Good Morning El Paso Weekend 04.17.16

see you. an overnight shooting involving el paso police officers puts a man in the hospital. the latest details from our round the clock crews more major earthquakes rocking the pacific rim. the damages and death toll this morning to the south. this while japan still recovering from it’s major magnitude events. the recovery efforts now underway as the aftershocks hopefully die down. and in stormtrack weather, iris! this is all the news you need to start your sunday, april 17th. abc-7’s “good morning el paso weekend” starts right now! good morning and thank you for joing us… i’m andrew j. polk. an el paso police officer involved shooting overnight leaves one man in the andrew j. polk. an el paso police officer involved shooting overnight leaves one man in the hospital. it happened on the 71-hundred block of tierra taos. several police officers responded to reports of a man threatening suicide shortly after midnight. the first two responding officers found a man outside a house., the officers were told he had threatened to shoot any officer who approached him when they approached the man he threatened the officers with a gun and made overt motions. the officers fearing for their safety fired their weapons hitting the suspect. he was taken to university medical center. his condition at this time is unknown but we do know he is alive. detectives from crimes against persons and members of the shooting review team were at the scene of the shooting all night long. we are told the texas rangers will also investigate the shooting, which is standard procedure… we will have more information as it becomes available. a powerful earthquake in equador has killed at least 77 people officials say the death toll is still expected to rise as rescuers reach the sparsely populated area of fishing ports and tourist beaches this was the strongest earthquake to hit ecuador in decades with a magnitude of 7 point 8. the quake flattened buildings and buckled highways along the country’s coast. the mayor of the town near the epicenter, says, “this wasn’t just a house that collapsed, it was an entire town.” th pacific tsunami warning center says tsunami waves are possible for some coasts. president rafael correa, who is still at the vatican after attending a pal conference, called on ecuadoreans to show strength while authorities monitor events: and in japan many are still without power and missing in the debris from two powerful earthquakes u.s. military aircrafts are being now assisting in efforts to speed relief supplies to communities devastated the earthquakes that killed at least 41 people. thousands of rescue workers are searching a debris-strewn village in southern japan for about a half-dozen missing people. landslides from yesterday’s magnitude-7.3 earthquake have blocked roads and destroyed bridges. about 80 thousand homes didn’t have electricity this morning. japanese media reported that an estimated 400 thousand households were without running water and that the number of people taking shelter has doubled to more than 180 thousand. police have not said what sparked a road rage incident causing a man to be hit by a car. map w/ cg this happened in las cruces around 5 saturday afternoon on solano drive near poplar. there are still very limited details at this time. the man was airlifted to umc, no word yet on his condition. police tell us detectives talked to witnesses after the incident. we’ll be sure to update you as soon as we get more information. …stormtrack weather now! let’s get your first forecast with stormtracker iris lopez. how are you starting this sunday morning? you could start it by doing something that hasn’t been done in three years. el pasoans are able to morning? you could start it by doing something that hasn’t been done in three years. el pasoans are able to walk through the historic park once again. yesterday marked the grand reopening of san jacinto plaza. a historic day for the city. the day was started with a dedication ceremony and celebrations went on throughout the day city leaders along with el pasoans enjoyed the sights and sounds of the newly renovated plaza. abc-7’s jerry najera has the story … you know the san jacinto plaza became the city’s official plaza 113 years ago in 1903. and while it took a few years to renovate people happily got reaquainted with los lagartos: there was music there was food there was ping pong and of course, the famous lagartos some were skeptical of the change “i wa a little upset when i heard they were going to renovate it because i thought it was fine the way it was and i didn’t want them to change the historical value” but onc they saw the iconic alligators flashy signs chess tables and splash pad el pasoans already their favorite spot “th alligators” “the lagartos” ” canopy” “the alligators” ” ping pong tables i wasn’t expectin that that’s pretty cool” it was a long tim coming. mayor oscar leeser apologized to the crowd about the delay during the unveiling. leeser “we do owe you an apolog for being late. we were late, it wasn’t done in the timely manner that we would have wished it done.” but it’s done. and leeser says now that the gates and orange barrels are gone, all of el paso can enjoy the first class park “the qualit and the finished product is incredible” residents seemed to agree with him too, saying the wait was well worth it, giving it an overwhelming thumbs up. “we have a fantastic downtown and everything is happening here” “the vibe you can feel it peopl laying down and enjoying the weather” “you can just see a feel a different atmoshpere” final price tag has not yet been released it’s definitley running into the millions on a lighter note people are already looking forward to usuing the plaza for the ndmf. tomorrow n-m-s-u will learn the status about when or if there’s a new basketball coach already lined up for next season. yesterday abc-7 found out marvin menzies is now the head coach at university of nevada las vegas. chris beard originally got the head coaching job with u-n-l-v but he left the program just three weeks after being hired and will instead coach at texas tech. so now menzies will be with u-n-l-v through at least the 20-18 20-19 season. something that seemed inevitable at this point: “i wish marvin , i want to sa congratulations to him, i think unlv is a tremendous program, i know that he has been courted by several top notch schools.” menzies coached at n-m-s-u for nine seasons– and was just 2 wins shy of 200 and also had five wac tournament titles and 5 ncaa tournament appearances. a time to heal and honor. if you haven’t had a chance to see the wall that heals, at fort bliss national cemetery, today is your last day. in the past week, hundreds have visited a replica of the vietnam war memorial on display at the cemetery. the memorial has been displayed all across the u.s. and arrived in el paso wednesday. the wall is a half-scale of the actual memorial in washington d.c. it bears the name of more than 58- thousand service men that died in the vietnam war. the wall was open 24 hours for visitors- for the past 4 days. veterans we spoke with say visiting the memorial along with other veterans is also a healing process for them: “oh the first thing you do is cry i feel they are true heroes..so it’s good therapy to talk to other service members hey how you doing share stories and memories.” again today is the last day the memorial is in el paso. it will be on display until 4 this afternoon. don’t forget to pick up your copy of the el paso inc. in it and only in el paso inc you’ll find: what’s behind plans for a 22-story building in west el paso. they have details on the proposed hotel and apartment tower. also find out about some really big ideas for el paso, like new life for an old car lot, and building a park over i-10. and why local cab companies say de- regulating the vehicle-for-hire business could make for fraud and abuse. el paso inc. is online at elpasoinc.com, and available for home and business delivery. call 534- 4422 to subscribe. take a step outside here in the borderland, and it definitley seems like sping has sprung. but coming up on good morning el paso weekend… people across other parts of the country aren’t so sure! winter storms and wild weather slamming states this weekend. it is , right now we’ll take a live look at traffic this morning: and in stormtrack weather, iris! stormtrack weather is next! you’re watching abc-7… where news comes first!