NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas - Sunday, February 18, 2024

Episode Date: February 19, 2024

2 police officers, 1 paramedic killed in MN while responding to domestic abuse report; Tens of millions under flood alerts on West Coast; Nikki Haley ramps up attacks on Trump over Russia ahead of South Carolina GOP primary; and more on tonight’s broadcast. 

Tonight, the deadly shootout in Minnesota. Two police officers and a paramedic killed in the line of duty. The three gunned down while responding to a domestic violence call. Bullet holes sprayed across this armored vehicle. And the powerful tribute from the colleagues of the fallen gathering outside the hospital. They know they have to give up their life sometime. And they do it anyways. A dangerous storm is hitting the West Coast right now. Evacuation warnings for some, while in Florida, the Daytona 500 is postponed.

The college campus murder mystery, two people killed in a dorm room, their identities just revealed. The killer still at large. Pastor Joel Osteen returning to Sunday services one week after that deadly shooting inside his megachurch. His message tonight.

We don't take it for granted. Your angels were watching over each one of us. New crash tests focusing on America's guardrails. Can they keep the heavier cars and trucks now on the roads from catastrophe? Bears Eye view what researchers discovered about polar bears after attaching cameras to them for years. And a 50-year-old mystery finally solved, the lasting legacy of a man who spread love all over his city. This is NBC Nightly News with Kate Snow.

Good evening in Minnesota. It was a day punctured by shocking violence and filled with deep sadness. The law enforcement community there and across the country in mourning. Three first responders were killed today in Burnsville, a suburb of Minneapolis. Two police officers and one firefighter paramedic were responding to a domestic violence call when someone inside the home opened fire. After learning of their deaths, their colleagues paying tribute, lining the entryway to the hospital, saluting. And here, a highway procession. You can see on the overpass

above firefighters and drivers pausing in remembrance. The police chief late today saying we are all hurting. We are heartbroken. Adrian Broadus starts us off tonight from Burnsville. I need that ambulance to 33rd Avenue. Tonight, a family's call for help. Medic 2 is taking two rigs, two patients. Medic 1 is taking one. Russell County, Vice County, critical. Resulting in the death of three first responders.

Words can't express how hard today has been. The call came Sunday before sunrise. It happened in the Minneapolis suburb of Burnsville. Connor Noonan heard shots less than two blocks away. Like loud bangs, like boom, boom, boom. And then rapid fire after that, like an automatic weapon, like pop, pop, pop, pop, pop. Officials confirming two police officers and one firefighter paramedic were killed. They were responding to a domestic abuse 911 call reporting a family in danger. When officers got to the scene, the individual was barricaded.

At one point during that barricaded situation, a subject opened fire on the officers in the home. The suspected shooter now dead. Scene video shows a SWAT vehicle that appeared to be riddled with bullet holes. A lot of people in the ground with probably one person and a lot of screaming, all the stuff. Emergency responders rushing to the scene warned. Medics, please back off. Medics, back off and turn off lights. The victims have now been identified as police officers Paul Elmstrand and Matthew Ruge and firefighter paramedic Adam Finseth. Today, a solemn scene outside the hospital where the three victims were taken.

Officers standing shoulder to shoulder saluting the fallen. Tonight, the three killed remembered for their sacrifice. Every day, we pray that they go home to their families. And today that's not happening. We are all hurting. Prayers and one question asked by everyone here. Why? To have that happen that close to home is just awful.

I'm not sure where to go from here. And Adrian's with me now. Adrian, what do we know about who was inside that house? Kate, the shooter was inside of the home along this street, also trapped with him. Seven children. Police said the youngest was only two years old. But tonight, those children are safe. Kate.

Adrian brought us for us. Thank you. Tens of millions across the West are bracing for a round of dangerous storms. It's essentially a double punch after a deadly atmospheric river hit just two weeks ago. Elwynn Lopez joins me now from Los Angeles County. Elwynn. Hey, Kate. Another round of heavy rain targeting the Golden State.

The worst of it coming in tonight and into tomorrow where we could see up to an inch of rain. 35 million people tonight under flood alerts. That severe weather threat stretches across the West Coast, the highest risk seen across north central California. Sacramento and Modesto could even see tornadoes. Evacuation warnings now in effect for parts of Santa Barbara and Monterey. And it's not just the rain. The wind also taking aim, about 15 million people now under wind alerts. But Kate, the main concern is, of course, the duration of the system. Rain won't let up for several days in some areas. And it doesn't take much to trigger mudslides and toppled trees with the ground saturated from nearly two weeks ago. The last thing they need here, Kate. Elwynn, thank you so much. We are less than a week away from the South Carolina

Republican primary, and Nikki Haley today attacked former President Trump for his views on Russia, all of it drawing more attention after the death of a chief Putin critic. Kelly O'Donnell reports. Tonight, world events on the road to the next GOP primary contest in South Carolina next Saturday. There, both Donald Trump and Nikki Haley have had their own electoral success. Mr. Trump winning the state twice for president, Haley elected twice as governor. But tonight they diverge over the sudden death of imprisoned Putin foe, Alexei Navalny. Donald Trump is going to side with a thug who kills his political opponents. In a Fox News town hall, Haley belittled Mr. Trump as no match for Putin. Every time he was in the same room with him, he got weak in the knees.

We can't have a president that gets weak in the knees with Putin. The former president, who made a stop to promote gilded sneakers and floods his social media, has not publicly addressed Navalny's death, but did speak of Putin's interest in U.S. politics. In fact, Putin said the other day, no, I prefer Biden as president. A stark difference from President Biden, who clearly laid blame. Putin is responsible. Whether he ordered or he is responsible for the circumstances that put that man in. And he is a reflection of who he is.

And it just cannot be tolerated. The fallout, a mix of grief, protest and revulsion that a 47 year old political prisoner died. No cause known. Today, the Senate's top Democrat called on the House Speaker to pass Ukraine aid to stop Putin. Navalny's death makes it more urgent that we pass the national security supplemental. The bipartisan bill currently sits at the feet of Speaker Johnson and Putin is watching. Back now with Kelly and Kelly tonight, Nikki Haley, I know, is ramping up the pressure on Donald Trump over his lack of response to Navalny's death. Exactly. Haley is posting on social media to point out that it's been, quote, two days and counting and Trump has not spoken about Navalny. And that highlights this is a

key foreign policy difference. Kate. Kelly O'Donnell for us at the White House. Kelly, thank you. We do have breaking news tonight about a college murder mystery. We've just gotten new information about two people found dead in a University of Colorado dorm room. George Solis has the latest. Tonight, some answers in a double murder mystery that has paralyzed a tight-knit college campus in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Late today, authorities revealing the identities of the two people found shot and killed in a dorm room is 26-year-old Celie Montgomery and 24-year-old Samuel Knopp, both from Colorado. According to police, Knopp was a student. Montgomery was not.

Authorities still not revealing any details about a suspect or motive. And tonight, the campus community is on edge. We don't really know if they're still out there, or if they're still on campus, if they're a student, if they're someone who just came onto campus and came into a dorm. So it's kind of terrifying. Police say on Friday, they responded to calls of shots fired in a dorm at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs,

prompting a campus lockdown. It's really frustrating and just scary because we didn't know if they even have a suspect in custody, if they know who the suspect is, if they've caught that. We don't know anything. Authorities ruling out a murder-suicide. Tonight saying they are intentionally restricting

the amount of information being made public, but add the shooting appears to be an isolated incident between people that knew one another and not a random attack against the school or others at the university. And George joins me now. George, what happens next on the college campus? Yeah, well, Kate, classes are canceled for tomorrow. The family asking for privacy at this time as this investigation moves forward. Kate? So scary for that community. George, thank you. There was praise and there were prayers once again at the Texas megachurch where there was a deadly shooting one week ago today. Today, Lakewood's pastor, Joel Osteen, called for forgiveness and gave thanks

for the heroes who saved so many. Marissa Parra reports. Joel Osteen, emotional in his first Sunday service after tragedy. It broke our heart to have to see you leave the auditorium. It was here one week ago at Houston's Lakewood Church where a woman opened fire inside. An active shooter out of Central Area Lakewood Church. Police say a 36-year-old woman used a legally purchased AR-15-style rifle. She had documented mental health issues and a criminal history. She had been quickly shot and killed by police, but her 7-year-old son, who she had brought with her,

along with a bystander, hurt in the crossfire. Lord, we pray for the lady, the deceased woman and her family, Lord. His emotion shared by the congregants. Today was a great service coming back from something that was pretty traumatic. My family actually came. They're back there. They usually go to another church, but they wanted to come here to support this week. Osteen today also applauding the officers. There are some heroes among us. Including those who police say prevented this from becoming a mass shooting. TABC agent Adrian Herrera and HPD officer Christopher Marino, their heroic actions saved us. The bystander hit in the leg among those quietly in the audience today, but the young boy still fighting for his life. We do lift up that seven-year-old boy, Samuel, Lord. We just ask you,

Lord, just to show him your mercy, Lord. Now a collective community healing from a shared trauma. As a church, we could shrink back. It's dangerous. Let's hide our light. Let's just go under the radar. But this is a time to shine brighter than ever. Risa Parra, NBC News. Coming up, the shocking crash test video and a new warning about our nation's guardrails. Are they strong enough for today's cars and trucks? Also, the secret life of polar bears. They wore cameras for years. What the stunning video reveals about how they live now. America's cars and trucks have changed dramatically over the years, getting bigger and heavier. But our nation's guardrails may not be keeping up.

And new crash test research suggests that that could put drivers at risk. Here's Kathy Park. Charging ahead at about 60 miles per hour. This 2022 Rivian R1T all-electric truck tears right through the steel guardrail. Watch again. It barely slows down before flying over the concrete barriers. In another crash test, this Tesla Model 3 lifts a guardrail passing underneath it. The alarming results of a recent University of Nebraska-Lincoln study highlight a growing risk on roadways with more heavier EVs and gas-powered vehicles.

In the 90s, lightweight pickups and SUVs made up about 10 to 15 percent of vehicles on the roads. Now that number has jumped to 50 percent. So are guardrails across the country keeping up with this trend and ultimately keeping us safe? As more vehicles become heavier and their centers of gravity change and their geometries change and move towards more electrification, we're going to have to prepare new roadside infrastructure to capture these vehicles as well. If something isn't done now, what do you fear will happen down the road? We will continue to lose people. In 2016, Stephen Eimer's daughter Hannah died in a different kind of guardrail collision in Tennessee. I knew my daughter was dead at 17 years old. That same trauma that I've experienced is experienced by families on an almost daily basis across the United States.

I'm out here on US 321. Stephen has turned his tragedy into a lifelong mission to improve guardrail safety. Well, that's my goal now is to rob America's streets of future victims of traffic violence caused by guardrails. According to the Federal Highway Administration, guardrails can lessen the severity of crashes, but they cannot completely protect drivers in every situation. The goal of the guardrail is to deflect the vehicle back onto the roadway and keep it from going to a place where it would be in much bigger trouble. In this case, it's the drop-off. Transportation expert Kevin Heaslip says guardrail safety has improved over the years, but these infrastructure updates do take time and vary from state to state.

If the standard changed, that doesn't mean all of the infrastructure changes right away. These roadside staples are now being put to a new test with cars of the future exposing potential hazards. Kathy Park, NBC News, Knoxville, Tennessee. Still ahead, up close with polar bears. They wore cameras for years. What this video is now teaching us about the impact of climate change. Tonight, we're getting an up close look at the lives of polar bears in far north Canada. For years, scientists put cameras on them so they could gather clues about their fight for survival as our world gets warmer. Anne Thompson now on just what those videos reveal. This is a rare glimpse into the secret lives of polar bears.

Cameras attached to 20 bears near Churchill, Canada, the polar bear capital of the world, recorded their activities in August and September of 2019, 21 and 22, revealing their eating habits on land. And what U.S. Geological Survey scientist Anthony Pagano and others discovered isn't good. Can you explain to me what your research found? Our findings indicate that polar bears in western Hudson Bay are at risk of starvation as foods on land are not an

adequate replacement for seals on the sea ice. The sea ice is both the hunting platform and dining room table for these bears to feast on nutrient-rich fatty seals. But with the ice taking up to a month longer to form in our warming world, the hungry bears are spending more time on land, eating berries, grasses, even caribou antlers. Are these bears eating empty calories? I wouldn't say they're empty calories. They're gaining enough energy to compensate for the fact that they're using more energy to find those foods, but they're not getting an actual net benefit that would prolong how long they can survive on land. The cameras revealed one bear swam more than 30 miles after catching a seal,

but without a table of sea ice, it could not eat. She took a couple bites, but she spent most of the night trying to swim that seal back to shore before eventually dropping it. Caught on other cameras? swim that seal back to shore before eventually dropping it. Caught on other cameras, hungry bears looking for food, infiltrating the small town of Churchill, as we showed you last year. Six tried to walk into the town today. Six?

Yes. Out on the tundra where the bears should be, Polar Bears international Jeff York explained the problem. And you can see in Hudson Bay, there's really no ice at all. And scientists say that does not bode well for Churchill or the bears. It's the younger bears that are going to be at greatest risk of starvation in the future. A future and a species threatened by climate change. Anne Thompson, NBC News.

So revealing. Thank you, Anne. When we come back, City of Love, the heartfelt tradition still going strong after nearly 50 years. There's good news tonight about a legacy of love and the community uniting to make sure a treasured tradition lives on. For nearly 50 years, every February, Portland, Maine was suddenly covered in these signs of love. Who put the hundreds of red hearts up was a decades-long mystery. The Valentine's Day Bandit throughout the Portland area remains a mystery. It's been going on since 1976. But it wasn't until last April that the local legend, the Valentine's Day bandit, was finally revealed, but revealed in an obituary for a man named Kevin Farman. Tell me more about your dad.

He didn't like being in the spotlight, but when you got him going, he was just the most fun person in the room. So this February, the first without him, Kevin's daughter Sierra led the effort to keep it going. Why is it so important for you now to keep this tradition going? For me, this is helpful to carry on his legacy and keep him around and alive and not forgotten. It does keep him alive in a way, doesn't it? Yeah. Oh my God, there it is. So in the middle of the freezing cold New England night, Sierra and dozens of volunteers went to work, putting this symbol of love everywhere. And when the city woke up this Valentine's Day, there were hundreds of them at City Hall,

on businesses, on the local theater. It makes me feel happy. It's so cute. Love is contagious and it's spreading like wildfire all over Portland. And look at this. Someone even made sure to put one up out at sea on Portland streets, window after window, decked out in hearts. Some of those volunteers gathering later that night to celebrate Kevin and what they all did. We have to keep this tradition going. There was an opportunity for our community to come forward and fill that tremendous loss. This isn't just about Kevin. This is about impact on community. I hope I do it justice. And Sierra didn't just stop there. She also created a new foundation dedicated to her dad's favorite causes. He made people feel seen. He made people

feel important. She took what was probably the hardest moment of her young life and flipped it around to something positive. A legacy of love blanketing the city this February and all year round. The tradition lives on. Before we go tonight, I want to share some personal news. For eight and a half years, I have loved being with you every Sunday night. It's been a privilege.

Many of you know that I also anchor a weekday program. It's called NBC News Daily. It's a fast-paced show filled with all the news that's relevant to you, highlighting our NBC News reporters. Our audience on NBC News Daily is growing fast, and I have decided, after a lot of

thought, to focus my attention Monday through Friday on that role. So next Sunday will be my last Sunday anchoring Nightly News. I will miss the team that you don't see behind the cameras here, but I'll still continue to be part of the nightly news family reporting and contributing. And again, you can find me every weekday by streaming NBC News Daily live from two to four Eastern on NBC News Now or finding us on your local NBC affiliate. I will see you next week. And for all of us here at NBC News, stay safe and have a great night.