The Barack Obama Foundation on Tuesday announced that the South Side of Chicago will be the home of the future Barack Obama Presidential Center.

Both the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois at Chicago placed bids, but the final site has not yet been revealed. The foundation said it will look to enter into an agreement with the city in the coming months to develop the center-- which will include a library, museum and office and activity space for the foundation-- in either Washington Park or Jackson Park.

“The city of Chicago was instrumental in demonstrating to the President and First Lady the advantages of locating the future Obama Presidential Center in the city, and the University of Chicago brought to life the broad potential and vital energy of the South Side,” Foundation Chairman Martin Nesbitt said in a statement.

NBC News confirmed last month the library will be built in Chicago, but Tuesday marks the official announcement. Columbia University in New York and the University of Hawaii in Honolulu also offered bids.

"With a library and a foundation on the South Side of Chicago not only will we be able to encourage and effect change locally but what we can also do is attract the world to Chicago," the president said in a video announcement.

Officials are expected to discuss the decision at an event Tuesday afternoon. Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the chairman of the Board of the Barack Obama Foundation are expected to be in attendance at the announcement.

"I’m thrilled to be able to put this resource in the heart of the neighborhood that means the world to me," First Lady Michelle Obama said.

The University of Chicago has long been seen as the front-runner and the foundation signaled its interest in the school's South Side proposal last month by commissioning a poll of area residents.

"As a future neighbor and collaborator on the Center, the University of Chicago has pledged to make resources and infrastructure available to the foundation in the near term for its planning and development work," the group said in a release.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel called the project a "unique opportunity" for Chicago and advocated aggressively for the selection.

"It can be on the South Side. It can be on the West Side, but it cannot be on the Upper West Side of Manhattan," Emanuel, Obama's former White House Chief of Staff, said while campaigning for a second term at City Hall.

The site selection was expected to have been done earlier in the year but Obama delayed his decision in an effort to avoid politicizing his legacy project. He didn't want to inject the library announcement into Emanuel's challenge with Cook County Commissioner Jesus "Chuy" Garcia or be seen as giving Emanuel an unfair advantage, the Associated Press, citing sources, reported in early March.

After Obama's foundation divulged concerns that the University of Chicago couldn't assure access to the park land where it wants to build, Emanuel orchestrated a plan to have the Chicago Parks District board transfer 20 acres to the city for the library's use.

Gov. Bruce Rauner signed legislation earlier this month strengthening the city's legal ability to build the project on public park land.

One of only five northern white rhinos left on the planet is being watched closely by zoo staff in San Diego after a medical procedure this weekend.

Nola is on antibiotics and being monitored after a surgery at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park on Saturday.

The 41-year-old rhino’s right hip began swelling last week, staff said. Surgeons removed a growth that appeared to be causing the swelling.

"We were able to flush the area with sterile saline and will wait on tests results to determine what is going on with Nola," associate veterinarian Meredith Clancy said in a zoo news release.

She added that the elderly rhino was a great patient, allowing the veterinarians access to the affected area while walking through the park grounds.

Test results of fluid and tissue samples should be available next week or within two weeks.

Five months ago, Nola was returned to the field after undergoing treatment for a nasal infection. She also has a special heating system in her exhibit to help her with arthritis.

All five living northern white rhinos are all non-reproductive, zoo officials said. Three are in the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya and one is in the Dvur Kralove Zoo in the Czech Republic.
 

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors reassured taxpayers Monday that any legal settlement made with former employees of Supervisor Dave Roberts will be paid from Roberts’ “personal funds and not taxpayer dollars.”

That assurance is the first official confirmation that personnel problems in Roberts’ office could result in some sort of legal settlement involving payment to one or more of former Roberts’ staffers.

NBC 7 Investigates previously reported former Chief-of-Staff Glyniss Vaughan and scheduler Diane Porter both complained that Roberts’ office was a “hostile workplace." NBC 7 Investigates has also confirmed both women have retained attorneys and are considering filing legal claims against the county.

According to documents obtained by NBC 7 Investigates, at least eight staffers have left the supervisor's office since January.

The county memo notes that “allegations have been made by multiple staff members in (Roberts') office that are concerning." The supervisors’ memo says that “due to threats of litigation, we are unable to disclose or comment on the details of the allegations,” but confirms that “an internal investigation has been conducted” and “the work environment within [Roberts’] offices need[s] to be addressed.”

Read the full statement from the County Board of Supervisors below or click here.

The memo also confirms an NBC 7 Investigates story that detailed how Roberts shared confidential information from an April 14 closed session meeting of the supervisors. The memo says Roberts’ violated the state regulations and acted “inappropriately” by disclosing the results of a closed session vote to former Supervisor Pam Slater-Price.

In an email from Roberts' newest Chief of Staff Mel Millstein, Roberts said, "My predecessor asked me a specific question about a media report. I responded directly to her question. I now understand that I should not have responded. I am human, I made a mistake and I apologize."

The memo attempts to clarify what happened in that closed session meeting. It says the vote “was not related to whether or not the Board of Supervisors believed the allegations [made by former Roberts’ staffers] to be true or false.”

Instead, the supervisors now say their vote concerned “whether or not taxpayer money should be used to resolve issues resulting solely from the actions of one Supervisor and multiple staff members he hired and managed.”

In an email, Roberts said he agreed no taxpayer dollars should be used. "I am in complete agreement that the San Diego County taxpayers should not be liable for issues arising from personnel issues in the District 3 office."

“The Board of Supervisors stands united in their belief that whatever issues occurred in the District 3 offices, should be dealt with by the Supervisor,” the memo says. “If any money is to be paid to any of his former staff members, it should be paid from his personal funds and not taxpayers dollars.

Roberts said, "at no time during my time in office has service to my constituents been impacted. We are proud of the high level of service and accessibility we provide to the residents of the 3rd District."
 

Full statement from the County Board of Supervisors:

     Allegations have been made by multiple staff members in Supervisor Dave Roberts’ office that are concerning. Due to threats of litigation, we are unable to disclose or comment on the details of the allegations. However, an internal investigation has been conducted and the findings shared with all 5 members of the Board of Supervisors during recent closed session meetings. The findings and the work environment within the District Three offices need to be addressed.
     Supervisor Dave Roberts inappropriately shared information regarding one of the closed session meetings, which is a violation of the Brown Act. The information he disclosed indicated the Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 against a severance payment to two former District 3 staff members.
     The details of the closed session discussion remain confidential due to potential litigation.      However, the Board of Supervisors has approved a limited release of information from closed session to allow this public statement explaining the reason for the vote against the severance payment. The Board of Supervisors believes it is important to let the public know that the vote was not related to whether or not the Board of Supervisors believed the allegations to be true or false. The vote was made in the context of whether taxpayer money should be used to resolve issues resulting solely from the actions of one Supervisor and multiple staff members he hired and managed. No allegations have been made by District 3 staff members who previously worked for Supervisor Pam Slater-Price.
     The Board of Supervisors stands united in their belief that whatever issues occurred in the District 3 offices, should be dealt with by the Supervisor. If any money is to be paid to any of his former staff members, it should be paid from his personal funds and not taxpayer dollars.

NBC 7 Investigates is working for you. If you have more information about this or other story tips, contact us: (619) 578-0393, NBC7Investigates@nbcuni.com. To receive the latest NBC 7 Investigates stories subscribe to our newsletter.

These are hard times for one of San Diego's most popular municipal pools -- and the thousands of swimmers who use it.

Balboa Park’s Bud Kearns Memorial Pool failed to re-open as usual in April, after seasonal maintenance, and it might not for some time.

The place has been a splashy, mid-city oasis in the park’s Morley Field area since 1933, making it San Diego’s oldest plunge.

By now it's seen much better days, no thanks to decades of "deferred maintenance." Costly upgrades that figure to top seven figures and take prolonged downtime loom ahead as summer approaches.

"It's already hot, and we have kids,” North Park resident Derek Lopez told NBC 7 on Monday, giving the long-empty pool a forlorn look during a noon-hour dog-walking stroll. “At this time last year, this pool was full … now it’s a graveyard."

That assessment appears hard to argue with.

No Park & Rec crews or contractors have been seen in the vicinity for weeks.

Nobody seems to answer a city information line posted on flyers around the pool.

Bureaucratic paperwork obtained by NBC 7 says the main drain has to be replaced.

The filtration system and sump pump need upgrades.

The Health Department may wind up ordering remedial work on the fence and poolside areas.
Quick fixes costing $200,000 might eke out a couple months of use in late summer, early fall.

But indications are, it 'll eventually take $1.2 million and nine months to overhaul the entire shebang.

In the meantime, until things get back to the way they were before the plug was pulled at Bud Kearns, the city's "encouraging" swimmers to seek out other alternatives.

Inquiring minds can’t help but wonder exactly how long they’ll have to wait – and whether to hold their breath.

Says Lopez: "I have a friend who runs another pool -- the next closest pool -- and she says, her words were: 'The pool's down for the count’.”

In the whole scheme of the city’s projected $1.7 billion city's infrastructure deficit, this might qualify as more of a low-priority luxury than urban necessity.

But Spring Valley resident Gil Mahaney, a tennis coach passing by the pool after giving Monday morning lessons on the courts at Morley Field, offered a countervailing view.

"It’s about cooling off, a safe way to provide exercise and promote healthy living -- which kind of helps us all in the long run, because people won't be getting as sick,” Mahaney argued. “They're doing something healthy. Yeah -- I'd say as far as quality of life, it should be up there."

We reached out to the mayor's office for an idea of when repairs might be launched and completed -- both short-term and long-term -- but immediately estimates were forthcoming.

All that could depend on late-stage allocations in the city's new budget cycle that starts July 1st.
Todd Gloria, the city councilman whose Third District encompasses Balboa Park, says he's hearing complaints from quite a few frustrated constituents.

"I've said multiple times, we have to do something more than this,” he said in an interview Monday I've been very critical of the mayor's approach, which is piecemeal and fairly meek when it comes to trying to repair our neighborhoods. What we're asking is to go further."

Looking at the grim reality of a long, hot summer with no “cooling off’ for his family within quick driving distance, Lopez opened up a window to his heart as a homeowner, taxpayer and voter: 

“Something like this draws up emotions these emotions,” he said. “There’s a lot of people who rely on this pool, who use this pool. It’s a huge, huge foundation to the community.”

Nearly 100,000 customers in San Marcos’ Vallecitos Water District are being asked to cut their water use back by 24 percent, and officials will be patrolling to streets starting Monday to ensure the changes happen.

The move comes after stricter measures in response to a report noting Californians are still using too much water during this ongoing drought. Some parts of San Diego County are being mandated to cut usage by 36 percent.

Up to four people working in teams of two generally patrol the streets 4 a.m. to 6 p.m., officials said, though 46 of their employees can patrol if needed.

“We’re out there driving around not to fine, not to come in with a heavy-handed approach,” General Manager Dennis Lamb said. “What we want to do is reach out to them and give them any assistance we can on how to conserve water.”

Lamb says what the district is doing is not water policing, but water patrolling. By the time July rolls around, he said, the district will better understand the type of cooperation they are getting and potentially step up enforcement in the months following.

“It may be light-handed, but what we’ve found over the years is our rate payers are always responsive to us,” said Lamb. “In the ‘93 drought the ’97, every time we’ve had this come up, they’ve responded in a positive fashion.”

In the district, residential water use accounts for 80 percent of usage. Businesses account for 10 percent and agriculture accounts for 8.8 percent.

The water district is trying to educate the people in their district and not necessarily tell them what to do.

“We don’t want to have wasteful use of water,” Lamb said. “And it just may be time that ornamental grass on your lawn could be non-essential use.”

The district said they only fined one person in 2014 and after a $100 fine, the man stopped.
Some in San Marcos feel as if conserving during the drought is a service to their state.

Heidi Rassatt, a San Marcos resident, said her and her husband feel strongly that as the drought worsens, they need to do their part. They have rain barrels and have installed drip systems on their sprinklers.

Still, she does not necessarily agree with the water district starting patrols.

“I think they don’t understand,” Rassatt said. “I don’t like the picking on neighbors. I like the better approach, where you explain to them; maybe we could be a good example in neighborhood [for those] who loved what we did.”

She said she loves California and wants to do as much as she can to preserve water.

“I hope it encourages people to do more and what I would like to see is my generation be a good example for generations coming back,” Rassatt said.

Rep. Susan Davis, D-San Diego, ceremonially cut the first steel for a commercial ship being built at the General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard in Barrio Logan on May 8.

The eight-term congresswoman — who formerly held seats on the state Assembly and San Diego school board — pressed a button to put a mechanical cutter into action.

The steel piece will become part of the fourth ECO tanker to be built for American Petroleum Tankers. The business has five tankers on order. The tanker’s operator will be able to convert the ship to liquefied natural gas propulsion when it determines the time is right.

It was the second ceremony at the General Dynamics (NYSE: GD) shipyard in four days. On May 5, NASSCO laid the keel for another ECO tanker being built for SEA-Vista LLC.
 

Radiologists at Naval Medical Center San Diego just got one of their most unusual patients ever: it’s 300 pounds, a half-million years old and once belonged to a Colombian Mammoth.

The ancient mammoth skull fossil was discovered six years ago at a construction site where the new Thomas Jefferson School of Law now exists.

Kesler Randall with the San Diego Natural History Museum said the museum’s PaleoServices Department reached out to officials at Naval Medical Center San Diego asking for help creating X-rays and possible CT scans of the skull to learn more about the species.

“Some of the information we’re interested in, we can’t see from just the exterior,” said Randall. “For this species of mammoth, which is the Colombian Mammoth, it’s the first time that a skull has been CT scanned. That’s pretty exciting.”

Randall said scientists will use the imagery to better describe the skull in a scientific publication and help put the species into a greater evolutionary context.

The data collected can be shared and viewed by other scientists worldwide, and could potentially be used to create a 3D print replica of the skull.

“We’re an academic and research center at Naval Medical Center San Diego, so we’re used to scanning in the pursuit of knowledge, and this is just one opportunity for us to do that,” said radiologist Richard Montgomery, M.D. who works at Naval Medical Center San Diego.

The scans produced Thursday are part of ongoing research. Museum officials said they plan to publish their findings. However, a publication date has not been decided.
If you want to see the mammoth skull fossil for yourself, it is on display at the San Diego Natural History Museum in Balboa Park, on the third floor.
 

President Barack Obama participated in a summit on poverty at Georgetown University Tuesday, and says there's no reason to think the nation can't fight the issue effectively.

Obama says the recent unrest in Baltimore and Ferguson, Missouri, has increased awareness of the problems associated with wealth inequality, and created an opening to focus new attention on solutions.

At Tuesday's forum, Obama said "it's a mistake'' to think efforts to stamp out poverty have failed and the government is powerless to address it.

Obama said there are programs that work all around the country, but the trick is to put them into place on a larger scale.

Tuesday's talk included Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government professor Robert Putnam, as well as Arthur Brooks, president of the conservative think tank the American Enterprise Institute.

The discussion was moderated by Washington Post columnist and Georgetown professor E.J. Dionne.

A group advocating for a woman's face on the $20 bill announced its pick on Tuesday: abolitionist Harriet Tubman, who guided slaves to freedom along the Underground Railroad.

The group, Women On 20s, is presenting a petition to President Barack Obama to replace President Andrew Jackson with Tubman as the first woman on American currency.

It held two rounds of online voting to let the public choose from among 15 American women of historical significance. More than 600,000 votes were cast, the group said on its website.

Tubman got 118,328 votes to 111,227 for Eleanor Roosevelt, 64,173 for Rosa Parks and 58,703 for Wilma Mankiller, the first female chief of the Cherokee Nation, the group said.

The Treasury Department said it had no comment on the group's effort.

Tubman was born to parents who were slaves in Dorchester County, Maryland, sometime between 1820 and 1825. She fled to Philadelphia via the series of safe houses known as the Underground Railroad.

Tubman returned to the South about 19 times to rescue her family and others, including on her last trip her aging parents, as a "conductor" on the railroad, the group said.

During the Civil War, she became a spy and scout for the Union Army.

An order from the secretary of the treasury is required to change a portrait on a bill.

Jackson replaced President Grover Cleveland on the $20 bill in 1928.

Women On 20s says Jackson should be booted because he helped to convince Congress to pass the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which drove Native American tribes in the Southeast off their lands and into Oklahoma. Thousands died along what has been named the Trail of Tears.

Last month, U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen introduced legislation that would complement the Women On 20s campaign. It would direct the treasury secretary to create a panel to recommend a candidate for a new $20.

Shaheen, a Democrat from New Hampshire, said a woman's portrait was long overdue.

"The incredible grassroots support for this idea shows that there's strong support for a woman to be the new face of the $20 bill," she said in a statement.

Also last month, Rep. Luis Gutierrez, a Democrat from Illinois, introduced a similar bill in the House.

San Diego and Tijuana leaders will meet Wednesday to discuss the possibility of business collaboration along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Mayor Kevin Faulconer and Tijuana Mayor Jorge Astiazarán and several other area officials plan to talk about the potential collaboration at the San Diego Regional Chamber’s annual luncheon.

The event is part of the chamber’s Cross-Border Visions Luncheon, where Gerónimo Gutiérrez, managing director of the North American Development Bank (NADB), will be the featured speaker.

City of Ensenada Mayor Gilberto Hirata and City of Tecate Mayor Cesar Moreno will join several San Diego City Councilmembers, several Tijuana City Councilmembers and area economic leaders.

The event will take place in the presidential ballroom of The US Grant hotel in downtown San Diego.

Authorities are investigating why five buildings, including SDG&E's company headquarters in Kearny Mesa, have been targeted in a string of shootings since January.

SDG&E officials said shots were fired on April 17 and May 8 at buildings at the headquarters at 8330 Century Park Court.

In all of the shootings, no one was injured, officials said.

“We are actively participating with law enforcement on their active investigation and remain focused on the safety of our employees,” the SDG&E statement said.

SDG&E officials declined to provide further comment, citing the active investigation.

Police said a 7-Eleven convenience store had shots fired in January and again this past weekend, and a ResMed office also had reports of shots fired earlier this spring.

Investigators believe all the shootings are related. They happened during early morning or late evening hours and don't appear to target any people.

The suspect is believed to be shooting the businesses from a car and the incidents are believed to be random acts of vandalism.

"We want anyone who's responsible for this to know they're facing some very serious charges and it could be much worse if someone were to get hurt," said San Diego police Lt. Scott Wahl.

Police have very little suspect information. On two occasions, witnesses reported seeing a four-door sedan speed off ffrom the area.

A Riverside County man is pleading for the public to help find his parents, a couple who was last seen leaving a casino on Mother’s Day.

“Everyone should know that these two wonderful people have been taken from us,” Robert Acosta said of his parents who never arrived for a planned family dinner Sunday evening.

“Just release them, I don't care. I just want my mom and dad back. My daughter wants her grandma and grandpa back.”

Investigators with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, Orange County Sheriff's Department or Riverside County Sheriff's Department are helping in the search for Cecil Knutson and Diana Bedwell.

Knutson, 79 and Bedwell, 67 were last seen leaving Valley View Casino in a white 2014 Hyundai Sonata at 2 p.m. Sunday.

The Fullerton residents were scheduled to go to their son's home in La Quinta later in the day but they never showed up.

Acosta said it’s very uncharacteristic for his mother to be unavailable by phone. He’s been driving in the area of the casino looking for anything that may give a clue as to their whereabouts.

“I know my mom is telling my dad, ‘He’s coming for us,’” Acosta said.

Both are diabetic and dependent on insulin. Acosta has their medicine with him, in hopes that he can give it to them in person.

He's also brought their financial records from their home to give to investigators.

Acosta said their disappearance is highly unusual, as they are always punctual and are always in touch with family members.

“People don’t just disappear,” Acosta said. “I don’t know if they were abducted or they went down a nasty hill and we just can’t find them.”

Acosta said his mother’s sister, Sylvia Likens, was a victim of a violent crime in the 1960s. Likens was tortured and murdered in Indiana, he explained.

He hopes that his parents have not suffered the same fate and is asking for anyone's help in locating the missing couple.

Homicide detectives were assisting in the search although officials said the incident is still considered a missing persons case. It is standard procedure to include homicide detectives in such cases, department officials told NBC 7.
 

The Florida-based daughter of the missing couple has started a GoFundMe page to raise money for a $5,000 reward. She says the family is coordinating with law enforcement to dispense the money should a tipster find clues to the couple's whereabouts.

Fewer students are dropping out of class and more students are graduating in the San Diego School District, according to statistics released in 2014.

The district has the lowest dropout rate and second highest graduation rate among the state’s largest districts, according to a recently released report by the California Department of Education.

In 2014, 4.5 percent of students dropped out of school, a 0.7 percent decrease from the previous year. Statewide, 11.6 percent of students dropped out in 2014. Countywide in San Diego, the number was 9.7 percent.

"The data show that our high expectations for all students are being met and that we are on the right course to make even greater progress across all student groups,” said Superintendent Cindy Marten in a statement.

89.6 percent of the 7,096 seniors in the Class of 2014 graduated, an increase from the previous year. Garden Grove Unified School District had the highest graduation rate in the state, with 89.7 percent of their approximately 3,600 students graduating. In San Diego County, 79.6 percent of students graduated.

San Diego city leaders and military veterans gathered Tuesday downtown to raise a 9/11 Memorial Flag outside City Hall that has made its way across the world.

The 22-foot by 32-foot flag made its final stop of its worldwide tour in San Diego.

Two fire trucks and ladders were used to raise the flag at the west curb of Third Avenue and B Street near the Civic Concourse. It remained there on display all morning through 1:30 p.m.

San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and San Diego Police Department Chief Shelley Zimmerman were both chosen to sign the memorial flag, just as other dignitaries have done during its tour.

Faulconer was proud that San Diego was included in the flag’s journey.

“Our city is a fitting location for this flag’s last stop. We are a city with such strong ties and support to our military. Our city would not be the city that it is without the huge investments made by our men and women who serve our country proudly every single day and night,” said the mayor. “We are very proud of our veterans in San Diego.”

Faulconer said the flag gives citizens a chance to stop and reflect on 9/11 and how it changed so many lives forever.

“Our city and our nation will never forget,” added Faulconer.

Zimmerman said the flag is a symbol of strength in the face of tragedy.

“Our nation faced evil but came together, drawing strength from one another. When I look at this flag I know that there are thousands of individual stitches and many more individual stories that are all interwoven together,” said Zimmerman. “And together, our flag – our symbol of democracy, our symbol of liberty – stands tall – united in unwavering strength.”

The traveling 9/11 Memorial Flag began as a community project out of Bucks County in Pennsylvania and Hunterdon County in New Jersey to honor the victims of the September 11, 2011 terrorist attacks.

Volunteers sewed together 2,983 miniature U.S. flags – one for each victim killed in the attacks – to create the giant memorial flag. The flag also includes smaller flags from every nation that lost a citizen in 9/11 and flags representing the service organizations that aided in recovery and rescue efforts.

The 9/11 Memorial Flag was finished in March 2002. Over the past 13 years, it has traveled to more than 90 locations across the globe and has been seen by more than six million people.

Four Philadelphia police officers were hurt Tuesday afternoon in an altercation that involved a hit-and-run driver who was ultimately shot by an officer, according to investigators.

The pursuit involved at least three locations and began shortly after 2 p.m. Police received a radio call at 2:17 p.m. reporting a car accident on Wagner and Olney avenues.

When the officer arrived at the location he saw a burgundy Chrysler that had crashed into a wall. The officer then called for assistance to help him get the driver, identified as 46-year-old Rudolph Keitt, out of the vehicle. Police say Keitt appeared to be incoherent. They also believe he struck several cars and nearly hit several pedestrians before striking the wall.

More officers arrived at the scene and took Keitt out of the Chrysler. Suddenly Keitt began fighting the officers, leading to a struggle, according to investigators. Keitt then allegedly went back into the car and took off. Video obtained by NBC10 shows the speeding car strike the officers. Officials say three officers in all were hit at that location.

Police say Keitt continued driving and soon arrived at Stenton and Ogontz avenues where he allegedly struck a fourth officer that had arrived at the scene. Police say two other officers then opened fire, striking Keitt at least once in the chest.

Officials say Keitt then continued driving until police caught up to him about two miles away at 1900 Colonial Street. He was arrested and taken to Einstein Hospital where he is currently in critical condition.

Church elder Reginald Macon was across the street with women and children inside Mount Airy Church of God in Christ Ministries. He heard the gunshots.

"My chair is at the window. When I looked outside, there were two young lades running up the steps. I guess they heard it too," Macon said, adding he saw police come in and block off the street right near Crown Fried Chicken.

The church went into lockdown mode. A childcare center on Ogontz Avenue with 44 children inside was also placed on lockdown.

Police initially told NBC10 that six officers were struck by the suspect but later said there were four in all. The injured officers were taken to Einstein and later released.  All of the officers are from the 35th District.

Records show Keitt has an extensive criminal background including charges of aggravated assault, carrying firearms without a license, simple assault, reckless endangerment, resisting arrest and other offenses.

Brian Mildenberg, an attorney who represented the mother of Brandon Tate-Brown, released a statement Tuesday night denying allegations that Keitt intentionally struck the officers with his vehicle or attacked them.

"The family wants the public to know, in response, that Mr. Keitt was prone recently to heart attacks and has a history of medical conditions including seizures," Mildenberg wrote.

Mildenberg says a family friend was with Keitt at the time of the incident.

"According to her, Mr. Keitt’s eyes were in the back of his head and he was involuntarily twitching, having a major seizure, and begun to drive erratically and not respond to her verbally," Mildenberg wrote. "They had just finished getting sandwiches.  She exited the vehicle after it hit the first wall and sought assistance."

The family friend said Keitt wasn't coherent or acting consciously during the entire ordeal.

"The family believes that no criminal activity occurred today, but that the entire incident was due to his medical condition," Mildenberg wrote.

Mildenberg also urged on the family's behalf for police and the public to not "rush to judgment in this case." 

The father of a UC Santa Barbara student killed last year in a shooting rampage in Isla Vista said he was sickened when he heard that two UCSB students were injured in a shooting Monday night after fighting with two men who came to their apartment a few blocks from campus.

Richard Martinez was in Isla Vista this week to commemorate his son Christopher Ross Michaels-Martinez, 20, who was killed, along with five other students, in a stabbing and shooting rampage last May.

"I felt nauseous," said Martinez, who's been advocating for an end to gun violence in the U.S. "We've come to accept this as normal. It's appalling the level of gun violence that occurs everyday."

One university student was shot once in the stomach, the other once in the chest. The wounds were not life-threatening. Neither of the suspects are students, and the shootings had nothing to do with last year's killings in Isla Vista, authorities said.

Students were on edge.

"It's scary to find out what can go on just a couple of houses down from where you live," said Eric Curry.

Assemblyman Das Williams, D-Santa Barbara, issued a statement saying he was "deeply saddened and disappointed by the latest violence.

"My thoughts and prayers are with the community and those affected by this attack," he said. "Students, residents and families who live in Isla Vista deserve a safe place to call home."

One of the suspects fled, and the other was held by neighbors until police arrived. James Joshua Taylor, 22, of Lompoc was arrested and taken to a hospital for head injuries he got in the fight.

The second suspect drove away in a white sedan, prompting a search of the campus and a lockdown of student dormitories for more than an hour. The University texted and emailed emergency alerts to students urging them not to go outside.

"A community that was affected by gun violence is now fearful again last night that somebody is out to shoot and kill people again," Martinez said.

The alert was lifted after the second suspect was accounted for.

Jose Guadalupe Gutierrez, 19, tried to check himself into a hospital with unspecified injuries, saying he had gotten into a traffic accident on campus, Santa Barbara County sheriff's spokeswoman Kelly Hoover said. Authorities determined he was the second suspect, Hoover said.

He knew the victims, both in their early 20s. Their names were not released.

Investigators have not identified a motive for the shootings, but are exploring possible drug connections. A handgun was recovered at the scene.

Gutierrez and Taylor face charges including attempted murder, robbery and participation in a criminal street gang, Hoover said. It wasn't immediately known if they have lawyers.

The violence occurred in the same place as last May's rampage: a square-mile community of small apartments and houses that is home to thousands of university students. There, Elliot Rodger killed six UCSB students and wounded 14 other people before killing himself.

Rodger stabbed his two roommates and their friend, then gunned down two women outside a sorority house and shot a man standing in a deli as he drove through town, firing a semi-automatic handgun and plowing into pedestrians with his BMW.

Rodger, who wasn't a student or alumnus, had posted a manifesto and a series of online videos voicing contempt for everyone from his roommates to the human race but reserving special hate for two groups: the women he says kept him a virgin and the men they chose instead.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Three young brothers from Davie, Florida, who had not been seen by their family since Monday evening have been found safe, officials confirm.

Davie Police say that Jon Ray Brobus, 11, Kyle Michael Heggie, 14, and Zachary Van Brobus, 10, were located near the BB&T center in Sunrise just after 12:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Viewers quickly responded to a post on NBC 6 South Florida's Facebook page with reports that they'd spotted the boys. The post was shared more than 2,000 times and reached nearly 200,000 people.

The brothers had last been spotted at their home in the 1200 block of Southwest 115th Way in Davie around 5 p.m. Monday.

Police were concerned because the youngest brother, Zachary, is asthmatic and did not have his inhaler.

The boys were reunited with their family, and mom Jessica Hedrick said she was frustrated but relieved.

"Everybody is looking for you guys, everybody," she told her sons. "Family, friends, Facebook, the police, helicopters, news channels. Why?"

Hedrick thanked the NBC 6 viewer who helped her on Facebook.

"Whoever posted on NBC 6 that she saw them at the Sam's Club, thank you very much, because without that, I would never have looked over here," she said.

When Eddie Staten, a high school student from Connecticut, saw people skydiving in Danielson on his way back from Easter vacation, he knew exactly how he was going to ask his girlfriend of about two years to prom.

So the Madison resident and Pomfret School student took a leap, quite literally. He got Skydive Danielson, to take his idea to "new heights" with a skydiving promposal.

A YouTube video, titled "Best Promposal Ever" and posted on May 3 on Skydive Danielson's YouTube channel documents his jump. Staten said he wanted to ask his girlfriend, Talia Gulino to their prom "in a way that was special, something that she would always remember." So he figured, "Why not?" go skydiving. 

He recruited a group to come with him, including his twin brother and about 10 of his friends from the private co-ed boarding school in Pomfret that he attends with Talia.

"Although my parents weren’t thrilled with the idea, that night I booked the appointment to skydive on May 3rd at Skydive Danielson," Staten wrote in an email to NBC Connecticut. "Next thing I knew I was jumping. To be honest, I was more nervous about how the the video would turn out than about jumping! We jumped from 10,000 feet and it was incredible. I would do it again in a heart beat."

The video starts off with the simple question, "Prom?" with "Talia" and hearts sketched in pen on a sheet of blue printer paper as Staten asks, "Will you go to prom with me?"

"That's awesome man. So, do you think that she thinks you're crazy enough that she'll go with you?" the videographer and his tandem instructor asks.

Staten calmly and coolly answers, "I hope she says yes," prompting the videographer to say, "I hope so too, man. And if not, you're still falling out of the sky today right?"

"Yes" is Staten's reply before the skydiving instructor asks another vital question ahead of the treacherous jump, "Anything you want to say to friends and family in case things don't go well?"

"I love you all," Staten says, adding that he's not nervous and maintaining a smile the whole time.

Then, cut to him in the plane clutching his promposal sign, still smiling. Strapped to his tandem instructor and a parachute, he gives the camera a final thumbs up with one hand, holding his sign in the other.

Dangling out of the plane before the jump, the sign and his face flutter in the wind at the high altitude and then he's off. Instantly, his arms fling apart like he's flying and the sign is gone. From then on, it was all about the skydive, but he didn't forget to look at the Go-Pro camera to Talia with an expression of elation on his face between glances at the ground below.

"I hope she says yes," he repeats closer to the ground at a calmer part of the dive and the skydiving instructor jumping with him says to Talia, "You have to say yes now. No one else is going to go through this much trouble for a date with you."

Her answer? No surprise.

"Oh and Talia loved the video and said yes!!" Staten said.

It was the second skydiving promposal Skydive Danielson has helped with this year, according to the company.

A Van, Texas, family who rode out an EF-3 tornado with winds of 140 mph found an unexpected blessing when they returned to their neighborhood Tuesday.

Andy and Brandi Bouchillon live off Bois D’Arc Street. When the storm sirens sounded Sunday, they left their home to try and reach shelter at a nearby school but never made it.

The family, a father, mother, their 2-week old baby and their dog, Tater, drove straight into the path of the tornado.

“It picked up the rear end of our car and started spinning us,” said Andy Bouchillon.

His wife, Brandi, had taken their baby’s car seat and turned it upside down with their newborn girl inside. She buckled it back in and then laid on top of it.

“I just turned it over and kept praying,” said Brandi.

When the storm passed, baby Bailey was unharmed. Her parents said she slept through the entire ordeal and didn’t have a single scratch.

"I was just praying to keep my baby alive," said Brandi.

Bailey's car seat ended up wedged in the wreckage.

"I had to go in and find her. Finally, when I touched her, she cried and I was like, 'Thank you Jesus,'" said Andy.

In the chaos of Sunday night, the family first rushed to get their baby to the hospital. Their dog, Tater, was nowhere to be found.

On Tuesday, the Bouchillon family returned to see their car for the first time. The green SUV, turned on its side intertwined with toppled trees.

While digging through the debris they spotted a familiar site. About 100 yards away from the car sat Tater. When called, the blonde Terrier ran toward his owners.

"Tater. I have all girls, this is my son. He loves to go riding and loves when I go fishing ... When we got in that wreck and it flipped our car over, we couldn't find him. Today's the first day to get back out here and look for him and here he is," Andy said moments after finding his dog.  Fighting back tears, he continued, "He's just a good boy ... He's a part of the family. I don't really know what else to say, I'm just glad my dog's back."

The Bouchillon’s said their home was leveled by the tornado, but it doesn’t matter. They are alive and their family is intact.

“I believe in God, but my faith hasn’t been that strong,” said Andy. “It’s been some tough times, but after we walked out of that wreck, I knew we was getting looked out for.”

NBC 5's Bianca Castro contributed to this report.