NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas - Thursday, January 4, 2024

Episode Date: January 5, 2024

Sixth grader killed, five others injured at school shooting in Perry, Iowa; U.S. airstrike kills leader of Iranian-backed militia in Baghdad; Newly unsealed documents reveal Jeffrey Epstein’s relationships with powerful people; and more on tonight’s broadcast.

Tonight, the deadly shooting at a school in Iowa on the first day back from winter break. Police saying a 17-year-old student armed with a shotgun and a handgun opened fire on the campus. A sixth grader killed. Four other students and a school administrator injured. The shooter, taking his own life, also found at the scene an improvised explosive device. Our team is there. The major storm moving across the country from

the rock east of the Gulf Coast, then threatening to slam the northeast with snow. We're tracking it. The escalation in the Middle East, the U.S. drone strike in Iraq, killing a leader of an Iranian-backed militia. It comes a day after the blasts in Iran that killed dozens. The terror group now claiming responsibility. The new batch of court documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein just unsealed, the high-powered names being revealed, and the fallout. A shocking moment in the courtroom, a defendant leaping over the bench and attacking the judge, her condition, and the new charges that man faces. The new program just launched to make getting popular weight loss drugs easier,

how it works and the concerns it's raising. And the classic video game unbeaten for more than 30 years until now. A 13-year-old gamer who toppled Tetris. This is NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt. Good evening and welcome. Today, a new year brought back a haunting bane of the past as another school shooting left a community grappling with sorrow and unspeakable loss. Authorities in the small town of Perry, Iowa, say a 17-year-old student armed with a shotgun and a small caliber handgun shot and killed a sixth grader and wounded four other students along with a school administrator.

By the time police located the shooter, they say he was dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. It happened early this morning as classes at Perry High School were set to resume today following the holiday break, the thoughts of the new semester quickly turned to thoughts of survival. Students running from the sound of shots, barricading themselves in classrooms, waiting for the horror to end. NBC's Von Hilliard is there tonight with the latest. Tonight, horror for students on the first day back from winter break. A sixth grader killed and five others wounded in a school shooting in Perry, Iowa.

Units, we've got an active shooter situation at Perry High School. Authorities say the shooting started at approximately 7.37 this morning as students and faculty arrived on campus. Officers arrived within seven minutes. We've got reports of multiple subjects injured at this time. They immediately made entry and witnessed students and faculty either sheltering in place or running from the school. Law enforcement officials say among the injured, four students and one school administrator, all being treated at nearby hospitals. The shooter

identified as Dylan Butler, a junior at the high school. Police say he was killed by a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Butler was armed with a pump action shotgun and a small caliber handgun. Officers located during the search of the school an improvised explosive device. Friends say Butler was bullied. One friend says he messaged her minutes before the shooting. He said that he was fine and he was okay. He was all good. Freshman student Phillip Gray believes his friend was shot. I think he was like close to the school shooter. So I'm guessing he probably got hit

and probably tried to like run away. Do you know how your friend is doing? I'm praying that he's okay. A devastating tragedy hitting this small, tight-knit community. And Vaughn joins us in the Perry High School. Vaughn, what's the status of the investigation right now? Lester, multiple law enforcement agencies are on the ground here in Iowa, including the FBI, investigating the potential motive of this shooter.

While the students at this school of nearly 700 just wait for the word on the conditions of their classmates. Lester. All right. Von Hillier tonight. Thank you. Now to the cross-country storm affecting so many Americans expected to bring lots of rain, snow and high winds through the weekend. Dylan Dreyer is tracking it. Dylan, where is this headed and when? Well, Lester, right now the storm has been sitting through the southern Rockies. It's going to continue to intensify as it moves eastward through tomorrow, bringing some heavy rain likely along the Gulf Coast. Then it makes its way up into the Mid-Atlantic and into the Northeast.

We are starting to see the models come into more agreement that it should be mostly rain along that I-95 corridor from Washington, D.C., up through Philly, through New Jersey and into New York as well. And then inland areas will likely see some of that heavier snow, especially up across New England. And then we could see some wraparound snow on the backside of this storm system. So as of right now, our highest snowfall totals will be up across parts of New England into New York, six to eight inches likely. Lesser amounts as you go closer to the coast. But again, we still have to watch that track. If it shifts 20 miles south, we could see this change a bit. All right, Dylan, thanks very much. Once again, today, the U.S. was drawn into hostilities

involving Iranian-backed militias in the Middle East, attacking a target in Iraq while the show down in the Red Sea is growing. Keir Simmons now with late developments. Tonight, the U.S. sending a message to Iran, an American airstrike killing the leader of an Iranian-backed militia in Baghdad. A senior U.S. defense official calling it a precision strike on his vehicle, saying he was actively involved in planning and carrying out attacks against American personnel. U.S. bases in the Middle East have been hit over 100 times by various Iran-backed militias, according to the Pentagon. But tonight, Iraq, furious,

saying the assassination breaks agreements it had with Washington. Then there's the growing threat from the Iranian-backed Houthi militia. Just hours after the U.S. and others issued a final warning to the group to stop attacks on ships in the Red Sea. The Houthis launching an unmanned drone boat loaded with explosives and detonating just a couple of miles from U.S. Navy and commercial ships, the Pentagon says. President Biden under pressure to order a stronger military response. Among the options reviewed by members of his national security team Wednesday, strikes against Houthi targets inside Yemen involving the US and other allied militaries,

according to two current administration officials. I'm certainly not going to telegraph any punches one way or the other. We take these responsibilities seriously. The Red Sea, a critical economic route used by 12% of global cargo shipping as fears mount of massive disruption to trade, fueling more inflation. Meanwhile, Iran is under pressure too after that deadly terror attack inside Iran Wednesday. ISIS tonight claiming responsibility. And there are fears of an escalating regional conflict here in Lebanon too.. Today, Hamas, holding the funeral of a leader,

assassinated this week in a drone strike at a Hamas office in Beirut. Israel not publicly saying it was behind it, but has promised to hunt down Hamas leaders after the October 7th terror attacks. Tonight, Secretary of State Blinken is heading to the Middle East. He'll make nine stops in a week on a difficult agenda, reducing those regional tensions and deterring the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea. Lester. All right, Keir Simmons, thank you. Today, more newly unsealed court documents just released involving accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein as we get new insights about the high profile network of people associated with Epstein. Senior legal correspondent Laura Jarrett has more.

Tonight, the blast radius from Jeffrey Epstein's reach continues to grow. Hundreds of pages of old court records now unsealed, adding more context to the wide network the convicted sex offender maintained. Powerful politicians, celebrities, not accused of any crimes themselves, but whose links to Epstein have followed them long after his death in 2019. Part of this is understanding who helped facilitate the trafficking, who was around, who knew about it. Generally, this is information that the public has not previously had. Sigrid McCauley, a lawyer for Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein's accusers, rolling out the first batch of documents late Wednesday. There's a lot more to come. This beginning part is a small percentage.

All of the materials are drawn from an old civil defamation lawsuit Giuffre brought against Epstein's former girlfriend, Jelaine Maxwell, accused of grooming Giuffre and others for abuse. That lawsuit was settled back in 2017, and Maxwell was later convicted of sex trafficking after Epstein died, but questions have remained about his connections, and so the Miami Herald successfully persuaded a federal judge to unseal years' worth of court papers, including key deposition transcripts and lengthy testimony from Joanna Schoberg, a woman who once worked for Epstein. Schoberg describing one conversation with Epstein about former President Bill Clinton,

recalling Epstein told her, quote, Clinton likes them young, referring to girls. Clinton has not been accused of any wrongdoing, and a Clinton spokesperson pointed NBC News to a past statement denying knowledge of Epstein's crimes. Schoberg also recalled a trip to Atlantic City, saying Epstein said he could call up Mr. Trump. She responded no when asked if she ever had sexual contact with the former president, and Mr. Trump has She responded no when asked if she ever had sexual contact with the former president. And Mr. Trump has denied having a close relationship with Epstein over the years and is not accused of any wrongdoing in the documents.

He was a fixture in Palm Beach. I had a falling out with him a long time ago. Schoberg's unsealed deposition also raised new names. She described a conversation with magician David Copperfield at Epstein's home with Copperfield asking if she was aware that girls were getting paid to find other girls. He has not returned multiple requests for comment. And Laura, some new documents have come out in the last few minutes. What do we know about them? Yeah, that's right, Lester. A little more than 300 pages of new materials here, including more deposition transcripts, more routine court filings, some of them including perhaps witness interviews with victims. We're going to pour through them. But as of right now, it looks like a fair amount of material that we have previously seen. But we're going to look for new names, of course, Lester. Laura, thanks very much. Now to the countdown of the Iowa Republican caucuses, Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley holding separate town halls tonight in Des Moines. For DeSantis, Iowa could be make or break. And in a one-on-one interview with our Dasha Burns, he ramped up his attack on

Haley and says he's confident he has a path to victory. Tonight, 11 days until the Iowa caucuses, rivals to dominant Republican frontrunner Donald Trump hoping for a breakout night with pressure mounting on Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for a strong showing. Can you name another state you could win? Yes, yes. Wait till what happens when we get out of Iowa. We have a great organization in New Hampshire. We have a great organization in South Carolina. Do you think you could win New Hampshire. We have a great organization in South Carolina. We can have a lot of great organizations throughout Super Tuesday. So you're going to see this is very dynamic. We're going to be able to win. So stay tuned. DeSantis and Nikki Haley now locked in a tense showdown. Polls show Haley doing better in New Hampshire than Iowa. She raised eyebrows with this comment in New Hampshire to voters overnight. Iowa starts it. You know that you correct it. You know that you

continue to go. It's a slap in the face to Iowans to say that they somehow need to be corrected. It's almost as if like she's acknowledging she's not going to do well here. And so she's blaming the voters. You know, that's unacceptable. DeSantis escalating his attacks on Haley. I'm the only one that has a chance to beat Trump and win the general election. Nikki Haley can't get conservative voters. She's the darling of the never-Trumpers. And we also asked about the school shooting tragedy just a few miles away. DeSantis saying cities and states should take the lead on gun laws.

So there's no change that you would advocate for at the federal level? I don't support infringing the rights of law-abiding citizens with respect to the ability to exercise their constitutional rights. People can count on me to hold criminals accountable, be very serious about holding accountable people that represent a danger to society, but at the same time protecting their constitutional rights. And DeSantis has repeatedly called on Trump to debate, but when he and Haley take the

stage here next week, Trump will skip it for a solo town hall in Iowa instead. Lester? Dasha Burns, thank you. In 60 seconds, a felon lunges at the judge who just sentenced him in a Las Vegas courtroom. The wild and dangerous attack and the new charges he faces faces next. All right, back now with that shocking moment in the Las Vegas courtroom, a judge attacked on the bench by a man she had just sentenced. The incident shining a spotlight on a safety risk to judges nationwide. Liz Kreutz with the video and the concerns. Tonight, new security questions after a Las Vegas judge was attacked in her own courtroom Wednesday by a convicted felon.

Leading up to the terrifying incident, 30-year-old Diobre Redden, who has a history of violent crimes, pled guilty to attempted battery with substantial bodily harm, but asked Judge Mary Kay Holmes for leniency. I feel that, like, I shouldn't be, like, sent to Kay Holmes for leniency. The judge denied his plea. I think it's time that he gets a taste of something else because I just can't with that history. That's when Reddent flew through the air, tackling her, sparking this bloody brawl that sent one court-martial to the hospital. The dramatic incident shedding light on security threats facing judges across the country. How common is it to have attacks or threats like this in a courtroom? I think they're very common. It is a national issue

at all levels, the attacks to judicial officers in and out of the court. Like in this Mississippi courtroom, surveillance video showing the moment a suspect began throwing out of the court. Like in this Mississippi courtroom, surveillance video showing the moment a suspect began throwing things at the judge. Then in October, a Maryland judge killed by a man after he ruled against him in a child custody case. And in 2020, there was that horrifying attack in New Jersey where a disgruntled lawyer targeted federal judge Esther Salas, showing up at her home and killing her 20-year-old son. That incident sparking legislation to help protect the personal information of judges. As for the incident in Vegas, the attacker now faces multiple new felony charges of battery

and battery against a protected person. He refused to appear in court today, but is expected back Tuesday. Lester. All right, Liz, thank you. Coming up, the new way patients can get access to weight loss medication, a potential game changer for the prescription drug industry. We're back now with the newest entry in the growing market for weight loss drugs. It's called ZepBound, and today its maker, Eli Lilly,

announced a new program to make this and other drugs easier to get. Maggie Vespa spoke with Lilly's CEO. Lynn Fendleson has diabetes and has struggled with her weight as long as she can remember. The 56-year-old Alabama author says she began asking her doctor about Ozempic in 2020. She says he eventually prescribed it, but kept her on a low dose for a year, even though her weight wasn't changing. So she asked about a higher dose or other medications.

You felt like you needed to keep raising the issue. That's it. I have seen physicians who almost seem afraid to be proactive with people who are overweight. And I think that really impedes getting access to good care. Both Ozempic and Manjaro are drugs for treating diabetes, but also used off-label for weight loss. Wigovi and Zepbound are now the approved versions of the two drugs specifically intended for fighting obesity. But as Lynn discovered, securing a prescription for any of these drugs

can be a challenge. Eli Lilly's CEO, Dave Ricks, says his company is now trying to change that. I think a lot of people think of obesity as an issue of willpower. It's not. You know, 40 percent of adult Americans have excess weight or obesity. That's a big number. From here, you can see... The pharmaceutical giant today launching Lilly Direct, a website where patients can find a doctor in person or via telehealth who can, if appropriate, prescribe certain medicines, among them Zetbound, which can then ship directly to the patient's door. Obviously, there are going to be questions from people about safety, about oversight. Can you explain the role of physicians and just healthcare professionals in this? Yeah, it's a critical part of how the site works. And these

drugs need to be used under the supervision of a physician. And we're just offering more choice in that regard. Are these independent physicians? Will they get any kind of incentives for prescribing ZetBound or your drugs? How does that relationship look? Yeah, key question. There is no financial relationship between us and the physicians or the online telehealth platforms. In clinical trials, patients taking Zetbound lost 21 percent of their body weight. Approved by the FDA in November, Wall Street analysts expected to bring in billions of dollars in sales this year. Some critics have concerns, including that

easier access could mean misuse of the drug by those who simply want to lose a few pounds. They're trying hard to make sure that you can find a path to something that they absolutely want to sell you. That creates at least the appearance of conflict of interest. ZepBound's list price is just over a thousand dollars for a month's supply and is not covered by Medicare or many insurance plans. Rick says direct access via the new site isn't about business. This is about patient success. Our sales will be the same either way, whether we sell it to CVS or Walgreens or sell it on our website. As for Lynn, who eventually had her dosage increased and says she lost 65 pounds,

she's all for making weight loss medications more accessible. It shuts off the constant thought of food. I feel like a normal person. A feeling Eli Lilly is trying to make easier to come by for others. Maggie Vespa, NBC News, Indianapolis. And next tonight, he's the first person to outsmart one of the world's top video games, the 13-year-old who toppled Tetris. Finally, the 13-year-old gamer who achieved something that was unthinkable for decades. He broke Tetris. Steve Patterson with the moment the final bricks fell. Just please crash. To the tiny triumphant sounds of bleeps, bloops, and a near complete nervous breakdown. Oh my god. You're witnessing one of the proudest moments in the history of video games. Tetris finally toppled by human hands.

I can't pass out. The guy totally freaking out is Oklahoma's teenage Tetris whiz, Willis Gibson. I can't feel my fingers. Under the gamer-handled blue scooty, the 13-year-old prodigy scoring so high, the game could no longer function, reaching its once-mythical kill screen in just 38 minutes at level 157. I was just sort of shocked and just happy that I did it. Tetris and its beautiful blocks have been falling into our hearts for nearly 40 years. The rules are simple. Fit the falling shapes into solid rows.

As the levels rise, Tetris tumbles faster and faster. The team believed to be the first person to beat the game. So historic, the CEO of Tetris calling it a feat that defies all preconceived limits of this legendary game. Willis says it took a lot of practice. The win dedicated to his dad, who tragically died in December. I'm dedicating it to my dad. He was always very supportive, and I think he'd be proud. Tearing down an icon brick by brick.

Yes! A game-breaking victory just falling into place. Steve Patterson, NBC News. Kind of makes you want to try it, doesn't it? That's nightly news for this Thursday. Thanks for watching. I'm Lester Holt. Please take care of yourself and each other. Good night, everyone.