Role of dads has changed. Were kicking off a week of honest revelations and cantmiss surprises, today, monday, june 9th, 2014. From nbc news, this is today, with matt lauer and savannah guthrie, live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to today on a rainy monday morning. Matt has the morning off. So willie geist is filling in. Good to be with you all. Another big story were going to be talking about this morning, California Chrome failing to win the triple crown at the belmont. A lot of people talked about the interview that steve coburn gave afterward. Hes one of the coowners of California Chrome. Fiery, going after the owners of the winner tonalist. Were going to talk to bob costas about that in just a couple minutes. A lot of people are saying, the comments of a sore loser or is he making a good point . Well talk to bob in a few minutes. But were going to get to todays top story. That deadly shooting in las vegas. It all started when two Police Officers were deliberately ambushed as they sat down for lunch. Nbcs mike taibbi has the latest. Reporter it began at a pizza restaurant on the north side of las vegas. 11 22 in the morning and two suspects, a man and a woman, walked up to two metro Police Officers and opened fire at pointblank range. What precipitated this event, we do not know. My officers were simply having lunch when the shooting started. Reporter shot dead in the line of duty, 41yearold alyn beck, and 31yearold igor soldo, both with young children. Police say a witness said one of the suspects shouted this is the start of the revolution and that both suspects then stripped the officers of weapons and ammunition before they left the restaurant, crossed the parking lot to a walmart store, and shot and killed a civilian they confronted by the entrance. Police say the two suspects then entered the store, exchanged gunfire with the first police to respond, and then ended the lethal episode with an apparent suicide pact. The female suspect shot the male suspect, then took her own life. Reporter as the drama unfolded, there was panic in the store. A lot of people ran to the bathrooms. A lot of people, you know, scared. Reporter and a claim by the suspects, a store employee said, that they had targeted the two Police Officers. They said the revolution has begun. They said they shot some officers, and basically get out of the store if you dont want to get hurt. Reporter the stores employees were all bussed to a secure location, where according to one twitter posting, they would be evaluated for stress. A walmart statement called the shootings a senseless act of violence, adding that the store will remain closed during what is still an active investigation. The Las Vegas Review journal quotes Police Sources this morning as saying the suspects were antigovernment conspiracy buffs and threatened to kill cops and that after shooting these two officers, they draped the bodies with a banner featuring a coil snake and the words dont tread on me. Savannah . Mike taibbi on the case in las vegas this morning. Thank you. Were learning more this morning about the conditions faced by Sergeant Bowe bergdahl during his captivity in afghanistan. While in washington, the debate rages on over the controversial deal that led to his release. Nbcs Richard Engel is in landstuhl, germany, once again this morning. Richard, good morning. Reporter good morning, willie. Sergeant bergdahl has begun to tell his story to u. S. Military officials. Its been nine days since he was freed from captivity, but he still hasnt spoken to his parents, who are now receiving Death Threats. Bergdahl has told military officials his captivity was a terrifying and lonely ordeal, with long periods of solitary confinement that only got worse when he tried to escape. He was locked in a tiny space like a box, kept in the dark, treated harshly. But did the Obama Administration pay too high a price to release him . Was his swap for five taliban leaders illegal, and will the freed men return to the battlefield . Im not telling you that they dont have some ability at some point to go back and get involved, but they also have an ability to get killed doing that. Reporter fellow soldiers accuse bergdahl of deliberately wandering off his base five years ago. The army has launched an inquiry. We want this soldier to come home, be interrogated by an expert, and lets get all the facts on the table. They will make judgments, they will evaluate it, and if he needs to be tried in a military court, he will be. Reporter public reaction has been swift, and now turns threatening. The fbi confirming bergdahls parents have received Death Threats and are reportedly under police protection. Theyve not been seen publicly since returning to hailey, idaho, following the rose garden reception. Bowe has a good heart and its going to come out somethings going to come out that will exonerate him, i believe. Reporter the taliban have also been remarkably talkative about bergdahl. They say they never kidnapped him, they were surprised to find him alone outside his base. They said that bergdahl never wanted to join up with the militant group, never tried to convert to islam, but that he was speaking angrily about other soldiers. The taliban says they found the whole thing so unusual, they were initially suspicious of bergdahl and thought he had been specifically planted there by other u. S. Troops to spy on them. More than a week since his release and still a lot of questions. Richard engel in germany this morning. Thanks, richard. Lets turn to natalie for the story of a brazen terror attack in a major city. The taliban claiming responsibility for an attack on pakistans busiest airport. The assault claimed dozens of lives and shut down the airport for hours. Nbcs keir simmons has the details. Keir, good morning. Reporter good morning. The largest airport in pakistan was burning through the night, a stunning attack on the cargo terminal of karachi airport. At least 23 people have been killed, ten of them militants. The attack clearly planned. The attackers disguised themselves as airport security. This morning, five hours after fighting, the flames are being extinguished, but the raid leaves the peace talks in ashes and highlights the challenges the u. S. Faces with the taliban in both pakistan and neighboring afghanistan, natalie. All right, keir simmons monitoring the story for us from london. Thank you, keir. A historic prayer meeting at the vatican this morning joined palestinian president mahmo Mahmoud Abbas and israeli president simon peres joined pope francis to pray for peace. The vatican officials insist there was no political agenda behind the summit. The pope invited the two leaders to join him two weeks ago while he was visiting the holy land. The Canadian Military has now joined the massive search for three fugitives who escaped from prison saturday night by helicopter. Two of the inmates were awaiting trial on drug charges. Details on the third were not released. Police say the helicopter landed briefly at a prison near quebec, picked up the prisoners and flew west toward montreal. This is the second prison escape by chopper in canada in a little more than a year. And finally, the ac was on and so was lebron james during game two of the nba finals in san antonio. After being the butt of jokes for days because of his leg cramping during thursdays opener, james silenced his critics sunday night. He had 35 points, ten rebounds, helping to bring the heat to a 9896 victory over the spurs. The series is now tied. Game three tuesday in miami. Back and better than ever. Thats how you answer your critics. Natalie, thank you. Speaking of the heat, what are we looking at this week . No heat in the east, just a lot of rain. But weve got some heavy thunderstorms going on right now down through the southwest and into the plains. In fact, right now in dallas, theyve got a ground stop at the airport. We look at those heavy thunderstorms ahead of this front. Weve got that warm front pushing in, so we are going to be looking at strong storms today. In fact, those will push in through the southeast on into the gulf coast. Heavy storms wrapping in behind this low pressure here. So we are watching a risk of Severe Weather today, stretching from texas all the way up into western tennessee. Much of texas from san angelo on into memphis. Plus weve got flash flood watches in effect stretching from texas all the way into tennessee as well. Why . Well, some of these thunderstorms are going to drop upwards of three to five inches in an hour or two. Locally three to four inches of rain in a three to sixhour time period in parts of the southern plains, so were going to be watching this very closely for flash flooding. Were going to get to your local forecast coming up in the next 30 seconds. 0 seconds. It whispers, one more game, one more swim, one more round. And it speaks softly through the cool nights, murmuring, one more log, one more marshmallow, one more walk along the shore. The perfect summer is waiting. The perfect summer is pure michigan. Your trip begins at michigan. Org. 7 10 now. Good monday morning. Im meteorologist Christina Loren. A little bit of fog to show you, but thats it high atop the san bruno mountain. Temperatures will arrive to 101 degrees out in the extreme east bay. 88 for the peninsula. 93 degrees in the north bay. The sevenday forecast in moments. And tha ur latest weather. Now to some new information this morning on the condition of emmy nominee tracy morgan. The former snl and 30 rock star critically injured in a deadly Chain Reaction accident over the weekend. Nbcs craig melvin is at the hospital in new jersey where morgan underwent surgery on sunday. Craig, good morning. Reporter willie, good morning to you. 45yearold tracy morgan is still in Critical Condition at this hospital. That surgery was on his leg yesterday. He broke a leg. He broke a thigh bone. He broke his nose. He also broke several ribs. But a rep for morgan told us yesterday that despite that, he is a bit more responsive than he has been, and that is an encouraging sign. A deadly scene on a new jersey highway early saturday morning. A tractortrailer slammed into a mercedes limo bus carrying comedian and actor tracy morgan and six others, tossing it on its side and sending it spinning into a truck and an suv. I was driving. I was facedown on the asphalt. Reporter morgans driver never saw it coming. It was unreal. I didnt know what happened. Shattering glass and things like that. It all happened so fast. Reporter tracy morgan was returning from this friday Night Performance at a delaware casino when his limo bus was struck. Also onboard, comedian ardie fuqua, who posted these videos on facebook right before the crash. Hes also in Critical Condition. Killed in that crash, morgans good friend and fellow comic, 63yearold james mcnair, better known as jimmy mack. Police say kevin roper was driving the walmart tractortrailer and didnt see traffic ahead in time. The 35yearold turned himself in to police shortly after the accident. Morgan burst on to the scene as an snl cast member, then became a star on nbcs 30 rock. You stayed because you love me. Reporter well wishes from worried fans and friends flooded social media. Lets hope for a full and speedy recovery for tracy and the others involved in that crash from 30 rock costar alec baldwin. This morning, so many of those hes made laugh are praying and hoping that the father of four makes a full recovery. We are expected to see kevin roper in court this morning. Hes been charged with death and assault by auto. Hes out on 50,000 bail. Tracy morgan is expected to be in this hospital for several weeks. Willie, savannah, back to you. We are all rooting for tracy. Everybody involved in the accident. Lets not forget jimmy mack, who lost his life. A great comedian and took a lot of young comedians under his wing, so were thinking about his family as well. Thanks so much. We move now to the controversy over California Chromes failed bid to win the triple crown on saturday. His owner is grabbing headlines for comments that are stirring up a lot of horse racing talk. Todays Dylan Dreyers got the story on that. Good morning to you. Good morning, guys. After his horse came up short, steve coburn lashed out, calling some fellow owners who only ran their horses in the belmont, cowards. Is the fiery coburn a sore loser or on to something that needs to change to end the triple crown drought . Theyre off in the Belmont Stakes. The Belmont Stakes didnt give us history saturday, but it did deliver controversy. This is the cowards way out. Just moments after favorite California Chromes triple crown dream faded, finishing in a tie for fourth it wont be a triple crown this year his coowner steve coburn didnt hold back in his postrace comments. Its not fair to these horses that have been in the game since day one. Coburn blamed a fresh field for the loss, as eight of the other ten horses chrome was up against had not competed in both the Kentucky DerbyCalifornia Chrome shines bright and the preakness. California chrome has won the preakness in an interview this morning, coburn seemed to regret his harsh words. I need to apologize to the winners. They raced a good race. They deserved that. Belmont winner tonalist did not run either of the first two triple crown legs. His trainer conceded chromes fatigue was a disadvantage. Three races in five weeks. Theres something to be said about having a fresh horse. As did chromes disappointed jockey. Today, i feel like his energy was not the same like before. But racing against a fresh field is a hurdle that all 11 previous triple crown winners have also had to overcome. Affirmeds got a nose in front. And a major reason that the title has eluded every horse since affirmed, way back in 1978. With California Chromes loss saturday, the triple crown drought now stands at 36 years. In that span, he is the 13th horse to win the first two legs ile coming up short in the last and longest race at belmont park. Savannah . All right, dylan, thank you. Lets bring in bob costas. Bob, good morning to you. Hey, savannah. You were there. Lets set aside just for a moment the larger point that steve coburn makes. What about the timing of these remarks . Right after the win. He calls the other racers cowards. Was that bad timing . Bad timing, bad sportsmanship, sour grapes, sore loser, bad in every respect. Plus, hes not the only one. Of the 13 foiled bids, five of the horses that thwarted a triple crown in the belmont, five of them raced only in the belmont. Another five raced only in two of the three. Only three out of the 13 that won the belmont had run in all three of the races. So coburn and his connections, the rest of California Chromes connections are not alone in this frustration. So it wasnt a shining moment for him to be bringing it up right then. But, does he race a legitimate point about whether the deck is stacked against any horse who tries to do all three races . He raises a point that should be debated, and many people who know horse racing a lot better than i do come down on either side of the issue. There are those who say look, you have to have historical coherence, and thats why its so difficult to do. And if you change the format and make it a little bit easier, then you wont be able to compare whoever becomes the 12th triple crown winner to the 11 who have preceded that horse. But it is a fact that the last nine belmonts have all been won by horses that skipped the preakness. Fresher horses have an advantage. Do you think this will lead to change, or is this just a moment in time . It will lead to a debate, and like i say, ive spoken with people like our randy moss, whos part of our nbc coverage. Bob neumeier feels one way, leave it the way it is. Randy moss says leave it the way it is. Moss says modern horses are bred and trained. Theyre less durable, at least perceived to be less durable. And if you dont win the Kentucky Derby, many trainers say lets skip the preakness, we cant win the triple crown, well be fresh for the belmont. So if you spread it out, some people say, say you put a month in between, you still have the derby first saturday in may, then go four weeks to the preakness, then go another four weeks to the belmont, then horses will be fresher. And the counterargument to it would make it easier is, well, more quality horses would then enter the preakness. More quality horses would have an incentive or their trainers would to enter them in all three races, so the overall quality of the competition would be better. The debate continues. You just outlined why it is worthy of debate. Bob, always nice to see you early in the morning. Guys, back to you. Savannah, bob, thanks a lot. This has a lot of people talking online. It was a big talker for us. We were glued to that interview. Whats up in the orange room . Thats what the social media is still buzzing about. The Belmont Stakes and tonalists win over California Chrome. And the fact that tonalist didnt compete in the other two races. The Kentucky Derby or the preakness. And then goes on to win at the Belmont Stakes. California chrome competed in all three. So we asked online, is it fair that California Chrome lost to a horse that didnt run in the derby or the preakness . And 83 , the majority of you said no, its not fair because tonalist goes in and hes wellrested, whereas California Chromes a little more tired out. 17 said yes. And they said yes because, you know, these are the rules. This is what happens. And its almost like its too easy if there isnt that added challenge there. So 83 , though, are saying that it is not fair. So lets keep the conversation going. Go on to our facebook. 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