A car hit a pole in Tolland on Saturday, sending three people to the hospital and closing the road. 

State police and Eversource crews responded to the accident in the area of 208 Rhodes Road between Cross Farms and Birch Grove, according to Tolland fire officials.

At least two ambulances responded and at least three people were transported to area hospitals for medical evaluations.

A man marching down the street shot and killed three people on Saturday, before being fatally shot in a gunbattle with police, authorities and witnesses said.

Officers were responding to a report of shots being fired when they spotted a suspect matching the description of the person they were trying to find, Colorado Springs police Lt. Catherine Buckley said. The suspect opened fire, and police fired back, she said.

Witnesses described a chaotic scene as the suspect went down the street with a rifle.

Matt Abshire, 21, told the Colorado Springs Gazette (http://tinyurl.com/p5xpaua) he looked outside his apartment window and saw a man shoot someone with a rifle. He said he ran to the street and followed the man and called police.

The man suddenly turned and fired more shots, hitting two women, Abshire said. Their names and conditions were not available.

It was unclear how many people were wounded in the spree.

Alisha Jaynes told KKTV-TV 11 News (http://tinyurl.com/otg2qgo ) she was at an ATM when she saw a man with a gun walking calmly down the street.

"They yelled, 'Put the gun down,' and he turned around, and that's when they shot at him a good 20 times," she said. "There was a lot of gunfire."

Buckley said the crime scene covered several major downtown streets. Those streets were shut down most of the day while investigators tried to figure out what happened.

Buckley said the investigation of the police shooting has been turned over to the El Paso County Sheriff's Office. There were at least three crime scenes, sheriff's spokeswoman Jacqueline Kirby said.

State police have identified a person found dead along the Wilbur Cross Parkway on the Woodbridge-New Haven line on Friday morning and said they believe the person was hit by a vehicle on Thursday night.

Eula H. Whitley, 68, of New Haven, was killed after she was hit by a car in a hit-and-run accident.

Police said someone found the body around 8:40 a.m. on Friday and called Troopers in Bethany. State police major crime detectives responded to the area of exit 59 on the highway to investigate an untimely death and determined it was a car versus pedestrian accident.

Now investigators are looking for the vehicle of the possible driver of the vehicle involved in the crash, which has been described as a 2007-2009 Nissan Versa hatchback or four-door sedan that is damaged on the front end, state police said.

Police and crews from the state Department of Transportation responded and set up a detour, sending drivers onto Route 34, then back onto the highway at exit 58.

The road was closed during the morning commute Friday, causing delays to spill over onto Whalley Avenue and Amity Road.

People who were stopped on the highway said they were there for hours.

One woman who has been stopped on the highway started handing Halloween candy out to other people who are also stopped in the traffic.

State police are asking anyone who may have witnessed something in the area of Exit 50 southbound on the WIlbur Cross Parkway overnight to call them at 203-393-4200 or text "TIP711 to 236748.

The investigation is ongoing.
 

Roman Polanski's victim, Samantha Geimer, says she is "very please" a Polish court rejected a U.S. extradition request for the director. 

"I believe they did the right thing and made the right decision given all the facts," she told NBC News in an exclusive interview. "Since I'm well aware of how long this has been going on, I'm very pleased and happy."

Geimer said the 40-year saga has been horrible for her and her family. She even acknowledges how much it has impacted Polanski and his loved ones, even if she doesn't feel like she knows him "personally" so many years later. 

Polanski was accused of plying his then-13-year-old victim with champagne and drugs at a Los Angeles photo shoot, taking topless photos and having sex with her. He pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a minor in 1977 and served 42 days in prison.
 

A Gloucester County, New Jersey, boy was rushed to a burn unit Saturday after his Halloween costume caught fire, county emergency officials tell NBC10 in Philadelphia.

The 7-year-old's costume went up in flames around 3:30 p.m. when he walked by a candle at a home along the 900 block of Stockton Drive in Harrison Township, officials said.

The boy suffered 2nd degree burns to his chest and neck, officials said. He was taken to Crozer Chester Medical Center's Burn Unit across the river in Chester, Pennsylvania for treatment.

The child's mother did not wish to speak with NBC10 during a visit to the home.

Thousands of people packed into downtown New Britain Saturday evening for the city’s “Trick-or-Treat Safe Zone.” The family friendly event lasted from 3 p.m. until 6 p.m.

Several streets were partially closed to allow people to easily walk around downtown and stop at more than twenty businesses where workers handed out candy.

Parents say this “safe zone” takes away some of the stress of the holiday.

“We come just because, you know, it’s downtown, it’s safe,” says resident Joshua Delgado.

Casey Montgomery added “It’s just fun and it’s safe. We don’t have to worry about them running in the street and being hurt.”

For kids heading out into neighborhoods, police remind trick-or treaters to cross streets carefully, make sure their costumes include bright items such as reflective tape or glow sticks. Police also suggest planning a smart route, following sidewalks, crossing at street corners and walking on the road against traffic.

With many folks out and about tonight, motorists are urged to drive slowly especially until 8 p.m., keep an eye out for children running into the streets and stop for pedestrians.

Back at the party in New Britain, the leader of the city became Mayor Minion and says safety should be on everyone’s mind on Halloween.

“You have to be careful with your kids nowadays. I don’t have to be the one to tell the parents to you have to watch your kids like hawks,” says New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart.

Organizers expected about 2,000 trick-or-treaters and all candy handed out at the New Britain event was donated.

When Mike Barrera of San Jose, California, was a little boy, he always dreamed of building spooky haunted houses.

He recalled joing his grandmother around Halloween to decorate their family home with ghoulish ghosts and creepy cobwebs. During the rest of the year, he would construct miniature haunts with building blocks and Lincoln Logs.

"Halloween became part of me from as far back as I can remember," Barrera said.

As the years passed by, Barrera aspired to recreate his childhood hobby. He began working professionally on haunted houses with people in his South San Jose community, and was eventually able to open his own full-scale attraction last year.

However, Barrera quickly realized that many families were excluded from participating in Halloween festivities due to inhibitive prices. 

"I saw how expensive it was for a simple, average family to go out to these events," he said. "It could cost a family of four $100 or more – and that’s a lot of money."

So Barrera decided to launch and operate his own haunted house -- dubbed the Bernal Scream -- for free out of his backyard.

The Barrera family poured $6,000 into the attraction, installing digital effects, dropping floors and even hiring professional actors.

"We offer everything a pro-level show offers," he said. "The only difference is that we are free to the public."

When the attraction finishes its 3-day run this Halloween, more than 2,500 people will have voyaged through the immersive maze. The huge response has prompted Barrera to consider finding a new location next year, in part to give a break to his neighbors who he said have been "really supportive and understanding."

But even if the haunted house does move to a rented space next year, Barrera said he’ll still be dedicated to making sure the experience remains cost-friendly, if not completely free.

"Money shouldn’t stand in the way of family experience," he said. "[This is for] all the parents that are living paycheck to paycheck and can’t afford to share these kinds of family moments together."

For more information on the Bernal Scream, check out the event page on Facebook. The haunted house starts at 7 p.m., though a line usually forms around 6 p.m.

On Friday night, a solider tried to enter Fort Bragg in North Carolina dressed as a suicide bomber, the group's Facebook post said. 

The soldier was wearing what appeared to be an explosive vest. When the soldier arrived at the entrance, emergency response was called in and the scene had to be cleared. The gate stayed closed for an extended period of time, according to the Fort Bragg Facebook page. 

Intial reports say the vest was just part of a Halloween costume however, the investigation is still ongoing. 

"Costumes of this sort are not allowed on Fort Bragg," the Fort Bragg's Facebook page said. "All costumes should be appropriate in dress and tasteful."

Soldiers and their families living at Fort Bragg are instructed to not wear costumes "of this sort" off the post in the future, the senior commander said in the post. 

Fort Bragg, northwest of Fayetteville, is home to the U.S. Army airborne and special operations forces.

Investigators will use a deep ocean vehicle to help confirm whether wreckage that searchers found in 15,000 feet of water east of the Bahamas is the cargo ship El Faro that vanished during Hurricane Joaquin.

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said in a statement from Washington that a remotely operated vehicle will be sent deep below the ocean surface in an operation that could begin as early as Sunday. The El Faro went missing Oct. 1 with 33 crewmembers on heaving seas.

Authorities also said late Saturday that they want to survey the wreckage and locate a voyage data recorder — or the ship's "black box" — that could yield clues as to what happened.

An NTSB statement said a specially equipped Navy vessel located wreckage Saturday afternoon in the area of the ship's last known position. It said the wreckage is "consistent with a 790-foot cargo ship, which from sonar images appears to be in an upright position and in one piece."

The 790-foot El Faro was reported missing east of the Bahamas, according to the Coast Guard.

Saturday's announcement by the NTSB, which is investigating the disappearance, came after a ship it contracted for the search from the Navy, the USNS Apache, had spent days combing those waters.

"To confirm the finding, specialists on Apache will use CURV 21, a deep ocean remotely operated vehicle to survey and confirm the identity of the wreckage. This survey could begin as early as November 1," said the statement emailed by Peter Knudson from the NTSB's public affairs office in Washington.

The El Faro's captain had called in before the vessel disappeared saying the ship had lost its engine power during its voyage from Jacksonville, Florida, to San Juan, Puerto Rico. The captain, Michael Davidson, said the ship was listing, and taking on water.

The Coast Guard had searched for the ship for days after El Faro disappeared in the storm, finding debris and one body in a survival suit.

The El Faro was scheduled for retirement from Caribbean duty and for new retrofitting for service between the West Coast and Alaska, company officials have said. Both the El Faro and its sister ship were slated to be replaced by two new ships. Aboard when it disappeared were five engineers from Poland, who were working on the retrofitting as the ship sailed to Puerto Rico.

NTSB investigators have said Davidson intended to pass 65 miles from the center of the storm. Independent maritime experts have said that such a decision would be risky.

The NTSB, an independent federal agency, said coming days will involve documenting the wreckage and debris field, and if possible, recovering the crucial voyage data recorder.

The statement said that if the wreckage is confirmed to be the missing cargo ship, attempts will be made to locate and recover the voyage data recorder. It added that the coming phase of operations is expected to take up to 15 days to complete in ideal conditions, longer depending weather or other conditions encountered.

The Navy search ship departed from Virginia on Oct. 19 after being equipped with state-of-the-art underwater detection equipment. The Apache arrived at the site on Oct. 23 and for three days towed a special device called a towed pinger locator in the water, hoping to pick up sounds of the pinger from El Faro's voyage data recorder.

The NTSB said that after three fruitless days trying to get a pinger signal, the pinger locator was withdrawn from use and searchers then deployed a special side-scanning sonar system called Orion. Authorities say that system detected the wreckage early Saturday afternoon.

The NTSB said the Orion's specialized technology creates sonar images as it sweeps the waters, seeking patterns that provide clues to the presence of a missing vessel.

A trapezist who plunged three stories into the audience at a Philadelphia circus performance Saturday night is expected to make a full recovery.

The performer, Chenglong Wu, 19, remained hospitalized in stable condition on Sunday. Wu was performing a 4 p.m. show for the UniverSoul Circus near the Mann Center for the Performing Arts in West Philadelphia's Parkside section when his high-flying stunt went awry.

Wu's act includes midair flips and jumps, video posted to the circus' website shows.

Witnesses posting to social media Saturday said Wu fell 30 feet into a safety net after a partner failed to catch him during a stunt. Wu then bounced out of the net and into the first row of the crowd.

Rosie Amor and her young daughter were sitting in the section next to where Wu landed. She said it appeared Wu tried to hold onto the net, but the force of the fall pulled him out.

"The sound of him falling to the ground made my stomach hurt," she said. "It was horrifying. All the children were watching."

Wu suffered a lower back injury and was taken by ambulance to nearby Penn Presbyterian Trauma Center.

There were no injuries in the audience.

Several people got up and left the show, according to Amor. The show resumed about 10 minutes after Wu was taken out.

"I felt like at that point they should have canceled the show," she said. "It's like they scraped him up from the ground and kept going with the show."

The circus, which features animal acts, acrobatics and pyrotechnic stunts, had three performances scheduled for Saturday. The accident happened during the second show. It is scheduled to be in Philadelphia through Nov. 15, but it was unclear on Sunday whether performances would continue immediately as scheduled.

Police and the circus continued to investigate the incident.

The White House announced Friday that a small number of U.S. special operations forces will be sent into Syria to help combat ISIS.

President Barack Obama has authorized a contingent of less than 50 special operations forces to deploy into northern Syria.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Obama hasn't made the announcement himself because the decision it not a major strategy change in Syria. "It's an intensification of strategy the president announced about a year ago," Earnest said.

Obama and his administration have come under mounting pressure amid signs the anti-ISIS coalition has stalled or at least failed to turn the tide against the militants.

A bride, celebrating one of the most important days of her life, was notified right after walking down the aisle that all wedding guests needed to evacuate because of a brush fire that had broken out near the ceremony, officials confirmed.

"Everyone was trying to keep me calm, so no one told me about the fire," Jennifer Greenwald, the bride, said. "I was so concentrated on [my future husband] I didn't see it."

Jennifer and Russell Greenwald told NBC4 that as soon they said "I do" everyone had to vacate the area and find a new place for the reception.

"Me and my groomsmen noticed smoke in the background and we thought, 'Oh, someone's barbecue must have gotten a little out of control,'" Russell said.

The smoky smell in the air was something much worse - a 40-acre fire consuming dry brush in the Santa Ana riverbed right next to Fairmount Park where they were exchanging vows.

"I saw flames out  of the corner of my eye when the bride was coming down the aisle," Marie Burnsholzer, the pastor, said.

Jennifer's wedding coordinator delivered the bad news to the oblivious bride.

"My lovely coordinator said, 'I need to talk to you,'" Greenwald said. "And that's when she said, 'We need to evacuate now.'"

The reception was also supposed to take place in the park, but officials said no way.

"We took what we could to Reid Park, and I think it turned out better than we expected," Laura McAllister, wedding coordinator, said.

The fire began making its way closer to homes around 6 p.m., though no residents had yet been evacuated.

At 11:20 p.m., the fire was 100 percent contained, according to the City of Riverside Fire Department. Fire units were providing structure protection after aerial defense ended due to darkness from nightfall. No injuries were reported.

"I think what kept us afloat is thinking this is a great story to tell our children," Jennifer said. "We like to think our love burns so bright we lit the park on fire."

Police say a Dallas woman was arrested for trying to force her children to ingest poison.

Officers were called to an apartment in the 10800 block of Walnut Hill Lane Saturday.

According to police, Paw Eh, 31, forced her child to ingest poison. She also tried to force her other two children to ingest poison, but was unsuccessful, police said.

A 4-year-old was rushed to the hospital in critical condition, but has since stabilized, according to police.

Her other two children, a 7-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl, were being cared for by another family member on Sunday.

According to our partners at The Dallas Morning News, the two children reported to officials their mother had threatened to kill all of them, as well as herself. The children told police that Eh put ant poison and water on a spoon, and forced her son to drink it, The Dallas Morning News reported.

The boy refused, leading Eh to slap him on the cheek before forcing the spoon into his mouth, according to The Dallas Morning News report.

Eh was charged with attempted capital murder. She was held in the Dallas County Jail on $150,000 bond.

Click here to read more from our media partners at The Dallas Morning News.

Editor's Note: Police originally released a misspelling of Eh's name. Her name has since been corrected.

The Coast Guard has suspended its search for missing big-wave surfer Alec "Ace Cool" Cooke who went missing in Hawaii, NBC News reported.

Cooke, 59, was last seen on Tuesday heading out for a surfing on Hawaii's North Shore. His girlfriend reported him missing the next day when he hadn't come home.

Cooke's truck — with his dogs and keys still inside — was found parked near the beach.

Helicopters, an H-130 Hercules airplane and jet ski crews all joined a massive search for the missing surfer; his surfboard was found on Thursday.

Police are searching for a gunman after one person was killed and another was injured in a shooting at Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina, the school said early Sunday.

The university said the campus was placed on full lockdown after a shooting was reported at around 1:20 a.m. The lockdown was lifted and an all-clear was given just over three hours later.

"We can confirm that there has been one fatality and one injured individual," Winston-Salem University said in a statement. "Both are believed to be students."

Tensions between his religious beliefs and wanting closure for families of victims has Jeb Bush conflicted over the death penalty, the Republican presidential candidate revealed Sunday.

"It's hard for me, as a human being, to sign the death warrant, to be honest with you," he told "Meet the Press" moderator Chuck Todd. "I'm informed by my faith in many things, and this is one of them."

Despite the value his faith places on life, Bush said in the rare cases when the death penalty is handed down the punishment can be persuasive in healing.

During his time as governor of Florida, the death penalty was used 21 times in the state. But Bush told Todd that it's time for the process to be reformed.
 

Newly-elected House Speaker Paul Ryan all but ended any chance of comprehensive immigration reform during the final year of President Barack Obama's term in office.

In an interview Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," Ryan said consensus on other issues affecting immigration policy, such as border enforcement, could be possible. But because the president took executive action, comprehensive reform is off the table.

"I don't think we can trust the president on this issue," Ryan told NBC's Chuck Todd. "The president has proven himself untrustworthy on this issue because he tried to unilaterally rewrite the law himself. Presidents don't write laws. Congress does." 

Bridgeport police arrested two suspects Saturday in connection to a homicide in the city from last month.

Mohamad Rahim, 24, of Ansonia, and Jeremy Bratz, 25, of Stratford, are suspected of shooting and killing a man they were buying heroin from, police said.

Rahim and Bratz approached Duhaney Watson at a gas station near the intersection of Main Street and North Avenue in Bridgeport to buy heroin from him at about 3 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 27, police said. Duhaney got in the car with the suspects and the three men went to the victim's home on the 100 block of Charles Street to buy the drugs, according to police.

Once they arrived, Rahim pulled his gun on Watson and demanded the drugs, police said. When Watson refused to oblige, Rahim shot him in the face, police said. He took $700-worth of heroin from the house and fled to the car, where Bratz was waiting for him, police said.

Rahim and Bratz drove to Ansonia, abandoned the car and told Rahim's girlfriend, Cheryl Crencki to call police and report the vehicle as stolen, police said.

Police found Watson unresponsive near Charles and Main streets on Sept. 27 at 8:20 a.m.

The men have since confessed to their involvement in Watson's murder.

Police charged both men with felony murder and robbery and are holding them in custody on $1 million bonds.

The Russian plane that crashed in Egypt "broke up in the air," an aviation official said Sunday, as Emirates and Fly Dubai annouced they were halting flights over the Sinai Peninsula pending clarity on what downed the airliner — mirroring moves a day earlier from Air France and Lufthansa, NBC News reported.

Intergovernmental Aviation Committee's Victor Sorochenko concluded that the Airbus A321 operated by Metrojet broke up midair before crashing Saturday, killing all 224 people on board. 

Alexander Neradko, head of Russia's federal aviation agency, similarly said investigators believe the plane disintegrated at a high altitude because the plane's fragments have been found scattered over a large area. But both officials said it was too early to make assumptions based on this finding.

Flags flew at half mast over the Kremlin as memorials to the victims sprouted both in and outside the country and Pope Francis joined world leaders offering condolences for the tragedy.