responded to that call are on administrative leave pending outcome of this investigation. George. Alex, thanks very much. Now to the Republican Convention and mike pence in the spotlight with a fullthroated defense of President Trump, bareknuckled attack on joe biden. All ahead of President Trumps big night tonight, mary bruce is at the white house with all of the highlights. Good morning, mary. Reporter good morning, george. This is where the president will be giving that big address tonight. The south lawn of the white house turned into a convention floor. Now, overnight the party ramped up its attacks against democrats warning that lawlessness will prevail if joe biden is elected. Vice president mike pence getting the biggest applause of the night when he touted President Trump as a champion of law and order. Overnight, a beaming President Trump greeting supporters flashing thumbs up and posing for pictures. Many of his supporters not in masks or socially distancing. A surprise appearance to celebrate his Vice President , mike pence, officially accepting the partys nomination. I humbly accept your nomination to run and serve as Vice President of the United States. [ applause ] reporter pence delivering the speech of the night from ft. Mchenry, the site of the battle that inspired the national anthem. Speaking before a crowd of american heroes and First Responders, pence argued American Values are on the line in this election. The choice in this election is whether america remains america. Reporter pence, the head of the Coronavirus Task force, touted the administrations response to the pandemic even as nearly 180,000 americans have died. We built hospitals, surged military medical personnel and enacted an economic rescue package to save 50 million american jobs. R hacknowledged the other crisis facing this country, addressing the unrest sparked by Police Shootings, but not the protesters root concerns or the broader fight for racial justice. The violence must stop, whether in minneapolis, portland or kenosha. Too many heroes have died defending our freedom to see Americans Strike each other down. We will have law and order on the streets of this country for every american of every race and creed and color. Reporter the Vice President assuming the role of attack dog saying joe biden poses a danger to americans, falsely claiming he wants to defund the police. The hard truth is you wont be safe in joe bidens america. Reporter night three was also a night for women as the country marks the 100th anniversary of womens suffrage. Outgoing white house adviser Kellyanne Conway with an appeal to the female voters the president sorely needs. He confides in and consults us, respects our opinions and insists that we are on equal footing with the men. Reporter now, as for tonight the president and his team have been discussing adjusting their convention plans in response to the hurricane, possibly even delaying the president s address. But as of now we are told the president s big acceptance speech here tonight is a go, george. We will be there. Our full coverage of the Republican Convention continues tonight at 7 00 p. M. On abc newslive. Ill be anchoring our primetime coverage on the network starting at 10 00. T. J. . A lot of other major headlines including what happened in the nba yesterday. The playoffs shut down by the players refusing to take the court demanding justice over the Police Shooting of jacob blake. This sparked protests in the wnba and other major league moinuprning, pressure over that major tesngc. Dr. Jha will be joining us live. First lets go back to ginger. Reporter cecilia, that surge is still piling up as that storm moves north, so were not done with all the impacts, even after the storm moves on. I also want to show you how its going to move on. As the storm gets kind of absorbed into that low pressure system you see on your screen there, its going to move with the trough across the ohio river valley. It will get sucked up with those westerlies in the jet stream and eject right into the Atlantic Ocean by saturday night into early sunday. All of this sponsored by the stormy cities and walmart. Reporter everyone here antsy to get into the rescue mode now. Guys . And we know youll track it all morning long, ginger. Thanks very much. Well be right back. No calories, no sweeteners, all smiles, bu crack a smile. peter walsh people came and they met and they felt comfortable. Its what we did with coogans. You felt safe and, if you were safe, you could be joyful. Everybody has a coogans. And almost half those small businesses, they could close if people dont do something. We have to keep our communities together. Thats how we get through this. People ar