Top Story with Tom Llamas - Thursday, August 28, 2025

Episode Date: August 29, 2025

Tonight's Top Story has the latest breaking news, political headlines, news from overseas and the best NBC News reporting from across the country and around the world.

Tonight, heartbreak in Minneapolis. Families in agony after a shooter opened fire during a Catholic school mass. The powerful words from the father of the eight-year-old boy killed in church calling the shooter who killed his son Fletcher a coward. And the 10-year-old girl just identified as one of the victims as new video emerges showing the moments horrified kids ran from that church. We hear from a nine-year-old who ducked behind the pews to avoid the bullets why officials say the shooter wanted to watch children suffer. Also tonight, chaos at the CDC crowds in Atlanta cheering on top officials who resigned as the showdown over the firings of the director escalates. The White House already naming a new director, does this all come down to vaccine policy? O'Pair murder revelations the live-in nanny alleging her former lover and boss was the mastermind behind an elaborate plot to murder his wife. Travel trouble at Newark Airport just as the holiday weekend kicks in.

You'll hear the exchange inside the air traffic control tower as radios briefly went home. dark. The scary doorbell video as a bear sneaks up on a man moments later attacking him, how he got away. The heated post-match argument at the U.S. Open in front of fans and cameras, what was said in the off-court chaos adding to the drama defining this year's tournament. And my sit-down with Bad Bunny, what the music superstar told me about his decision to pursue acting, his blockbuster concert residency, and his latest album on the homeland that made him. Plus, men are less likely to visit the doctor, so what does it take to get them in the door? One clinic thinks they have the answer that could save lives.

Top story starts right now. And good evening. Tonight we begin in Minneapolis, where the heartbreak weighs heavy after a shooter opened fire at a church in the middle of mass, killing two children and injuring 18 others. Difficult new video to watch shows the moment kids from Annunciation Catholic Church. run for their lives as shots rang out during yesterday's morning mass. Chaos and fear in their faces holding hands as they escape. And tonight we are learning the names of those two angels that were killed in the attack,

eight-year-old Fletcher Merkel and 10-year-old Harper Moisky. Fletcher's father speaking just moments ago, asking people to remember his son as the fun and loving young boy he was. Fletcher loved his family, friends, fishing, cooking, and any sport that he was allowed to play. Please remember Fletcher for the person he was and not the act that ended his life. What do you feel for that father? The Minneapolis community banding together in the wake of this tragedy, thousands gathered at vigils throughout the Twin Cities and love pouring in from around the country.

Flowers sent from Uvaldi, Texas with the gut-wrenching note. We get it with love, Yuvaldi. Our team of reporters deciphering the shooter's disturbing and cryptic journal writings as police search for a motive in this heinous attack. We'll have more on where the investigation stands in a moment. But we want to start with NBC's Maggie Vespah, who leads us off tonight from Minneapolis. Yesterday, a coward decided to take our eight-year-old son Fletcher away from us.

Tonight, a father's grief on full display confirming his son Fletcher Merkel was one of the two children killed in yesterday's mass shooting in Minneapolis. We will never be allowed to hold him, talk to him, play with him. We love you, Fletcher. You will always be with us. This as cell phone video from another frantic Minnesota father shows the horror inside Enunciation Catholic Church. We were about to start the prayer and then we heard. the uh these big loud noises nine-year-old June Helene was in that church diving for cover then running after they had just finished singing well all the buddies were trying to help their younger buddies and buddies are like older kids yeah i saw my teacher get on the floor she

kind of like motioned me to get on the floor so i just jumped down and then my buddy kind of grabbed my hand and then we kind of just ran out with the teeth with my uh teacher Who's the shooter? Where's the shooter? She just missed her dad who heard the shots from their nearby home and filmed this on his cell phone as he looked for June and her younger sister. I ran in to find you and Olive and I was just like frantically searching for you too. Couldn't find you.

I think I was yelling where's the shooter and just trying to find my girls. Just searching for your daughters. Yeah. The family reuniting a few minutes later. An update on the injured, now 18 total, including 15 children. A trauma surgeon recounting how a nurse comforted one scared little girl. She went into the CT scanner with the patient, putting herself basically in the harm's way of radiation. Held her hand and held her hair while she went through the scanner so she didn't have to go through it alone.

Investigators say the 23-year-old shooter was a former student and one-time parishioner at Annunciation who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Police studying church surveillance video saying the shooter was unable to enter. Yes, the doors were locked intentionally by the church from the inside, and that's a practice that they had in place once mass had begun. At the church, boarded up stained glass windows shattered by the shooter and unimaginable pain on display. Maggie Vespah joins us tonight again from Minneapolis. Maggie, we're hearing more from the family of that 10-year-old killed in the shooting as well. What are they saying tonight? Yeah.

Yeah, Tom, that statement just in here in the last hour, they're saying in their statement, which went on for quite some time, they say Harper was a bright, joyful, and deeply loved 10-year-old whose laughter, kindness, and spirit touched everyone who knew her. They go on to say, as a family, we are shattered, and words cannot capture the depth of our pain. They note that Harper had a sister, and by the way, Fletcher, the eight-year-old boy who was killed,

he was one of four siblings, so two families in this area, Tom, just absolutely shattered tonight. Maggie Vespa for us. Maggie, we thank you. Tonight we are learning more about the shooter who police have called a coward in this case, including extensive journal writings about everything from a sickening desire to see children suffer to alarming calls for help. NBC Shaquille Brewster has that part of the story. Tonight, law enforcement searching for a motive to a heinous mass shooting and finding evidence of hate toward nearly all people from a 23-year-old killer and a twisted desire for self-notariety.

More than anything, the shooter wanted to kill children, defenseless children. In short, the shooter wanted to watch children suffer. Police pouring through excerpts from the Minneapolis Shooter's Journal, some posted online, written largely using Russian Cyrillic alphabet as a way to code the entries. How critical are those writings to your investigation? Well, as of this time, you know, we don't have a motive, so they are absolutely critical trying to identify why this happened at this church. The journals reviewed and deciphered by NBC News show an obsession with mass shootings, glorifying school shootings in particular. The shooter writing of being suicidal since childhood and repeatedly used anti-Semitic and racist rhetoric.

Back in July, journal entries show the shooter identified enunciation Catholic schools. school as a target and mentioned doing reconnaissance trips past the school where authorities confirmed the shooter had once attended. Entries in the shooter's journal made multiple references to having a supportive family, NBC News's review of the writings showing her saying, I am begging for help, I am screaming for help. Are the shooter's parents and associates cooperating in your investigation? Everyone that I am aware of has cooperated with the interviews that have been requested. A former enunciation employee telling NBC News, the shooter was often said, sent to the principal's office for disciplinary discussions, adding that the shooter's mother,

who had worked at enunciation, talked about her child coming out as transgender and identifying as a girl. But tonight, law enforcement unable to declare a motive for a killer whose writings reveal a person filled with hatred. Shaq Brewster joins us again from Minneapolis. Shaq, we talk a lot about red flags in this case, and we clearly see there was a person who was so disturbed there, but they weren't really on the radio. of police? That's right, Tom.

Officials say that they cannot find any record at this point of any contact with police that would have prevented this shooter from obtaining or purchasing this weapon. You saw I had that one-on-one conversation with the police chief earlier today. He told me they're still sifting through a lot of that evidence. They've conducted dozens of interviews, but they have not yet made contact. That was as of this afternoon, have not yet made contact with the shooter's mother. Tom? Okay.

Okay, Shaquille Brewster, part of our team down there in Minneapolis. Shaq, we thank you. We turned out of the chaos embroiling the CDC tonight. The White House formerly firing the head of the public health agency hours after she refused to resign four other top officials handing in their resignations and protest. Here's NBC's Ann Thompson with more. The tumult at the CDC visible outside its Atlanta headquarters today, following what some dubbed the Wednesday night massacre. Director Susan Menars fired. a month on the job for other top leaders resigned in protest three of them cheered by current

and former cdcdc staff former chief medical officer dr deb howrie infectious disease leader dr dan jernigan and vaccine chief dr dmitri daskalakis telling us they're worried about the combustible mix of ideology and health is america's public health in danger America's public health is significantly endangered. And Dimitri, Dan, and I chose to leave together to send that bat signal. They cited misinformation about vaccines. They say played a role in the largest number of measles cases in 30 years. Changes to COVID vaccine recommendations pushed Dr. Daskalakis over the edge.

I learned about the change to the COVID vaccine schedule on Twitter. The White House defending firing the CDC director, saying, it's the president's prerogative. She was not aligned with the president's mission to make America healthy again. While in Texas, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., arguing the agency made

missteps during the pandemic. There's a lot of trouble at CDC and it's going to require getting rid of some people over the long term in order for us to change the institutional culture. It is a culture, the former leader state created a gold standard

of science. A culture sure they fear is changing and not they say because of science. There have been a number of findings that we use to help make policy decisions for vaccines and for treatments and that all of those past findings were being called into question. And Thompson joins a broadcast tonight. And the White House has selected an acting CDC director. What more do we know? He is Jim O'Neill, Tom. He was Kennedy's one of his top deputies. One of his top at HHS. He comes from a political and an investment background. He served under President George W. Bush at HHS, and then he went to Silicon Valley where he worked for a hedge fund

and then a foundation both founded by PayPal founder Peter Thiel. So that is who is going to take the reins of the CDC, at least for now. There is no word to not. night on a permanent replacement. And whoever that is, they would have to be confirmed by the Senate. Okay, Ann Thompson, a lot of new reporting there, and we thank you for that. We want to turn out of the abrupt closure of Alligator Alcatraz, that migrant detention facility in Florida. The Trump administration touted it as a signature part of their immigration crackdown. But after a federal judge ordered it closed due to environmental concerns and order the Trump administration appealed, the government now planning to move those detainees to other

facilities. Our Gabe Gutierrez asked White House press secretary, Caroline Leavitt, about the closure. The administration has not been shy in fighting back against what it calls activist judges, but why is it backing down this time? We're not backing down. We've always maintained, Gabe, we're going to comply with court orders, but we're also going to fight back on them on the merits of the law. All right, Gabe Gutierrez joins us tonight from the White House. Gabe, we heard you asking there. I want you to walk our viewers through this because some of the migrants, have already been moved out? Yeah, that's right, Tom.

Look, the Department of Homeland Security says that it is moving them to other facilities around the country. Now, according to emails obtained by NBC 6 in Miami, the Florida Division of Emergency Management says Alligator Alcatraz is expected to be empty in days. Now, that's despite the White House appealing of federal judge's order to close it down,

as he mentioned, over environmental concerns. Now, this makeshift facility was built in just days this summer. We toured it with the acting director. It also attracted a visit from President Trump. Now, meanwhile, the administration is asking now for a military base near Chicago to give support on immigration operations. And other states are also offering detention space, Tom. That includes the so-called Speedway Slammer in Indiana, and what's being called by state officials the Cornhusker Klink in Nebraska, Tom.

Okay, Gabe, we thank you for that. Millions of Americans are on the move, as you know. weekend. Forecasters expecting clear skies, but Newark Airport reporting delays due to air traffic control issues. This says the fastest train in America hits the tracks for the first time. NBC's Tom Costello, covering it all for us. From the roadways to the airways, Labor Day 2025 could be one of the busiest in years. Airfares 6% cheaper than a year ago. But delays at Newark today after air traffic controllers again reported radio outages. They've just been having really bad frequent. issues and frequency failures. Forcing a ground stop as planes circled or diverted to other airports, while on the ground,

heavy traffic with gas this year, 10 cents cheaper than a year ago. All aboard! Meanwhile, America's newest, fastest train is now rolling up the East Coast. 25 years after the first Acella hit the tracks, Amtrak's next-gen-gen-a-cela is longer, stronger, and smoother. A virtual carbon copy of the high-speed trains in Europe, but not nearly as fast. Top speed on this newest cella, 160 miles per hour,

compared to 150 on the oldest cella, but because the passenger cars can actually tilt going around the curves will be much smoother. America's 150-year-old bending curving tracks make it impossible to hit the 200 miles per hour that European and Japanese trains hit. We're at 160 miles an hour max, but we're not at the high-speed category, I think is shameful.

Still, the new assela does come with some big upgrade. Leather seats, USB, and power plugs at every seat, bigger windows, and 5G Wi-Fi that Amtrak promises will be fast and reliable, though it crashed on Wednesday. Built in upstate New York by a French company, but with American workers and 95% U.S. parts, this newest cella borrows heavily from its European cousins. This car that we're sitting in is the same car that we have running in Italy today. Some of the interiors are different, but the car itself is the same. Amtrak says all 28 will be in service within two years. Ticket prices based on passenger demand. Financial success could lead to high-speed trains in other states, too.

These new accellas have 27% more seating capacity, and by the time all 28 are actually on the tracks, a cella capacity will increase by 40%. This train is in high demand. Tom? All right, the new acela is here. Hill ahead tonight, check your fridge, the FDA issuing an urgent recall of eggs after nearly 100 people got sick, the potentially deadly bacteria in those cartons. Plus, U.S. Open outbursts, the tense back and forth between two top players right after their match, what was said. Plus, the disturbing revelations from an opair, the live-in nanny, telling prosecutors how an affair with her boss spiraled into a plot to murder his wife.

Stay with us. Back now with a disturbing case about a mother killed in her own home. For the first time, we're getting a glimpse at a video statement from an au pair who worked for the family and is allegedly connected to the crime. What she says happened that night, NBC's Aaron McLaughlin has the story. It doesn't matter. Tonight, a shocking new video of a Brazilian opair, alleging her now former lover and boss, Brendan Banfield, masterminded and elaborate plot to murder his wife, Christine, while their four-year-old daughter was downstairs. I asked him, we're going to force her. He explained that he was thinking about finding a way to just get rid of her.

In her videotape statement to prosecutors, part of her plea deal and obtained by NBC News, Juliana Perez Maglase claims both she and Banfield logged on to a fetish website, posing as his wife, Christine, and lured 39-year-old Joseph Ryan to their home for a rape fantasy. Perez Magley's claims Ryan entered the Banfield's bedroom while Christine was asleep. that was kind of part of the game. She would just get kind of freaked out and try to resist. Prosecutors allege on the morning of February 24th, 2003 in order to make it appear as though it was an act of self-defense. Both Perez Maglis and Brendan Banfield entered the room. They shot Ryan twice and Banfield fatally stabbed Christine. She was just telling him, let me go. I'm

going to die anyways. I'm going to plead to death. Months later, prosecutors say during a search of the house. Investigators found a picture of Banfield and Perez Magdalas on a bedroom nightstand. They also found her clothes in the victim's closet, confirming their suspicions the two had been having an affair. All right. With that, Aaron joins us tonight from New York. Aaron, what is next in this case for both Perez Magales and Banfield? Well, Tom, last year, Perez Magales pleaded guilty to manslaughter. She has yet to be sentenced. Meanwhile, Banfield has denied all charges and allegations against him. His murder trial is expected to begin end of October. Tom. Okay, Aaron, we thank you for that. Just ahead, one man's narrow escape after coming face-to-face

with a bear. Take a look at this video. It's doorbell cam video, and it shows the terrifying encounter how he got away. Plus, men are more likely to avoid a visit to the doctor. The new approach from one clinic to persuade men to seek medical care. Couldn't really work, we're going to explain. But first, top story's top moment, and he is being. being called the dancing deputy. One Virginia officer busting a move with a young girl on the dance floor at an event in his community. Take a look at this.

Deputy can dance. And with all his gear on, too, that is impressive. So that's Chesapeake Sheriff Deputy, Alvin Saunders, who was attending the event with his own daughter. The aunt of the young girl in the video telling top story, it gave the kids an opportunity to see a police officer as also a member of their own community. Stay with us. More news on the way.

We developed Medcast, the doctor's appointment that feels like a podcast. Hey, what up, what up. Our guest today is Kevin Jones. Oh, I love him. Hey, welcome to the studio. bro. But thanks for having me. Again, Medcast is not a podcast. It's a real doctor's appointment that feels like one, allowing men to be honest in a way they never would with a normal doctor. Medcast, brilliant. That, of course, S&L. We're back with Top Stories Health Check. The clip coming

from Saturday Night Live, making light of a new trend in men's health care aimed at addressing and emerging and emerging concern. According to the CDC, the life expectancy of a man in the U.S. is five years less than a woman, and men are 33% less likely to visit the doctor than women. The New York Times highlighted this in a new piece title, What does it take to get men to see a doctor with a look at one clinic trying a different approach to getting men to take control of their health? We're joined tonight by the author of that article, Dr. Helen O'Yang, an emergency medicine doctor, an ER doctor, I guess, emergency medicine at Columbia University Hospital.

Dr. Helen, thanks so much for joining. Top Story. You visited a first of its kind center focused on men's health. and getting them to see a doctor, what are they doing to get men in the door? So this is a center. It's called the Cutler Center for Men. It's outside Cleveland, and they're trying to create a space that's super male-friendly, super easy to get into, that's fun once you get there in the hopes that it'll get men to seek health care. Yeah, Dr. Helen, I'm a guy, obviously. So what does this center have that it's fun for men to go there? Well, you feel at the minute you walk off the elevator.

Oh, it's a pool table. Immediately. It has a pool table, a football table, the medical assistance, they're all wearing athletic wear. It overlooks this football field where there's lots of athletes practicing and there's TVs. There's a cafe with vintage albums. There's an arcade game. So it's really designed to feel very friendly. Just as decoration.

Tell me more. No, I'm joking. So wait, so, okay, so actually you have piqued my interest here. But I will say this. I think across the country, it's hard to find a doctor, whether you're a man or a woman, or you're trying to find a doctor for your kids. It's just health care is very difficult right now in this country. So do they also help you sort of locate a doctor and or a specialist? Yeah, they do. And I completely agree with you, Tom. Health care is so difficult for everybody. They do. They have a team of, they call patient navigators, but they're called Joe's in the center. And there's eight of them, and they'll help you with everything. They'll help you schedule an appointment, schedule a test. They'll follow up with you after every appointment and make sure you understood everything. And they'll also help you with some wife stuff.

Yeah, do you have to leave or can you stay hanging out? You can hang out for as long as you want. You could come in after hours and you can work on your laptop. Yeah. You can watch a game. Okay. On a serious note, though, there are certain issues that affect men more than they affect women, right? Diseases, different illnesses. So how would this center sort of address those factors? Well, the main problem in men's health right now is that we know how to treat or manage a lot of these conditions, like heart disease, lung cancer, prostate cancer. But the problem is that men aren't getting diagnosed in time or they're not getting disease prevented if they're, can. So the idea is that we can get men really engaged in their health care. If they enjoy going or at least don't really dread it, then maybe they can get care much earlier and prevent

some of these diseases or manage them better. So do these centers exist for women, too, or is this just sort of a new phenomenon with men and trying to sort of cater to men and bringing them into to get some health care? I think there's concierge services for women, too, but this one is really unique. They were able to start it only because they had a $15 million donation from a patient. So it's available for everybody. You don't have to pay a membership fee. And it serves everyone, including people on Medicaid. Okay, Dr. Helen, so great to have you on Top Story. This has been a really fun conversation. And you piqued my interest. I'm sure a lot of other guys out there are going to look into this as well. So we thank you. Thanks so much for having me.

Yeah. You want to turn out of Top Stories. We're going to start with the Federal Reserve, Governor Lisa Cook, suing the president over his attempt to fire her. You remember that part. This marks the beginning of a landmark legal battle over what Cook is calling, quote, unprecedented and illegal. The efforts to remove her from the central bank. The president announced Monday that he was removing Cook from her position, effective immediately, citing allegations of mortgage fraud. Cook hasn't been charged with any crime. A hearing about the lawsuit is scheduled for tomorrow.

And a serious recall after nearly 100 people got sick after eating eggs, content. with salmonella. A supplier in California called country eggs issued the recall. 18 people have already been hospitalized with cases reported across 14 states. Country eggs have stopped producing the effective products while the FDA conducts their investigation. And in Florida, ring cam video showing the moment of Bear Cup lunges at a man right on his own doorstep. Look at this. Alexander Rojas seen here locking up his front door when a Bear Cub races. by, quickly circling back before pouncing, biting his arm and clawing at his rib cage.

That's pretty scary there. Rojas says he was able to kick the Cubs' feet and knock it in the nose to escape. He received stitches and is being treated for possible nerve damage. Yikes. And the Powerball jackpot climbing to a whopping $950 million. Imagine that. The sixth largest jackpot and Powerball history. No one has won the grand prize in three months.

And unfortunately, the odds are not in your favor. the chance of winning the jackpot is won in roughly 292 million. For those with tickets, there's still a chance. The next powerball drawing is next Saturday. All right. We're moving on now to the U.S. Open where fans have seen two outbursts play out live on the court just this week. The latest between two players audibly arguing after a match now has some fans wondering whether tennis's famous tradition of etiquette is slipping away at one of the sports's most important tournaments. NBC's Maya Eagland took a closer look.

Drama at the U.S. Open Wednesday. Dancing off the court. Latvia is Yelena O'Supenko, shooting sharp words, pointing her finger at Taylor Townsend after her loss. The crowd booing the exchange until Townsend turns to the stands to the stands and encourages us cheers. Later, telling reporters, she told me that I have no education, no class, and to see what happens. if we play each other outside of the U.S. I'm never been the one to back down from anything like that. Ostapenko complaining about Townsend's warm-up routine and her lack of apology for a netball.

Tennis has this very strange tradition, which is that when you hit a ball that ticks an net and you end up winning the point somehow, you're supposed to sort of lift your hand and gesture of apology for your good fortune. Ostepenko calling Townsend very disrespectful in an Instagram post, saying there are some rules in tennis that most players follow. Reporters asking whether Ostopenko's outburst had racial undertones. I didn't take it in that way, but also, you know, that has been a stigma in our community of, you know, being non-educated and all the things when it's the furthest thing from the truth. Ostepenko posting on Instagram denying that characterization, saying in part, I was

never racist in my life and I respect all nations of people in the world. The thing that I'm the most proud of is that I let my racket talk. She's packed up and she's gone. This just the latest scuffle, following Danil Medvedev's meltdown earlier this week. Find a whopping $42,500 for unsportsman-like conduct. What did Riley Appelca say? What did Riley opelka say? For yelling at officials and smashing his racket after a photographer stepped onto the court, interrupting the match point. I was not upset with the photographer.

Was upset with the decision. It all comes as a record number of fans pour into Billy Jean-King Tennis Center. At times rowdy, like this impromptu honey deuce jenga and multiple players complaining about the smell of marijuana. Button-dupped Wimbledon, this is not. The U.S. Open has really been a party of fashion, food, celebrity, with a little bit of tennis thrown in for a few years now. And that's the direction it's going in. And that's what you feel when you walk around the grounds here. But none of it is taken away from some incredible moments on the court already.

From Coco Gough's winning a three-set thriller to stunning straight victories from Alexander Zarev, Yannick Sinner, Iga Shriantec, and Naomi Osaka. All right, with that, Maya Eaklin joins us tonight from New York. Maya, so much going on with the U.S. Open. What do fans have to look forward to this weekend? Tom, tennis fans will be watching closely to see matchups with stars like Tommy Paul and Cocoa Gough tonight. Tomorrow night, Djokovic and Townsend will also be returning to the corner. So depending on who wins, it could be a very exciting weekend of All-Stars with just over a week of the championship left. Tom?

All right, Maya Eaglin on the tennis beat for us. Maya, thank you. Still ahead tonight, the fiery F-16 crash caught on camera. Video showing the moment a Polish Air Force jet plummets from the sky, the investigation to what caused that deadly crash. That's next. We are back now with our week-long special coach. coverage of Hurricane Katrina 20 years later. The storm devastating New Orleans taking more than 1,300 lives. The tragedy, not just a natural disaster, but a man-made failure on several

fronts. Multiple levees built to keep the rising floodwaters out of New Orleans, a city that sits about 10 feet below sea level, failed. The water rushing in submerging neighborhood after neighborhood. Two decades later, has New Orleans learn the painful lessons from Katrina and isn't ready for the next one. To help us answer those questions, I'm joined tonight by our good friend Bill Cairns, who covered Hurricane Katrina for NBC News and covers every hurricane since then with us. And Dr. Norma Jean Matei, a renowned civil engineer and retired professor at the University of New Orleans. She sat on the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, and she both studied and lived through Hurricane Katrina. I thank you both for being here. Bill, I'm going to start with you. You were on the air as Hurricane Katrina approached and as it hit. And here's a look back at one of your reports as the storm closed in exactly 20 years ago today.

Well, John, the forward speed of the storm has increased. We now expect Katrina's hurricane force winds to reach the Louisiana coastline as early as this evening in New Orleans. So, Bill, you know, the sort of one of the big, I don't want to say secrets, but it was the big worry of people like yourself, and reporters like myself. And people who obviously lived in New Orleans was that if the big one were to hit New Orleans, what would happen? And that finally came with Katrina. It wasn't the strongest storm in history, but it was the most powerful, one of the most powerful. Reminder of viewers, why did it become so destructive?

So I'll take it through my journey. Remember, Katrina actually hit South Florida first. It was kind of a typical hurricane that went through South Florida. And then it went to the Gulf. We knew it was heading to the northern Gulf Coast, possibly Louisiana, possibly Mississippi. And it was supposed to intensify a little bit, but nothing crazy. Well, Katrina went over what we now know was the loop current, a warm fuel of energy, and it exploded. Back then, we actually had a two- or three-hour break at night where we couldn't see the storm.

We didn't have radar. It was too far off the coast, and we didn't have the satellite images coming in. And we were up all night long watching it. It was starting to explode, and we just sat there for those two or three hours in the dark, waiting to see what Katrina looked like. And then all of a sudden, we saw when the next satellite image came out, it had this huge eye. The storm had doubled in size. It was a category 5, 175 mile-per-hour winds. My heart skipped a beat. I had a pit in my stomach because 48 hours before that landfall, I knew what the northern portion of the Gulf Coast was about to go through. It was an immense storm pushing a huge amount of water towards the coast. That's how we got that 28-foot storm surge in Mississippi, which is still on the record books.

Louisiana itself, the landfall was a cap three. It weakened, but Tom, it was too late. The storm had already moved too much water towards Louisiana and New Orleans and everything else. And a lot of people don't realize. New Orleans got eight to ten inches of rain. bad, not catastrophic. The winds at the airport were only about 80 miles per hour. Not great, but not horrific or catastrophic. But it was that push and that huge amount of water time that made this in a historic storm. No one could picture what was going to happen, but we had so many days

beforehand telling people showing them the bowl. New Orleans literally sat on the bottom of a bowl between the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. And if any of that structure was to fail, what could happen? And we all didn't think it could. But obviously, we know it did. And it's that golden rule of hurricanes, which I always repeat, because it's true, the wind will hurt you, the water will kill you. To get our viewers sort of a better understanding, when you look at New Orleans, it's called the Crescent City, right? We all know that, and that's because it is that half-moon shape, and it's protected by the levees from the Mississippi River. And Dr. Mateo, I wanted to talk to you about this now.

We know that New Orleans sits below sea level. Walk our viewers through how and why those levees failed. So we had in place after another hurricane in the early 60s, Betsy, a hurricane protection system. And it was made up of, well, partially the Mississippi River levees that you already mentioned, but other levees that ringed a good chunk of the metropolitan area. And so whatever rain fell into that protected area had to be pumped out. But it kept the surge out until Katrina. And then what exactly happened with those levees?

What went wrong? Well, there were many failures. So it was not just one failure. There was several different, there was quite a number of failures. And each failure had a different reason for that failure to occur. So in one case, there was an old beach that was not identified in the site. in the site investigation. And so since it was missed, that sand layer acted as a conduit for water to go underneath the floodwall and into the neighborhood,

ultimately causing that part of the floodwall to fail. 17th Street Canal, you had an eyewall design that had an issue, and that was the cause of that failure. So several different types of failures that occurred at a variety of locations along the hurricane protection system. Yeah, but if I were to ask you and explain this to us like we're not civil engineers, right? Was it the way Bill describes it, it was just too much water at once in too many different places? Or did sort of, was there critical infrastructure failures, things weren't built right or weren't up to code or were too old? Or was it all of it? A little bit of all of it.

So as Bill mentioned, Petrina was a big storm as it approached the coast. And so it had a lot of energy. Its footprint was huge. It was also pushing a lot of water. And it actually took a path that was the worst path in the case of New Orleans. It pushed water through the Wrigley's around into the, Lake, Lake Pontchartrain, which sits on our north, to our north. And so you had lots of water pushing up against a system that, one, wasn't quite finished, and two, parts of it were old.

In the lower part of it, it wasn't designed to hold back that type of surge. But again, just too much water being pushed into the city. Yeah, Bill, the hurricane since Hurricane Katrina, we've covered some monster hurricanes in different parts of the Gulf Coast, parts of Florida. I mean, real devastation. And I also think of something like Superstorm Sandy, right, after Hurricane Katrina as well. Are hurricanes changing? Are they stronger? Are they faster? Are they different? Yeah, so we have to understand the science of this, because there's always been hurricanes. That's always happened. We've always had big, powerful hurricanes.

But we know the science tells us now that our planet is warming. And so a warmer planet can hold more moisture in the atmosphere. and if the oceans are warmer than typical, that's the fuel for the storms. So we're going to have the storms anyways, but then the storms can feast on that atmosphere and they can get even stronger than they probably normally would have been a couple decades ago, and they can hold more rain. So when you think of rainfall, think of Harvey, think of Haleen, think of Ida. Those would have been bad floods anyways, but they were worse because our planet has warmed

significantly in the last couple decades. Same thing goes for the rapid intensification. That's kind of a buzzword you hear now. We're seeing a lot more of that with a lot of these. hurricanes, especially you think of Ian, think of Matthew. These are the storms that got juiced up, especially in the Gulf of Mexico, on that really warm water, and the winds were worse. And if the winds are stronger, it also makes the storm surge worse, so we get more damage from those storms. So, Tom, you know, it's not like we're starting new hurricanes or there's

more now than there used to be, but we're seeing ones that are rapidly intensifying faster and they're producing more rain. Before we go in Dr. Metable, we are running out of time, unfortunately. Is New Orleans safer today? Yes, yes. It is safer today. We've got a system put in place after Katrina that can protect us from a Katrina-like storm. If we maintain it properly, we will enjoy that level of protection. But again, that level of protection. And there's no guarantee that Mother Nature will not throw us a storm that is bigger. Bill mentioned climate change. So yes. Bigger storms, intensifying more rapidly. Dr. Matei, Bill Cairns, always a pleasure to talk to both you. Thank you for walking us through what happened 20 years ago and what we've learned since then. Overseas, new details emerging in the Israeli strikes on Nassar Hospital in Gaza earlier this week.

Reuters now telling NBC News, Israel was fully aware their journalists were at the hospital when four total strikes hit. NBC's Molly Hunter reports, and a warning, some of the images you're about to see, they are disturbing. Tonight, Reuters News Agency says the IDF knew their team was operating from Nassar Hospital on Monday morning when a pair of Israeli strikes hit the Reuters live location, killing cameraman Hosama Masri, and four other journalists, 22 people in all. In a statement to NBC News, Reuters said Israel was fully aware that Reuters and multiple other news organizations were operating from Nassar Hospital.

The IDF has not responded to NBC's questions. The military claims it was taking out a camera positioned by Hamas. But there was only one camera on the roof of Nassar hospital, the Reuters camera, according to multiple eyewitnesses. Journalist Ibrahim Kanan tells NBC News, Reuters and AP have a specific location, the highest location, and the Army has the GPS coordinates. Video of the aftermath of the first strike shows the hospital was initially

hit twice. Then the second strike, minutes later, shows two projectiles headed directly toward the first responders and journalists racing up the stairs. The Israeli military firing at least four munitions at the hospital in what is the latest incident raising international alarm over how Israel is conducting its campaign in Gaza. Meanwhile, the UN is calling on Israel to facilitate greater humanitarian access after members of the UN Security Council except for the United States called the famine in Gaza a man-made crisis. Tom. Molly, thank you. All right, we'll stay overseas with Top Story's Global Watch. And we start with one of Russia's deadliest attacks on Ukraine in recent weeks. Coming on the heels of President Trump sit down

with Russia's Vladimir Putin, CCTV capturing the moment a Russian missile strikes a building in Kiev. At least 19 people killed, including four children. You can see significant damage to a nearby European Union Government Office. Tomorrow, Ukrainian officials are set to meet with the Trump administration in the U.S. All right, it's startling video showing a Polish Air Force jet crashing during an air show rehearsal, and a warning this video is disturbing. Here it is. Video shows the F-16 looping in the sky before suddenly free-falling and crashing into the runway.

Polish Air Force officials say the pilot died in that collision. The air show set for this weekend was canceled. This cause of this crash is still under investigation. And the White House telling Denmark to, quote, calm down over a report accusing three people with connections to President Trump of espionage. A state broadcaster reported that American citizens were carrying out covert influence operations in Greenland. The report alleges the move was to so discord between Denmark and its territory. President Trump has said in the past that he wants Greenland to become a part of the U.S. The White House has yet to respond to those allegations.

When we come back one-on-one with one of the biggest superstars on the planet, our sit-down with, bad bunny. We talked about why he's stepping into a new role as an actor and about that record breaking residency back home in Puerto Rico. Stay right there.