NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas - Tuesday, May 19, 2026

Episode Date: May 20, 2026

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Breaking news tonight, the new details in that deadly rampage are an Islamic center, the FBI revealing the chilling background of the two teen shooters and a manifesto left behind and dozens of guns seized. Disturbing new video shots fired from the shooter's car, a person ducking with a stroller, a landscaper, dodging bullets, what were learning about how the two suspects met online, the hateful writings left behind, and the arsenal of weapons. Plus, the security guard credited with saving countless lives before losing his own. Powerful twisters taking aim, tornadoes blasting the heartland, sending debris soaring.

Plus, the dramatic doorbell cam capturing the moment a wildfire sweeps right across Southern California. We're tracking it all. A small explosion goes off near a polling site after a device was tossed from a car window, what we know at this hour. forced to quarantine. Two Americans being monitored for hanta virus told now they can't leave that Nebraska medical facility and if they do, law enforcement will be called in. The former assistant principal on trial after a six-year-old shot his teacher in class, could she be the first school administrator convicted over a school shooting? A woman killed after falling into an open manhole

in Manhattan. How could this have happened? The billionaire owner of close. clothing retailer, Mango, plummeting to his death off a cliff, and now his son has been arrested. Did he push him? Stardling video as a child tumbles out of a moving school bus. What happened here? And there's good news tonight, tennis grade Billy Jean King, earning her college degree 65 years after enrolling in her first class, proving it's never too late to finish what you started. Nightly news starts right now. This is NBC Nightly News with Tom Yomas. And good evening.

We begin tonight with the new details in that deadly attack at an Islamic center in San Diego. At this hour, we're learning more about the teen suspects and the hero security guard who saved lives. Plus the crucial moments before the rampage when the suspect's mother reported her son missing. New video showing gunshots from the suspect's car, shattering a windshield. You see it right here. bullets narrowly missing a landscaper that was nearby. A second vantage point showing a person with a scroller ducking and scrambling to safety with that baby as gunfire rings out.

The two-teen shooters storming that Islamic Center yesterday, killing three people. And then minutes later, officers in tactical gear descending on the school and the mosque. And this heartbreaking scene all too familiar, kids escorted out as parents raced to get them. The FBI saying they found more than 30 guns and a crossbow during searches at homes connected to the suspects. Plus, a manifesto discovered inside that car. The community tonight reeling as they search for answers are Morgan Chesky starts off our coverage from San Diego.

You can hear the gunshots. A person scrambling to push a stroller to safety as a suspect opens fire in a San Diego neighborhood. And here, glass breaking as a. more shots come from that very vehicle. Police say just minutes before that shooting, two gunmen unleashed a deadly rampage at a mosque, sending school kids running for their lives. Two senior law enforcement officials telling NBC News the gunmen have been identified as 18-year-old Caleb Vasquez and 17-year-old Kane Clark. And three senior law enforcement officials tell NBC News they're trying to authenticate a document purportedly written by the suspects full of anti-Islamic and anti-Semitic views.

also describing themselves as anti-Trump. Outside the car where police say they killed themselves, a bottle with a Nazi SS symbol. They didn't discriminate on who they hated. And at 9.40 a.m. Monday, two hours before the killing spree, police say Clark's mother called police to report her suicidal son had run away, taking his parents' weapons and car. Police started a search, including at a mall and school, when two hours later, the first reports of gunfire at the mosque. And then that second shooting scene. Just blocks away branches still on the ground after police say the gunman opened fire on a landscaper. One bullet grazing off his helmet, another embedded right here in this very home.

And tonight, we're learning more about the victims. Amin Abdullah, Mansor Kaziha, and Nader Awad. Police say Abdullah opened fire on the suspects, and all three heroically distracted the gunmen away from the mosque before police arrived. I truly believe that's what you. saved the 140 kids that were just inside. Tonight we spoke to Imam Taha Hussein, who said Abdullah also sent a critical warning. Even in the middle of a gunfight, he grabbed his radio and said what? He sent a message and notification to all the teachers and the staff inside the building

that there is an active shooter inside the building. At the last moment of his life, he thought about saving the lives of the kids and everyone inside this building. As this investigation is still ongoing, Morgan, I know you have some new reporting in on these suspects. Yeah, Tom, we do. And in addition to recovering those 30 firearms and crossbows, authorities say that they believe these two teenagers met online

where they were later radicalized. And upon realizing that both lived here in San Diego, that's when they started meeting in person. And right now, they're doing a deep dive into their electronic devices. Tom, Morgan Cheskey, with those new clues coming out, tonight. Morgan, thank you. We are also tracking severe weather across the country after massive

tornadoes broke out across multiple states and scorching summer weather baked much of the East Coast. Shaquille Brewster reports tonight from the storm zone. Wow. Right beside us. Big Tall tornado. Dangerous tornadoes ripped across five states late Monday. This funnel cloud swept through Kansas sending the ground in its path flying into the air. Listen, as storm tasers follow this ominous one near the Nebraska border, you can hear the hail slamming down. And watch the nonstop lightning in northwest Missouri. Near Kansas State University, cars plowing through flooded roads. From relentless rain to powerful winds, more than 300 severe storm reports in just the last day.

You see the power of those storms, even in places where there were no confirmed tornadoes, this tree crashing into this home, narrowly missing a bedroom. It was pretty overwhelming, you know. And you were inside the home when this happened. Inside, yeah, we were asleep. And it woke you up, I'm sure. It woke us up. And in the west, the sandy fire spreading to more than 1,400 acres.

This Nescam time lapse showing people scrambling to evacuate the sky turning orange. Our Steve Patterson is out in the burn area. And you can see at that huge plume of smoke in the distance, the fire is still raging firefighters doing all they can to prevent a situation like this. the one home in this community that is torch, burned to the ground firefighters, trying to keep a perimeter to keep the flames away. While on the East Coast, sweltering temperatures, New York City facing a heat advisory in May for the second time ever.

Temps soaring deep into the 90s, breaking a record at Boston Logan Airport. Extreme heat, tornadoes, and fire bringing a range of severe weather from coast to coast. It is a wild week when it comes to weather. Let's get back to Shaq Brewster, who joins us live from Holbrook. Kansas. And Shaq, we see the destruction right there behind you. There's still a storm threat tonight? Yeah, Tom, and you see the damage that it's capable of. This is a barn. It used to be a barn. It is now completely wiped out. Parts of it landing in that tree over there, even across the street. Now, going into the evening, you have 34 million people at risk for more severe weather,

more of those powerful winds and hail extending from Texas all the way up to New York. Tom. Okay, Shaq, thank you. We want to turn to politics now. President Trump giving the first real look at the construction of the White House ballroom as his administration is facing new criticism over a plan for taxpayer money to go to Trump supporters. They say were unfairly prosecuted by the Biden administration. Here's Garrett Hake. Tonight, a new look at the White House ballroom construction site with President Trump defending the controversial $1 billion taxpayer dollars he wants from Congress to complete it. The money they're going to give is really for the security of that and the whole White House premise. And I guess you probably need that nowadays.

And then there's the Justice Department's new $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund. To compensate people, the president says, were wrongly prosecuted by the Biden administration. We're trying to compensate people where the book was thrown at them. They were mistreated by the legal system. The new fund was created after the president dropped his legal claims over the IRS leak of his taxes. The settlement also says the government would be, quote, forever barred and precluded from pursuing certain legal claims against the president and his family, including anything related to previous tax returns. Tonight, the Senate's top Republicans saying he's not a, quote, big fan.

There are and will continue to be a lot of questions around that that the administration is going to have to answer. It comes as the president flexes his political power in Republican primaries, targeting Trump critic Thomas Massey in Kentucky and endorsing Ken Paxton in Texas, all testing the administration's midterm message. You and the president ran on a platform that included no new wars, cutting gas prices, cutting inflation. What do you say to people who are going to the polls today and who feel like those promises are unkempt? Why, I'd say a few things. First of all, we've delivered great wins for the American people. We ran on delivering tax cuts to the American

people, which we did. We are very aware that because of what's going on in the Middle East, gas prices have gone up and a lot of Americans are struggling because of that. Our view is that it is a temporary increase. And in Pennsylvania, a small explosion near a polling site. Police say there's no sign. It was election-related. All right, Gary, I know you're tracking a lot of headlines and you have some new reporting on Cuba and a potential indictment from the Trump administration.

Yeah, that's right, Tom. Two people familiar with the investigation, tell us that Raul Castro, the powerful, former authoritarian leader and brother of the late Fidelian, Castro is expected to face federal charges, which would be announced tomorrow in Miami on Cuban Independence Day. Tom? A significant escalation in that tension with Cuba. All right, Garrett, thank you. We're going to turn out of those Americans quarantining at a Nebraska medical facility after being exposed to Honta virus. The CDC had been saying that quarantine was voluntary. Now the agency says they're not allowed to leave. Here's Maggie Vespo. Tonight, two American passengers exposed to

Hanta virus on this cruise ship blocked from leaving this Nebraska hospital. The CDC confirming it's now implemented quarantine orders and is requiring all 18 passengers remain in isolation here until at least May 31st. This after, the New York Times reported a passenger named Angela Perryman, who said she's tested negative and has no symptoms, made plans to travel to Florida and isolate at an Airbnb, something local health officials said last week, people would have the option to do. want to do this in the least restrictive way possible. But yesterday, the Times reported Perryman received a federal order requiring her to stay, saying leaving would constitute a probable source of infection to other people.

Perryman, who declined our interview requests, told the Times health officials said they'd contact law enforcement if she tried to leave. Meanwhile, as needed supplies arrive amid Africa's surging Ebola outbreak, Dr. Peter Safford, the American surgeon who's tested positive, landing in Germany moments ago, to receive specialized emergency care. The missionary group he was traveling with believes he was exposed operating on a patient in DR Congo one week before the outbreak was announced. So he operated on this patient not knowing that there was an Ebola outbreak brewing?

That's correct. That's correct. I'm very concerned. I'm praying all the time. They say Stafford's wife, Dr. Rebecca Stafford, their four children and a third American physician are also under quarantine. As the World Health Organization says it's now tracking hundreds of suspected ebolic cases and deaths. Maggie Vespab, NBC News. Back here in Virginia, a new trial for the former assistant principal of the school where a six-year-old shot his teacher.

She could be the first administrator convicted over a school shooting. Stephanie Gosk has that story. Tonight, a first of its kind criminal trial, a school administrator accused of not doing enough to stop a school shooting. Ebony Parker, the former assistant principal at Rich Neck Elementary in Virginia, is facing eight counts of felony child neglect,

one count for each bullet in the nine millimeter handgun brought into her school. I looked over a gun was pointed right at me. He was holding a gun this year. And it was pointed right at me, and then Ivers thought. Abigail Zwerner was a first grade teacher at Richneck when a six-year-old in her class brought in a gun and shot her, the bullet going through her hand and lodging two centimeters from her aorta.

These are the chaotic moments right after the January 2020-shutely shooting. Zwerner was awarded $10 million in a civil trial last year, but now the stakes for Parker are even higher with this criminal trial facing up to 40 years in prison. In opening statements, the prosecution pointing out the danger to everyone the day of the shooting. This case is about a 19 children whose lives were endangered in that moment, but in the moments before as well. Parker pleaded not guilty to the charges and her defense team is laying a lot of the blame on Swirner. Who was the person that saw these events from beginning to end?

That was a teacher to swirond her. But according to the grand jury report, Parker ignored four words. warnings of a potentially dangerous threat. I went to Dr. Parker and I told her that two girls came to me and said that JT had a gun in the bag. Less than two hours later, according to the grand jury, the first grader shot his teacher. Stephanie Gosk, NBC News. And tonight we have some new video we want to show you of that deadly UPS crash in Louisville, Kentucky from November. You can clearly see the moment the left engine of that plane detaches, then goes up and over. the plane itself before it crashes into several businesses on the ground, killing 11 people,

and all three pilots on board. Investigators say metal fatigue caused the engine to break free. When we return in 60 seconds here on nightly news, the woman who fell to her death when she stepped into an open manhole on one of New York's most famous avenues. So why was it exposed? That's next. We're back now with a nightmare scenario. A woman stepping in a moment. out of a car on New York's famous Fifth Avenue and plunging down a manhole to her death. Sam Brock has the new details on how this could have happened. Tonight, it's a tragic mishap in Midtown Manhattan, a woman walking right into an open manhole

on Fifth Avenue. I saw this lady get out of her, a black SUV, and I saw her get out, close the door, and she took a step forward, and it was like she vanished. It all unfolded last night. Carlton Wood was headed to work at a nearby hotel, and immediately checked on the victim, now identified as 56-year-old Donica Goetzai, whose devastated son also confirmed her identity to NBC, New York, Wood Calling 911, as she cried. What did you hear when you looked over? When I looked over initially, it was just like a scream. She was screaming, I'm dying, I'm dying. Taylor Shabanian says she watched first responders

tried to save Goet Sai, who ultimately died from her injuries. I'm walking every day today right now being like not stepping on these days. Tonight in a statement, utility company, Con Edison says it's continuing to investigate, but we have reviewed video footage from the area which suggests that the cover was dislodged after a multi-axle truck turning onto 50-second straight from 5th Avenue drove over it. Approximately 12 minutes later, the person involved in the incident parked her car nearby. This is the manhole cover now covered up, right in the middle of one of the busiest parts of the entire city for hotels and shops and restaurants. Now, Kanaett says while it is a rare occurrence,

heavy vehicles can displace manhole covers. Wood still stunned, says there was no obvious warning around the cover. And it could have happened to anybody. It wasn't about situational awareness, I don't think. Sam Brock, NBC News. All right, we're back in a moment with the billionaire fashion founder who died on a hike. His son is now under arrest. Did he push him off the mount?

Welcome back. A major arrest in the death of billionaire fashion founder, Isok Onditch, who started the fashion retailer Mango. He fell to his death in the mountains while hiking in 2024. Now his son Jonathan, who was alone with him on that hike, has been arrested in connection with his death. An attorney for the family told Reuters, there's no evidence against him. And look at this, dozens of beachgoers forming a human chain in the Rockaways in New York

to search for a missing swimmer. One person was pulled out alive from the surf, but another is still missing tonight. And take a look at this video from a school bus in Norfolk, Virginia. When the emergency backdoor swings open and a child falls out, the school. district says the student was injured while horse playing. The bus driver no longer works with the district. Okay, when we come back tonight, it is never too late. Billy Jean King graduating college 65 years after she started. What she told me about how her greatest accomplishments are still to come. That's next. Finally, there's good news tonight for Billy Jean King. We know she's

got the heart of a champion and now at 82 showing us she's still taking on challenges. Billy Jean King of America, the new queen of tennis. On the court, tennis icon Billy Jean King could take down any opponent. But in life, she had one match she couldn't quite finish until last night, when at 82 she finally finished college and got to walk across that stage. It is a privilege for me to be here as a member of your graduating class. Yeah, baby. King earning a degree in history from Cal State, L.A.

She first enrolled in 1961, the best female college tennis player at the time, but in those days, there were no scholarships for female athletes. Her education eventually had to take a back seat as she rose to become number one in the world. It is important to me to finish what I started. I like completing things. It's like shaking hands at the net after a match. Tennis is a global sport and it became my platform. but equality was my dream to make the world a better place. Just last month, she told me her legacy was far from complete.

You know, you fought for women, you fought for women's sports, incredible tennis player, and then also someone who was an advocate for LGBTQ rights. Do you kind of look back to your life and say, this was my greatest accomplishment? Oh, no. I'm still going. There might be a better one in the future. I don't know because I'm still working full time. I love it.

Just like her fellow grads, King took selfies and celebrated. Her custom gold stole embroidered with goat, greatest of all time. Keep learning and keep learning how to learn. Cisei Puente. Yes, you can. Congrats to Billy Jean. That's nightly news for this Tuesday. I'm Tom Yamas. Thanks so much for watching tonight.

And always, we're here for you. Good night.