NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas - Monday, August 11, 2025

Episode Date: August 12, 2025

Emergency workers search for missing after plant explosion; Three dead after shooting in Target store parking lot; Sweeping flash floods devastate Midwest; and more on tonight’s broadcast.

Tonight, the massive factory explosion and the search for the missing. The intense rescue mission inside a steel plant after the giant explosions sent a tower plume of smoke into the air. One person killed, another missing, and 10 more injured. What happened? And the concern tonight about the air. Also breaking tonight the killings inside of a target parking lot, a man in custody accused of shooting three people and carjacking two cars in Austin, Texas. The flash flood emergency in Wisconsin, plus the incredible lightning strike caught on camera as we track Tropical Storm Aaron where it's headed and will it become a hurricane. The president's D.C. takeover declaring a crime emergency and taking control of the city's police department and sending in the National Guard.

Washington's mayor calling it, quote, unsettling and unprecedented as protesters take to the streets. Plus, why a judge just denied the president's request to release the Galane Maxwell grand jury transcripts. Missiles strike Ukraine with that high-stake summit just days away in Alaska, Trump and Putin face-to-face, but is it still on track? And will a key ally, Ukraine, be left in the cold? The high-speed chase through Los Angeles armed carjacker stealing three different vehicles, including a big-rigged milk truck, driving the wrong way down the street, and there's still at a lot. large tonight. Plus, the kid, his goat, the fourth place finish, and the moment of pure joy caught on camera. Wait till you meet this five-year-old and hear why that ribbon meant so much. Nightly News starts right now. This is NBC Nightly News with Tom Yamas.

And good evening. As we come on the air, the deadly explosion at a U.S. steel plant just outside of Pittsburgh tonight. You can see it right here. The moment of that blast, thick black smoke surging out of the plant. The desperate search right now for one person who is still unaccounted for with one person confirmed dead and 10 more injured. Officials warning residents within a mile to remain indoors and to close their windows. The health department monitoring potential air danger. Adrian Brodis and her team have made their way to the scene there in Clarendon, Pennsylvania. Tonight, urgent rescue efforts underway to find one missing worker from this steel plant. Officials say nearly a dozen people were injured and transported to local hospitals.

One person killed. Their efforts are very focused on rescue at this point. We are still engaged in the incident. Our focus right now is just continuing our search for one unaccounted person at this point. Crews battling clouds of thick smoke billowing into the air. Not explosion, now black smoke in the area. After this explosion happened at U.S. Steel Claritin Coke Works this morning, authorities still investigating the cause. I thought it was the train cars, you know, when your train backyards, the tracks, all you hear is the trains. But then I started hearing the sirens, came outside, and it was big black smoke. This is what the plant looked like before.

Officials say nearly 1,300 workers are employed at the factory that produces fuel converted from coal used for steel production. Safety is our number one priority every day, every shift, 365. We will continue to work not only with the folks behind me, but the families of those that have been affected. Tonight, the community here grieving the unexpected loss. It's a sad day for Clareton, and it's a sad day for the still workers. These guys come to work and make a living for their family, not knowing if they're going to make it home or not. And Adrian, as they actively search for that missing person tonight, there's concerns about the air quality there? Tom, that's right. The local health department here says air quality monitors have not detected levels above federal standards.

But in addition to folks living in within one mile of the plant staying inside and closing their doors, they also want them to set their HVAC systems so they can recirculate. And if you have to step outside, carry a mask. Tom. All right, some good tips there. Adrian, we thank you. We want to turn now to some more breaking news tonight out of Austin, Texas this time, where three people were killed outside of a Target store. I want to bring in Priscilla Thompson, who's following it for us. And Priscilla, what do we know at this hour? Well, Tom, police say that three people are dead after a gunman opened fire in the parking lot of a North Austin target this afternoon.

A 32-year-old male suspect has been taken into custody. Police say that this suspect has a history of mental health issues and a criminal record. Police say that they arrived on scene to find three people who had been shot. One of them, the driver of a vehicle that the suspect used to flee the scene. Police say he then crashed that vehicle and hijacked another, but the police were ultimately able to take him down using a taser. Tonight, no word from police on a possible motive. Tom.

All right, Priscilla Thompson first. Priscilla, we thank you. We turn out of the severe weather in Wisconsin where flood warnings were just extended after they just got hit by record rainfall and flooding. Maggie Vespa is in Waukesha, where Maggie, that river there, it's still raging behind you? Yeah, Tom, it's still raging and it's still rising.

The Fox River behind me has been creeping up here all day long with some flood warnings in the area extended into Wednesday and wild summer weather firing up coast to coast. New tonight, dramatic dash cam video of a massive lightning strike in South Carolina. Watch that again. A fireball erupts on the left appearing to ignite power lines. on the right, knocking out electricity and delaying traffic in Mount Pleasant, say police. Meanwhile, misery in Wisconsin after a harrowing stretch of storms and floods, new drone video

showing cars submerged. Here, debris floats by a flooded home. Milwaukee slammed with a summer's worth of rain in one weekend storm. Dozens rescued by boat. Jerry Breske and his family in this video. You don't realize how drastic that rescue is. until I saw the pictures. Wow, we were the ones getting rescued this time. Their home flooded. The family today piled waterlogged possessions on the lawn. In spots where waters receded, we're seeing intense damage like this. Flood waters just ripped away part of this road, and now repair work is clearly underway. Oh, my God. Severe weather raging nationwide. In Nebraska, violent winds ripping the roof off

this prison Saturday. Authorities say that storm, killed a woman. Overnight, torrential flash floods hitting Florida's west coast, while 29 million Americans broil under heat alerts, Caribou Maine breaking a record. I'm probably going to get off the bridge now. A patchwork of dangerous summer weather that won't let up. Maggie Vespa, NBC News, Waukesha, Wisconsin. And joining us live now as meteorologist Bill Karen's, Bill, you're tracking a tropical storm that could become the first major hurricane of the season. Yeah, Aaron's going to be our first big storm of the season. It's going to be, take a to get here. I mean, it's far out in the Atlantic. We think on Thursday, it'll become a

hurricane. Then by the time we get to Saturday, it becomes a major hurricane. So everyone wants to know where does it go after this? It's expected to go north right now of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. This is our European, you know, our world-leading weather model. And these are all the possibilities. We call these the ensembles, all these purple lines. You can kind of see how large of a cone since it's still eight to nine days out. But the East Coast, as of right now, have your hurricane plans prepared anyways. Just in case. Always great advice, Bill. We thank you for that. We head to Washington now. President Trump today declaring a public safety emergency in Washington, D.C., federalizing the city's police force

and deploying hundreds of National Guard troops. It comes as stats show violent crime is down in D.C. Gabe Gutierrez is at the White House. In the nation's capital, tonight a dramatic change after crime scenes like these. President Trump declaring a public safety emergency deploying 800 National Guard troops to D.C. and taking control of the district's police department. This is Liberation Day in D.C., and we're going to take our capital back. That federal takeover can last up to 30 days without congressional approval. The troops set to fan out across D.C. over the next week, the White House says,

to protect federal assets and deter violent crime. It's becoming a situation of complete and total lawlessness. Even though crime statistics from the U.S. Attorney's Office in January said violent crime in D.C. was at a 30-year low. The police department says it was down 26% since last year. So why do this now? Crime has gone down. Gone down from what?

Gone down from when? Crime is way too high in the district. And, you know, this Nambi-Bambi response that all crime is down, no, it isn't down for the people who are victimized by crime. The head of the police union tells NBC News the crime stats have been manipulated, and any talk of a recent drop in crime is preposterous. Still, the D.C. City Council calls the federal police. police take over a manufactured intrusion on local authority, and the mayor says it caught her off

guard. I don't want to minimize the intrusion on our autonomy. The move comes after a former Doge employee was attacked during an attempted carjacking last week. Over the weekend, the president ordered the deployment of nearly 500 federal officers around the district, leading to several arrests. You know, he's taking federal control of the police, and that's just not okay. I feel like these are the sorts of things that you start to see in dictatorships. Trump has deployed federal resources to cities before, including thousands of National Guard troops this summer to Los Angeles to quell immigration protests and thousands of others to the southern border. The president saying federal intervention in other cities like New York and Chicago could be next. We're not going to

lose our cities over this, and this will go further. We're starting very strongly with D.C. and we're going to clean it up real quick. Gabe joins us now live from the White House. Gabe, there was another big headline today about the release of those Epstein grand jury transcripts. What happened? Yes, Tom, a federal judge today denied the Justice Department's request to unseal grand jury materials in the criminal case of Galane Maxwell, Epstein's accomplice. The judge said that the grand jury materials do not identify anyone other than Epstein or Maxwell as having had sexual contact with a minor. Tom. All right, Gabe, we thank you. We're learning more details about that high-stakes meeting between President Trump and Russian President.

Vladimir Putin on Friday in Alaska. Here's Andrea Mitchell. President Trump's saying he's meeting with Russia's President Putin to find out what he wants. Probably in the first two minutes I'll know exactly whether or not a deal can be way. Sources tell NBC News the White House considered including Ukraine's President Zelensky, but he is not invited. He wasn't a part of it.

I would say he could go, but he's gone to a lot of meetings. You know, he's been there for three and a half years. Nothing happened. Zelensky's fear that Trump and Putin will cut a deal without. him. I'm going to call up President Zelensky and the European leaders right after the meeting. And Trump said he'll talk to Putin about land swaps. The key issue, how much land Russia now controls it can keep and how much would go back

to Ukraine. Russia's occupied a big portion of Ukraine. They've occupied some very prime territory. We're going to try and get some of that territory back for Ukraine. Tonight, Zelensky saying Putin is still bombing civilian areas and sees the Alaska Summit is his personal victory. Russia's attacks did anger Trump recently. We get a lot of voters thrown at us by Putin for you want to know the truth. But today he appeared frustrated with Zelensky for the war.

I get along with Zelensky, but you know, I disagree with what he's done. Very, very severely disagree. This is a war that should have never happened. If Putin and Trump agree to something that Zelensky can't agree to, and if Zelensky can't agree to it, the Europeans will not agree to it. the Europeans should also be part of this. Vice President Vance did meet with European leaders and a top Ukrainian official in the UK this weekend. And the Europeans in Zelensky have scheduled a video conference with President Trump and Vance on Wednesday.

Tom? All right, Andrea Mitchell, Andrea, thank you. Now to a big update on that deadly shooting near the CDC in Atlanta on Friday. NBC News has learned investigators are looking into comments the suspect made about the COVID vaccine as a possible motive as RFK Jr. visited today.

Here's Priya Shui there. Tonight, CDC workers are demanding answers after a gunman opened fire in Atlanta, killing a police officer and riddling CDC headquarters with bullets. All right to see your response. A senior law enforcement official briefed on the investigation says family members told police the alleged gunman, 30-year-old Patrick White, previously made suicidal statements, and recently blamed health issues on the COVID-19 vaccine. White died at the scene from gunshot wounds.

It comes as the mother of police officer David Rose is remembering her son and honoring his brave response. If you would ask him he would do it again, he would do it again. That's the kind of person he is. Today, the head of the CDC Workers Union says they don't feel safe going back to work. Is there a certain set of parameters that need to be met for you guys to feel comfortable with returning to the office? Yes, for one, security mess. This time the person did not penetrate the gates, but it doesn't mean that it won't happen the next time. Earlier today, the Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. visited the CDC

headquarters. In a statement, a spokesperson said, Secretary Kennedy, quote, has unequivocally condemned the horrific attack, adding he remains fully committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of CDC employees. But some past and current CDC employees tell NBC News, They believe his anti-vaccine rhetoric is partially to blame for the attack. Not only does he have to condemn the misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines, about CDC workers. And we're also learning that Secretary Kennedy visited the widow of the fallen police officer today. Tom. Okay, Priya, thank you.

We want to head overseas to the conflict in the Middle East. Five journalists killed by an Israeli air strike. Israel claiming one of those reporters was part of Hamas. Here's Matt Bradley. Tonight, Gazan journalists laying to rest several more of their own. Al Jazeera said Israeli strikes killed five of its staff in a tent Sunday in Gaza City. Israel claimed the strike, accusing Al Jazeera reporter Anas Sharif of leading Hamas terror cell. A charge he and Al Jazeera have repeatedly denied.

Palestinian officials in Gaza say at least 238 journalists have been killed by Israel. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to expand fighting in the Gaza Strip. saying last night he has no choice but to finish the job and defeat Hamas. Our goal is not to occupy Gaza. Our goal is to free Gaza, free it from Hamas terrorists. Nintyahu's strategy would bring Israeli forces into camps, housing hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians. The Prime Minister speaking with President Trump on Sunday,

who he thanked for his steadfast support. Despite two weeks of aid being airdropped and trucked into Gaza, many suffering worsening hunger. Gaza officials now say more than a hundred children have died from malnutrition. Israeli hostages families now fearful the fighting could endanger their loved ones. The blood will be on your head. Last night, Netanyahu once again denied that there was hunger in the Gaza Strip and said reports of the deteriorating humanitarian situation there were exaggerated.

Tom? Matt Bradley from Israel tonight. We'll be right back with the wild high-speed chase playing out on live TV. The suspects who stole a big-rig mill. truck still on the run. Stay with us. We're back now with a dramatic high-speed pursuit that unfolded in Los Angeles. Two suspects remain at large after they carjacked at least three vehicles, all of it playing out on live TV. We get the details tonight from Camilla Bernal. High-speed chaos. Move out of the way, folks. Two people carjacked vehicle after vehicle,

including this semi-truck in a wild and dangerous pursuit, lasting more. than an hour in Los Angeles. It's a semi-truck, and it's now empty five freeways. It started Sunday just after 10 p.m. north of the city. The sheriff's department says the pair stole a Ford F-150 at gunpoint. NBC Los Angeles reporting from the air as the events unfolded. The officers are saying that the suspects opened fire on them. As they made their way south, they drove the wrong way and repeatedly tried to swap

cars. Thankfully, that person had their door locked, but eventually found their next getaway. The driver just ran out. The driver said you can have it. Oh my gosh. They sped off in a milk truck. Again, they drove in the wrong direction. The California Highway Patrol backing off out of safety concerns. In the streets of downtown Los Angeles, police again trying to catch up. They steal another car and go into residential neighborhoods. But despite the many eyes on them, in an underpass, the two got in a black vehicle, and according to the sheriff's department, in the end, got away. And authorities say they are still looking for the two suspects, but no word of arrest. Tom?

Okay, Camila, we're back in a moment with the plane crash that exploded into a fireball, and somehow everyone got out alive. Stay with us. Welcome back. This just in the first images of a small plane that burst into massive flames and somehow everyone survived. At CalSpell Airport, a small plane hit an unoccupied plane after landing. Four people were on board and incredibly, everyone got out safely. The FAA will investigate this. And tonight in LA, police arresting the suspects, they say, broken to Brad Pitt's L.A. home. The LAPD says they're part of a burglary crew that had been targeting homes in that area. Okay, when we come back, when his big brother couldn't make it, this five-year-old stepped up to show a goat at a livestock show. The results? Priceless. There's good news tonight. That's next. Finally, there's good news tonight in Texas. A heartwarming moment this weekend. A five-year-old and his show goat winning fourth place. But it's the boy's reaction that is winning over everyone. As we zoom in on this goat showing in Kingsville, Texas, meet five-year-old Milo Garza, staring at his yellow ribbon.

Just look at that face, over the moon about winning fourth place, even kissing his little goat, teddy bear, and hugging him tightly. We had to know the story behind this video. Hello, goats. Milo and his mom Elizabeth telling us how it all went down. It turns out the whole Garza family loves goats. We seat them, and we whip them, and we walk them, we give them water. But Milo was actually filling in for his big brother. So this was Milo's moment, and he knew Teddy Bear was one special goat.

Milo, if you can just tell me what's one great thing about teddy bear? His legs. What about his legs? They're fat. There you have it. One of the secrets of goat showing. from the new kid on the block. His mom's saying Milo's been working hard

and that moment captured on video, the joy of competition for a five-year-old boy and his favorite goat. It was a raw emotion, you know, it was something totally, totally, like, unexpected. Yeah. You know, and just the love that he has for his goats, Milo is a goat lover.

You know, he goes outside and he's constantly, you know, kissing the ghost, you know, loving on the goats, you know, hugging him. And he's just, I mean, they're pets to him. And he just, he can't, he can't get enough of them. And we can't get enough of Milo. That's nightly news for this Monday. I'm Tom Yamas. Thanks so much for watching. Tonight and always, we're here for you. Good night.