A 4yearold girl dies in a road rage shooting in new mexico, the gunman on the lose this morning. We are begging for the communitys help. Police launching a frantic search to identify and find him. Shipping wars. With just 64 days until christmas, how your Favorite Stores and websites are ramping up to get you your packages faster than ever. And the future seemed so far off when they fired up the flux capacity back in 1985, but that day is finally here, and the cast of back to the future has fast forwarded their way for an exclusive interview, today. Wednesday, october 21st, 2015. Announcer from nbc news, this is today with matt lauer and Savannah Guthrie live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Ah, good morning. Welcome to today on a wednesday morning. You dont get to see many of those on the streets anymore. Theres the delorean from back to the future, and it is a Good Opportunity for me to look at you, savannah, and say you are my density. You are my density, too, matt. Im so happy the delorean is here. Were ready to reminisce about the future. Is that how it works . Something like that, yeah. Fun to catch up with those stars of the move i, but, first, our top story. Major power moves in washington. Wisconsin congressman paul ryan taking steps to become the next House Speaker. Flirtation with a president ial run, some saying hes trying to rewrite history. A lot of moving parts. We have them all covered beginning on capitol hill with nbc National Correspondent peter alexander. Peter, good morning to you. Reporter hey, matt, good morning to you. House speaker is the third most powerful office in the land, and paul ryan initially said he wasnt interested in the job. Now he says hes willing to step up if the divided party will stand firmly behind him. As he privately told colleagues last night, im willing to take back. Running with reservations. This is not a job ive ever wanted, ever sought. Reporter paul ryan going publicly tuesday shortly after meeting privately with house republicans. Tentatively agreeing to serve as speaker of his divided party, if they will reknew the behind him. My greatest worry is the consequence of not stepping up, of something having my own kids ask me when the stakes were so high, why didnt you do all you could do . Reporter among ryans demands the married father of three making a point not related to the house but to his home. Last point is personal. I can not and i will not give up my family time. Reporter tapped in 2012 as mitt romneys running mate 45yearold wisconsin congressman has long been seen as a rising republican star, but after hearing him speak tuesday some conservatives remain unconvinced. I didnt know what the event was tonight. If i knew it was a paul ryan rally for speaker of the house i wouldnt be here. Reporter a taste of the gridlock and infighting that frustrated outgoing speaker john boehner. Why should ryan even consider taking the job after the treatment you received as House Speaker in this job . Well, somebody has to have this job. Reporter paul ryan setting friday as the deadline for his party to decide if that somebody is him. Now more than ever we must work together. Reporter paul ryan took ten days during the recess to think about it. Hes now giving the members of his party the next couple of days to think about it themselves before making a decision. Jason chaffetz his potential opponent says hell support ryan, but another conservative congressman says hes still running against him. The time is ticking, however, for not just the party but for the country with several deadlines looming to keep the government open and to pate countrys outstanding bills or face default. Matt and savannah. Peter alexander on capitol hill, peter, thanks very much. Vice President Biden still keeping everyone guessing about his president ial ambitions, but, boy, is he starting to sound like an actual canned day. Nbcs White House CorrespondentKristen Welker is on the biden watch again for us this morning. Kristen, good morning to you. Reporter good morning to you. From taking jabs at Hillary Clinton to talking about the importance of bipartisanship, Vice President joe biden seemed to be laying out a defense of candidacy. His supporters say they are one thing missing, the candidate. In a night honoring former president jimmy carter and his Vice President walter mondale, Vice President joe biden touted his own close relationship with the current commander in chief. I spend five to seven hours a day with him every day for the past seven years, exswhept we were out of country. Reporter biden wasting no time seeming to take on democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton, flexing his muscles on foreign policy. John kerry is a great secretary of state. Hillary clinton is a great secretary of state, but there are times when only the Vice President if its known of his relationship with the president can speak for the united states. And for the third time in two clinton who called republicans her enemies last week. Its mostly important that everybody in this room understand the other team is not the enemy. Reporter earlier in the day biden raised eyebrows when he recounted his advice to president obama about whether to authorize the Osama Bin Laden raid. I told him my opinion, that i thought he should go but to follow his own instincts. Reporter but that account differs from bidens description to nbc news during an interview taped for the 2012 special the situation room when biden said he urge the the president to get more information first. I think theres time to do it before you move. Reporter but despite all the signs, biden remains undecided. The president of the powerful International Association of firefighters and is in close contact with the Vice President. We are preparing, as if the Vice President is going to announce his canned circumstances and we would not be preparing for that if we werent fully ready and prepared on behalf of that candidacy. Reporter secretary Hillary Clinton had south but failed to secure that unions endorsement and, of course, labor is a key constituency for democrats. Sources say the Vice President is taking yet another look at the big picture as he gets closer to making this decision. Savannah, matt . All right, Kristen Welker, thank you so much. Lets turn to msnbc political analyst Nicolle Wallace whoer is of the asled White House Communications director for president george w. Bush. Nicole, good morning. Good morning. Biden in a moment and lets go back to pal ryan, our top story. This is so interesting saying ill run for speaker under these five or so condition. Is that good politics and secondly will it work . Weve been looking for a fullout hero on our side quoting the back to the future anthem. Hes taking a lot of consideration from the republicans and the hardliners in the Freedom Caucus may respond to strength. Have not responded to efforts to pacify them from Speaker Boehner and kevin mccarthy, so i think it was a moment everyone knows that paul ryan is of superior intellect. I think he showed his superior political skills. But youre talking about strength. Hes using the ticking congress saying congress has a lot on its operate it has to deal with. Weve got to get a decision on this and let me know by friday, but when you look at things coming up like the debt ceiling and spending like that what does his resume tell you . Is he going to end up facing the same kind of showdown that von boehner faced. I think that was on his mind when he spoke to the country last night pause he said we will not be the party of opposition. We will be the party of proposition, so i think if he plans to go along you know, this is the majority of the republicans in congress. Not the majority of republicans in the condition try that want to shut down the government and employ these tactics on the issues as serious as the ones just mentioned. I think what he did by putting the ball back in their court. Hey, get back to me, ill do it but only if youre all behind me was absolutely brilliant. Lets talk about Vice President joe biden, if you forced me to take a guess up until yesterday i said, you know, he probably wont run. I have to say after he talked about the bin laden raid and kind of recasting his role and saying, well, you know, i did i did tell the president you should go for it, that sounds like a president ial candidates trying to burnish the image. And shoring up what he views as political vulnerability. Listen, i am a joe biden fan. Joe biden still has a lane to run in. Hillary clinton is formidable. We talked last week about how she did everything she had to do in that debate, but she is still more head candidate than a heart candidate and im not sure if joe biden being the heart candidate of the democrats is enough to topple her, but it would certainly be a race. Nicolle wallace, thank you so much. We want to remind everybody, by the way, matt is going to be hosting a town hall meeting with republican frontrunner donald trump and New Hampshire voters. Thats monday on today f. Have you questions for mr. Trump. Use the trumptoday. Lets turn now to a surprise visit overnight making headlines around the world. Syrian leader Bashar Al Assad meeting with russian president Vladimir Putin in moscow. Nbcs key simmons has more on that. Good morning to you. Reporter good morning. This is president assads first time outside syria since the war began and when he met with putin the aim may be to send a warning to washington and president obama signaling that the line between putin and assad is stronger than ever. President asaid seated next to president putin, the syrian leaders dramatic moscow visit announced for the first time this morning. Assad arrived in secre last night. Syria is russias friend, putin said in a statement, wishing assad a warm welcome. Contrast that with the tension between president obama and russias leader last month. The Syrian People have been resistance and fighting these international terrorists, putin told his guests. Russias air campaign over syria has increased in recent days, moscow says, targeting what it calls terrorist extremist groups. On the ground that has meant striking both isis and rebels supported by the west. Anyone opposed to assad. The talks overnight centered on coordinating military action in syria, the kremlin said, while the u. S. Has agreed measures with russia to minimize the risk of accidents in the air. The pentagon making clear that cooperation does not mean u. S. Support for russias policy. We continue to believe that russias strategy in syria is counterproductive and their support for the assad regime will only make syrias civil war worse. Reporter but the reply from moscow seems unmistakable. President putin did call for a political settlement, but washington and moscow are still fundamentally divided, matt, over whether assad should go, already back home today, the very fact that he was prepared to travel, suggests, matt, that he feels more secure. Much. To new mexico where police are trying desperately to track down a suspect in a chilling road rage shooting, and the victim was a 4yearold girl. Nbcs jacob rascon is on the story this morning. Jacob, good morning. Morning. Yet another incident of deadly. This time victim an innocent little girl, an conflicting witness accounts are making the search for a suspect that much more difficult. A search for suspects is under way this morning after police found this red truck pulled over on the highway. Three people inside, including a 4yearold girl, who was shot in the head. The 4yearold child has passed away. Reporter authorities blame road rage. Janell tafoya said she saw it happen the truck was literally going across several lanes and just to avoid this vehicle to pass. From what we understand the cars were both moving, one car pulled up around the other car and started firing rounds into that vehicle. Reporter according to the National TransportationSafety Administration over a sevenyear period road rage led to 218 murders and 122,000 injuries n. New mexico, the local sheriff says this latest incident is disturbing. This is one of those crimes thats unexplainable. Its 100 preventable and did not have to happen, and we need to rise up as a community and say enough is enough. Reporter conflicting witness reports make it difficult to describe the vehicle that got away. We are begging for the communitys help. Reporter search still on, an innocent life taken as aggressive driving once again turns deadly. The witness who talked to nbc news says that the other vehicle involved was a red sedan, but police have also heard other descriptions. They are simply begging anyone who might know something about this incident to please come forward. Guys, back to you. Hoping they can get that word out. Jacob rascon, thank you. Lets turn to al to take a look at Severe Weather down in the southwest. Thats right. This was from morristown, arizona, 50 miles northwest of phoenix, tornado almost touching down. Big funnel cloud, and then lets go to el paso, texas, and show you some incredible hail thats literally stripping leaves off trees. Guess what. Theres more of that same weather and same area today. We are looking at heavy showers from texas on into new mexico today that weve got a risk of strong storms in that area. Weve got the possibility of hail, damaging winds, isolated tornadoes into west texas. The irony is 47 of texas is in at least moderate drought, 13 in extreme drought. Thats going to change big time. Upper level low and tropical moisture from the pacific, and we are looking for heavy showers and thunderstorms, severe track from new mexico into texas. Potential of severe flooding next 24 hours. 1 to 2 inches some areas, 4 to 5 inches of rain. Move ahead tomorrow into thursday and were looking at 4 to 5 inches, and then as we get into friday more heavy rain for that same area, upwards of 4 to 6 inches, and it goes right into the weekend, guys. So flooding is going to be a big problem from texas into kansas and parts of new mexico as well. Keep an yeah on that. Al, thank you very much. Natalie, you have a break story this morning. Thats right. A u. S. Air force official in english says an american f18 fighter jet crashed this morning shortly after takeoff. British military officials said plane came down in a farm field and that emergency crews are on the scene. There is no early word yet of any casualties. The new York City Police department is mourning the loss of one of its own today. A fiveyear veteran officer was shot and killed tuesday night after exchanging fire with an armed suspect. The Police Commissioner and the mayor said the officer died in the line of duty, but it doesnt make the loss any less painful for his family and the force. Overnight a 33yearold new York City Police officer was killed during a confrontation with an armed suspect fleeing police. Officials say randolph holder was pronounced dead at harlem hospital shortly after he arrived in critical condition. Tonight he did what every other officer in the nypd does when the call comes. He ran towards danger. I heard 10 or 12 shots. The shooting in new york citys east harlem neighborhood occurred as holder and his partners were responding to a call of shots fired. Holder, a fiveyear veteran, and another officer confronted an armed man, and in an exchange of gunfire holder was shot in his head. The suspect was later caught several blocks away with a gunshot wound to his leg. Holders the fourth new York City Police officer killed in the past 11 months. In may brian moore was killed when a gunman opened fire on moore and his partner. And last december a gunman approached officers rafael ramos and wenjian lu as they sat in their cars, shooting them both in the head. This whole city is in mourning. Were mourning a han who gave his life as a guardian for all of us, and were humbled by officer randolph holders example. And officer holder was a native of guyana where his father and grandfather were both Police Officers. Meantime, the suspect who has not been identified, is expected to be released from the hospital later today and transferred to police custody. A new Consumer ReportsAuto Reliability survey has the car industry rumbling this morning. The top brands this year lexus, toyota, audi, maas mazda, subaru and kia and among the brands receiving lower marks, general motors, acra, ford and fire at. All saying they are working on improving their cars. One other headline from the survey. Consumer reports is stripping its recommendations for the tesla model s saying its the best car weve ever driven. Owners reported squeaks, leaks and charging problems. The new york mets now just one win away from a trip back to the world series for the First Time Since the year 2000. The mets beat the chicago cubs in game three of the nlcs. Second baseman Daniel Harvey led the way hitting yet another home run. Hes now hit a long ball in five straight games, and the mets win it 52. They are going to go for the sweep tonight in chicago. Sorry, cubs fans. And in the American League the Kansas City Royals wasted no time jumping all over torontos pitcher, ben zobrist hitting this tworun homer in the first inning, and the royals never they win it 142. Acing and they can punch their tick