Top Story with Tom Llamas - Tuesday, April 9, 2024

Episode Date: April 10, 2024

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, the Arizona Supreme Court's bombshell abortion ruling. Justice is upholding a law dating back to 1864, over a half century before women even got the right to vote. The near total ban, meaning doctors could face prosecution for administering the procedure. Advocates vowing to fight back, hoping to put the final say in the hands of voters. The decision adding the state to a growing list of places putting abortion front and center in a critical election year. Also tonight, shooter's parent sentence, the first parents ever convicted for a mass shooting committed by their child, learning their fate. The emotional hearing as family members of the teens killed speak out saying the crumblies failed their son. Tonight, we hear from the mother and

aunt of a teen who survived the school shooting what they thought of the unprecedented trial and the prison sentence the parents will now serve. An NBC News exclusive, I sit down with New York City's Police commissioner, as the city grapples with safety concerns amid a wave of crime. New Yorkers on edge after a string of brazen attacks on city streets and subways and the recent fatal shooting of a police officer. The commissioner insisting crime has gone down, saying public perception is different from reality. And the contentious debate over bail reform isn't making things better or worse in New York. We're breaking it all down.

Baldwin's toxic behavior, new court filings, claim, actor Alec Baldwin's, Baldwin had no emotional control on the Russ set. Prosecutors alleging his outburst, compromise safety on set leading up to the fatal shooting of cinematographer Helena Hutchins. The explosive new accusations, as Baldwin prepares to go on trial. Plus, a dad jumping into action to rescue his daughter. Heart stopping moments as a giant wave sweeps a toddler into the ocean in Australia. Her father leaping over the seawall to save her how they were able to make it out safely. an unwelcome guest. It's the last thing you'd want to see in your kitchen, a nearly eight-foot

alligator making itself right at home. The startling moment one woman realized she had that unexpected visitor. Top story starts right now. Good evening. Tonight, that abortion ruling in Arizona sending shockwaves, the court upholding a law that dates back to get this 1864. Back when April, Abraham Lincoln was president long before Arizona even achieves statehood. It outlaws abortion from the moment of conception except in cases where it's deemed necessary to save the woman's life. Those who administer or assist in the procedure could face felony charges which could result in two to five years in prison. The decision sparking swift pushback and public outrage, abortion rights advocates already collecting signatures to get the measure on the November ballot.

The ruling adds Arizona to the growing list of places where abortion is effectively banned. The ballot effort, one of at least 11 across the country, that seeks to put the issue directly in the hands of voters. NBC's senior legal correspondent, Laura Jarrett, breaks down the consequences and what it could all mean during such a high-stakes election year. Tonight, a legal fight over abortion in a critical battleground state, fanning the flames of a political fire gaining ground towards November. Arizona's highest court today backing a law that bans nearly all abortions and carries up to five years in prison for doctors who perform one. The conservative majority on the court reviving an 1864 law that lay dormant for decades under Roe v. Wade. Are you kidding me? I mean 1864 was before women even had the right to vote. We are totally going backwards.

66-year-old Arizona resident Beth Balman fighting back tears. I'm devastated. I just, I didn't think. that they would do this. I really didn't. Yet the state's Democratic Attorney General says she won't enforce the law. It is one of the worst decisions in the history of the Arizona Supreme Court. No woman or doctor will be prosecuted under this draconian law. I will fight like hell.

It does give me comfort. Some reassurance in a time of uncertainty, says Dr. Gabriel Goodrich, who, practiced in the state for over two decades. I don't know what the law will be. It is so early to know how that's going to play out. Is today's decision a win for your side? It is. The advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom says the existing 15-week law

doesn't go far enough. And even if the state AG won't enforce a stricter ban, other prosecutors still can. It's our position that county attorneys have the authority to enforce this law. This latest court fight over abortion, only raising the political stakes in an election year. Arizona, long a Republican stronghold, now the latest state on track to get a constitutional amendment on the November ballot, creating a fundamental right to abortion if it passes. The vice president also planning to travel to the state for events Friday. You look in state after state where they're passing these abortion bans and the majority of the legislators doing it are men, telling women what to do with them.

their body. And I've kind of had it with that. While the former president and many GOB lawmakers continue to avoid talk of a national abortion ban, instead backing state-level restrictions. Some states are taking conservative views and some are less than conservative, but it's back with the states. It's back with the people. The Supreme Court has turned it back over to voters. We've got to let voters sort through this. Laura Jarrett joins us now in studio. So Laura, let's go back to the case in Arizona. You said this is not going to go into effect. immediately? What's the timeline? Right. The court recognized, obviously, that the legal

challenges on this that were immense, so they put their own decision on pause for roughly two weeks to allow it to go back down. There's some extra-constitutional issues that need to be sorted out below. And then even after that, there might be some more delays, and so we're looking at roughly two months in total before

this law ever goes into effect in the state of Arizona. What do you think is going to happen with the lower court? They're probably going to just go forward with the law and reaffirm it. I think now that the Supreme Court has sort of laid out a chapter and verse why they think there is no right to an abortion. I can't imagine the lower court is going to disrupt this time. I think the real issue to watch here is what happens at the state level because the state AG is now saying she's not going to enforce the law. So could she be sued over

that, perhaps? And then, of course, the ballot amendment issue really tease this up for the voters. And so I think that's where you're going to see the most amount of movement is at the polls. You got a lot of time before November, though. And then so you have Republicans and Democrats who have come out openly against this. Can elected lawmakers right now, whether they'd be state or local or the governor. Can they do anything in the meantime? Their hands are really tied because the state's highest court has now effectively ruled for all time. And you can't really take this up to the Supreme Court because this is an issue of state law, the state's highest court interpreting it. So this is really the end of the road there.

I think all they can do is not to prosecute, but that's just only going to allow someone else to reverse that decision if the party changes hands. Leaving us off tonight, Laura, thank you. We want to turn out of the other major story we've been following tonight. The parents of Michigan, school shooter, Ethan Crumley, both sentenced to 10 to 15 years for involuntary manslaughter. The verdict marking the first time in the U.S. that parents have ever been charged and convicted in their child's mass shooting. NBC's Maggie Vespa has the latest. America's first parents convicted for their child's mass school shooting, each getting the

maximum sentence. It is a sentence of this court that you serve 10 to 15 years. Jennifer and James Crumbly in prison jumpsuits appearing stoic as their sentences were read. Earlier this year, both were found guilty of involuntary manslaughter related to the 2021 Oxford High School Massacre carried out by their son. This tragedy is taken, hey, an incredible toll on our family. Families of the four students killed emotionally addressing the court, including Madison Baldwin's mom. While your son was hearing voices and asking for help. help. I was helping Madison pick out her senior classes. While you were perching, seeing a gun

for your son and leaving it unlocked, I was helping her finish your college essays. At times, loved one speaking directly to the shooter's parents. You failed as parents. The punishment that you face will never be enough. Instead of acknowledging any mistakes, they continue to show no Mores. Hannah St. Juliana's sister, Raina, calling out the testimony Jennifer Crumbly gave during her trial, saying she wouldn't have done anything differently. You wouldn't do anything different. I cannot fathom that. Today, Crumbly clarifying that comment. I didn't have a reason to do anything different. This was not something I foresaw. With the benefit of hindsight and information I have now, my answer would be drastically different. Meanwhile, James Crumbly, speaking,

publicly for the first time. I am sorry for your loss as a result of what my son did. Prosecutors pushing back on the idea that this case sets a sweeping precedent. There's a difference between precedent setting and rare, and this is really a rare set of facts. The families say a maximum sentence can't bring back their children. Maximum sentence enough. It's not. I'm serving a life sentence.

Maggie Vespah joins us tonight outside that courthouse. Maggie, so hard to hear those parents and what they had to say in court to that mother and to that father. You know, this is such a strange case. So now all the members of this family are going to be locked up in prison. Are they going to be held in separate prisons? Will they be able to contact each other? How is that going to work? Yeah, there was a lot of back and forth about this today, Tom, because up until now, they've been in jail and there's been a no contact order in place.

But defense attorneys actually argued that they should be allowed to essentially be a family. even if they're incarcerated. So the judge said that she will still consider that she's still weighing that and we'll have a decision at a later date as to whether or not that no contact order will be lifted. But in the meantime, even if they can contact each other, the Michigan Department of Corrections, tells us that per their standard policy, all three members of this family, mom, dad, and son will be held in separate prisons. Tom. All right, Maggie Vespa for us on those breaking developments, Maggie, we appreciate it. For more on this verdict, I want to bring in two people very close to the issue. Mary Mueller in Sarah Rogerson, they are the mother and aunt, respectively, of Eli Mueller, one of the survivors of the Oxford School shooting who was shot in the face by Ethan Crumbly in 2021. Mary and Sarah, I want to thank you so much for joining Top Story tonight. My first question is, how is Eli doing since the shooting? He is back in school and daily struggles with PTSD and anxiety and going into the shooting. of the building, but he struggles through and is in the early college program there.

He has a lot of survivors guilt, which can be kind of crippling, depending on the day. But he also is starting a new job and doing regular teenage things like going to prom in a few weeks, but pretty soon it'll be interrupted again because he's going to have to get some teeth implants from some of the teeth that were taken out by the bullet. So by no means is his life back to normal because he survived. What was your initial reaction to the sentencing? It's a piece of the puzzle. It is helpful to have accountability, especially with these parents, because it's not about

what they did. It's about what they didn't do to help their child and how their inaction led to such tragedy. And we have a lot of work to do still. We should really be focusing on prevention, not just, well, what do we do afterwards and who do we hold accountable? Accountability is a piece of that, but we need more focus on how to not have it happen to a community in the first place. Sarah, do you think justice was served? Well, the criminal justice system offers an incomplete remedy, like my sister mentioned, you know, what justice will really feel like, at least for our family, is for people to pay attention to these systemic problems,

to take an all-of-community approach, not just defer to the criminal justice system. But Sarah, I'm sorry to interrupt you. Don't you think this is sending a message across the country? I hope so. I mean, but it should also serve as an incentive, an incentive for people to investigate safe storage techniques to educate each other peer to peer as parents, to invest in social emotional learning for our kids, and to really hold school districts accountable for having threat assessment plans and communities in general so that wherever community gun violence

pops up in our communities, whether it be in schools or anywhere else, we're ready, and we can prevent it, not react after the fact. Mary, do you think others needed to be charged in this case as well, or do you think they got everyone responsible? Oh, no. I think that there are multiple people responsible and multiple systems responsible. There's so much reform that needs to take place to prevent this sort of violence from happening. And I'm a participant in the school system. And I think that there were some failures on the school systems part as well. I really want to dig into the systems, find research that shows what works and what helps with prevention so that we can not have to continually watch this over and over and over again. We weren't the first. first shooting in a community, we're not the last. And it's painful every time. Sarah, when you and your sister talk about sort of prevention, are you talking about

gun control, or are you talking about something much larger and relationships with children and the children that do this? It's a multi-pronged approach. So safe storage is really the firearm-related issue. And there are programs like Be Smart, where parents can educate peer-to-peer and really normalize conversations about, do you have guns? and how do you store them when my kids playing over at your house? Investments in social-emotional learning, like I mentioned,

and really investing in firearms, gun violence, research. It's underfunded. And without the research and science-backed solutions, we have some, threat assessment teams being one of them. But without more, we're really sort of just defaulting into the criminal justice system, which we know has a negative impact on historically minorized groups. Mary, before we go, if you could have talked to the Crumblies, what would you have told them?

Um, hmm, this is probably the toughest question. I would ask them if they really understood the impact of their inaction. Mary Mueller, Sarah Rogerson. We thank you so much for joining us here on Top Story. Thank you, thank you. That to another school shooting and a court case, a special grand jury in Virginia, charging a former school system administrator with multiple felony counts of child neglect in the case of a six-year-old who shot his teacher during class last year.

According to the indictments, former assistant principal, Ebony J. Parker, showed a, quote, reckless disregard for the human life. For more on this indictment, Julia Jester joins us now with these breaking developments. So, Julia, it's so strange. We're coming off this conversation about two parents who are now going to prison because their child was a mass shooter. And then we have the case that you're working on where a six-year-old brought a gun to school. and now the assistant principal is getting involved in charge in this.

What exactly happened? Good evening, Tom. A grand jury has charged the then-assistent principal of Richneck Elementary School on eight counts of child abuse relating to the shooting of a first grade teacher by your six-year-old student last year in that case that truly shocked the nation. Dr. Ebony Parker now it faces up to five years in prison for each of the eight charges of child neglect. It is unprecedented for a school administrator to be indicted related to actions involving a school shooting. Now, we have not heard back from Ebony Parker's lawyer, but we are hearing tonight from the attorneys representing Abigail's Warner, that teacher who left work when she was recovering from the shooting and has not been able to go back to teaching.

Her attorneys told NBC News in a statement, quote, these charges are very serious and underscore the failure of the school district. to act to prevent the tragic shooting of Abby Zwerner. The school board continues to deny their responsibility to Abby, and this indictment is just another brick in the wall of mounting failures and gross negligence in their case. Their push for accountability now continuing with this latest indictment. Tom? Julia, gesture for us tonight from Washington.

Julia, we thank you for that. We want to move on now to another big story that we're following an NBC News exclusive. My interview with New York City's police commissioner, Edward Caban. As the city grapples with a wave of crime and safety concerns, recent videos of brazen attacks across the city and inside the subway system, leaving New Yorkers on edge. Caban, who is the first Hispanic to serve as the city's top cop, insists crime has gone down, but says there are still obstacles that is making it difficult for his officers to keep the city safe.

It's the type of crime and video that gets the NYPD Commissioner angry, the brutality of a 68-year-old Queen's woman. Tossed from the top steps of her church just to be robbed. The woman now in stable condition and this video going viral. Another example of violent incidents in New York City at a time when the NYPD says overall crime is trending down. Yes, we are heading in the right direction for crime. But to someone's reality, someone who's been a victim of a crime, it tells a different story. And that's something things we're struggling with right now, perception versus reality.

New York's top cop, Commissioner Edward Caban, is less than a year into the job, taking charge as the city faced a crime wave, migrants overwhelming shelters, and a transit system where riders didn't feel safe. New York City went from clean and safe to dirty and dangerous. What happened in New York City? January 22. New York City was up in crime over 48 percent, up in violence. And we looked at just making more felony arrests.

and slowly by slowly, the violence began to come down. I think a lot of the country was stunned when the governor sent 1,000 National Guard troops into your subway system. What was that moment like? Well, you know, when you talk to people riding our subway systems, they just want to feel safe, and we want to thank the governor for bringing resources

into New York City Police Department. You think it was necessary? We'll take the help any day of the week. The latest data shows crimes like shootings, murders and burglaries all down in the first quarter, but rapes and felony assaults on the rise. Caban says bail reform laws have made every officer's job tougher. If you could change one law right now in the state of New York, what would you change? So besides changing laws, there's a lot of tentacles to the public safety ecosystem.

When we all do our part, the police officers, the district attorneys, the judges, the elected officials, the lawmakers, the process works. And when people don't do their part, we get incidents like our officer being shot and murdered. A system that has come into sharper focus after the killing of Detective Jonathan Diller, allegedly by two career criminals with long records. How many more police officers and how many more families need to make the ultimate sacrifice before we start protecting them? Is she right? Absolutely. You know, that's the one thing that no police commissioner wants to do during their tenure is buried one of their own.

whether it's a family of blood or a family of blue, it hurts to the core. A lot of people have said the men responsible who have been accused of killing Detective Diller should never have been on the street. Does that bother you that they were out? Yeah, of course it bothers. You look back and think, could have been prevented. I think one of them had over 21 arrests. Should have even been on the streets. And that's something that we battle every single day. What needs to change? You know, we talk about whatever you want to call it, catch and release.

someone up, district attorney, puts bail on them, the judges let them go to walk our streets again. It's a broken system. We're seeing that we're locking up the same people over and over again, and it has an effect on our law enforcement officers, it has an effect on our law and binding citizens, and it has a negative effect on the actual or perceived image of public safety. And one that has grown more complicated with the recent arrival of nearly 200,000 migrants. You know, I think the NYP understands that people come to New York City to build a better

life for themselves and their families, and New York City supports that. If you look at our rank and file, we have officers that were never born in the United States. They themselves are the American dream. But having said that, if you commit a crime in New York City, if you break the law, we will hold you accountable. When there was that high-profile crime in Times Square, when the officer was beat by the migrants, you called them ghost criminals. What did you mean by that? Right now, most of them had no IDs. There's no way we could tell where they live, where they come from. They're pretty much

ghost criminals. I got to think that makes your job tougher to try to combat crime and you're trying to look for people. You don't even know what their names are. Yeah, absolutely it does. What have you heard from minority communities since you've become commissioner in New York City? There's been a very sort of tenuous relationship between communities of color and the NYPD. I could tell you, I've been to many different communities, many different boroughs. And everywhere I go, they'll tell you that they want more police officers. But they want the right police officers. People are going to come into their neighborhoods, their communities, respect them,

treat them like they would treat their own families. And that's exactly what I look for in my police officers. For more in our interview and a larger discussion on bail reform laws, we wanted to speak to people who represent different opinions on the issue. Join us tonight is Julian Harris Calvin. She's director of Greater Justice New York and has advocated for bail reform. And Terry Monaghan, who served as the chief of department for the New York Police Department from 2018 to 2021 and is an NBC news contributor. Terry, I'm going to start with you.

It was an interview with the commissioner of the NYPD where you worked, not to use a terrible phrase, but is it a cop-out that he's blaming, you know, reform and bail reform for the crime problems in New York? It's a portion of it. It's not everything. It's not the only reason crime has gone up. There are things, especially in 2020, when bail reform first came out into effect, that really did cause a rising crime in 2020. We saw a huge increase even prior to COVID, especially in the quality of life type crimes, your burglaries, your grand loss of your orders, those that were considered nonviolent. Those crimes went right up because people were being released from jail right away, whether or not they had a history, whether or not they had open cases. The changes to bail reform law have helped.

Some of the amendments that have come into place have given judges more discretion. And as a police department, that's what we always push for, more discretion for the judges. And we always look for on something that didn't happen in bail reform that the police department has always pushed for is to allow a judge to consider whether or not an individual is a danger to the community. New York State is the only state and union that does not allow a judge to consider whether an individual is dangerous to that community. only whether or not they're going to return to court. So that is something that I know the police department has always been put for to give that discretion. Julie, you've worked on this issue for a while.

It started in California that first passed, that it came to New York. Are you happy? Are you satisfied with what's happened with bail reform in New York? Absolutely. What we know from the data is that bail reform has not made any New Yorkers less safe. And the chief is right. During the peak of the pandemic, there was a rise in crime, including gun crime. nationally in states that passed bail reform, states that didn't, red states, blue states.

And what we've seen since then is a decline. There are peaks in valleys, but a decline in crime. We know that murders are down by double digits right now in New York City. Shootings are down by double digits. And all of the data analysis of the past several years show that actually bail reform hasn't had an impact on people being re-arrested when they're released. But I know there's a lot of debates about those studies. And we still have grand larcenies up.

You still have rapes that are up. But when you hear from the NYPD commissioner, who's saying his own officers are saying that they're arresting people and they're back out on the street and they're re-arresting people and you can go to a CVS and you can steal $900 worth of shampoo and you're going to be back out on the street the next day. Does that make the city safer? I think what doesn't make the city safer is the fact that people get arrested, whether they stay in jail for a day, two weeks, five years, six years. And that's what it's at the heart of the right? Explain that to our viewers. And so what we know is that longer sentences or longer times in detention does not actually keep us safe, right? And so if our elected officials are going to be serious about safety and not rehashing this old conversation about bail reform, they want to focus on the root drivers of crime. Why are people who are getting arrested and sentenced or not sentenced, released, why are some of them, not most of them, some of them, going back into criminal behavior?

And we should be focusing on the right problem so that we can identify the right solution. And the right solutions are things that address the drivers of crime in the first instance, but also when people are out of jail, prevent them from committing crime again. What about New York's governor, who's a Democrat, Kathy Hockel? She's already trying to roll back some of the bail reform laws, trying to put more power in the hands of judges so that people that are aggressive criminals do spend time in jail. I mean, it sounds like the experiment hasn't worked, at least for her. Well, she has said, and our mayor has said, that New York City is the safest big city in the United States.

And she has rolled back to bail reform a couple of times. And she has said currently that I rolled it back. I've made it better than it was when we passed. And now we need to move forward. And she's invested in the kinds of true interventions that show that she is serious about safety and serious about making sure that when people are released, it's pretrial or after a sentence, that they get the kinds of supports that focus on the drivers of crime so that they don't re-offend, but also focusing on preventing crime in the first instance

with the kinds of solutions that address what we know could create crime, right? Poverty issues, people have untreated mental health and substance use treatment, focusing on crimes of desperation, right? If we can focus on those in the first instance and support people in the first instance, we won't get the repeat offenses that we've been talking about, which is still very, very low. Terry, you've been polite. You've kept quiet. I know she said a lot.

What do you want to say in response to that? There are certain individuals out there that are criminals, and this is what they do on a regular basis. And those individuals need to be taken out of society. There are people that need to be incarcerated. Those that you've put in, they've come back out, and they violate again. They do another crime. There are dangerous individuals. We like to believe everyone in this world can be a good person, but there are individuals

out there that just are constantly victimizing others. And those individuals, you have to be able to look at their history, and those ones have to be able to be incarcerated. So, you know, we interviewed the commissioner, and then just in the last, couple of days, you had this incident that we talked about, this woman's 68 years old, going to church, thrown off the top step just to be robbed. You had a group of migrants who ransacked a pharmacy on the Upper East Side, I think just in the last two days as well. Do you think the message, there's a message out there, a perception out there when it comes to crime,

that, hey, I can pull this off, and I'm not going to do hard time. In gee, I'm going to be released right away. Do you think that some criminals have that mentality? So there have been studies about this for decades that show that the prospect of a longer sentence actually doesn't deter crime. So it feels intuitive to us. We don't go around committing crime. But it actually isn't what plays out in real life, right? And so we need to stop focusing on what has been proven to not be the problem. We need to identify the right problem so we get the right solution. We've been talking about longer sentences and making sure... Well, I'm not even talking about longer sentences. I'm just talking about spending the night in jail, maybe a couple nights.

We've talked about this for years and years, and what we know is it hasn't worked. We know what works. We have the same values. We want New Yorkers to both feel safe and actually be safe. We know that crime rates, particularly the serious crimes like murders and shootings, are down right now. But that doesn't mean we need to stop. We need to focus on the root causes before it starts and immediate responses that work after. And jailing a person for a day, a week, a month, or year, studies have shown nationally,

that incarcerating people for long terms actually makes them more likely to commit crime when they're released. We know this. Terry. Now, if you take a look at 2017-2018, prior to bail reform, lowest crime numbers this city has ever seen, least amount of shootings, least amount of homicides. Bail reform came in. It was approved in 2019. in the summer, judges started releasing people that they believed had to be released because

of that. We saw a crime increase at the end of 2019. The start of 2020, prior to COVID, those first couple of months, we had a huge increase in crime, which then more people got released from jails during COVID, more people out there, less people being incarcerated. The jail population went down to 3,000 and changed, and we were going back to 1990 numbers in crime. We're going back up to 5,000, where we were. is starting to come back down. Like I said, not everyone needs to be put in jail because they're poor, but there are individuals who victimize people on a regular basis that, regrettably, they need to be put away. And might be taken advantage of the system. Before we go real quick,

the mayor is a former cop. He's obviously a strong hold on the NYPD. Is that good for the current commissioner, or is that a bad thing? It's a good thing. The mayor knows what's going on. You can't lie to him. You can't make up a story. He understands the criminal justice system. been a part of it. He understands when he's speaking to either the commissioner, to John Sheld, the chief of patrol, Jeff Madrey. He understands the lingo. He understands what they're trying to say. But is there a danger there when they're too cozy with the mayor? You need everyone on the same page. Everyone's got to play from the same playbook. I know there's pushback. They may not always agree with the mayor's policies, but they're going

to follow. You have to follow his lead. Julian, if there's one thing you could ask for the commissioner to do, what would you want him to focus on? I would ask the commissioner to do. I would ask the commissioner to to do exactly what he's doing and that the Bayer has done, which is to focus on the causes of gun violence and serious violence here. We know that they're focusing on shutting down the iron pipeline so that we don't get these illegal guns from out of states into New York City. It's focusing on the manufacturer's negligence in allowing these illegal guns to come in. And it's being more robust in terms of community-based supports and services that hit the

root drivers of crimes so police officers can focus on serious crimes, focus on guns, focus on guns and shootings and murders and rapes, right? But they don't need or really want to be responding to someone acting erratically because of a mental health concern on the train or in a neighborhood. It should be specialists that do that. And they're focusing on that to some degree. They just need to do more of it. We can focus also on small crimes and big crimes in another conversation.

Julian, thank you so much. Terence Monaghan, thank you well-behaved. I saw you. We're talking out in your chair that we appreciate it. Thank you both for being here. Still ahead tonight, the new allegations about Alec Baldwin's behavior on the Rust movie set. Prosecutors alleging the actor had, quote, no control over his emotions on the set where he fatally shot cinematographer Helena Hutchins, the effort from Baldwin's lawyers tonight to have the involuntary manslaughter charge dropped.

Plus, a helicopter plunging into a pond in Rhode Island, the urgent rescue efforts to get the two people on board to safety. And now that the solar eclipse is over, what should you do with your leftover glasses? we'll show you the websites taking donations and how you can send them in. Stay with us. All right, we're back now with the latest on the Rust movie set shooting and the legal battles actor Alec Baldwin is facing.

In a new court filing, prosecutors alleging Baldwin had, quote, no control of his emotions on set and made the production unsafe. The filing a response to Baldwin's efforts to have the involuntary manslaughter charge against him dropped. And NBC's Edwin Lopez has

the latest. In this footage from the film Rust, Alec Baldwin firing prop guns in the New Mexico desert. The scenes exclusively obtained by NBC, just a portion of more footage, turned over to special prosecutors that NBC has not reviewed. Rolling, rolling. Rolling. Like, in the path of the gun, could you please move? Tonight, those prosecutors in a new filing slamming Baldwin, saying the actor had, quote,

absolutely no control of his emotions and contributed to, quote, safety compromises on set. Just days after that footage was captured, a prop gun in Baldwin's hand would discharge with a real bullet in the chamber that was never supposed to be there, killing cinematographer Helena Hutchins and wounding another. The film's young armor, Hannah Gutierrez Reed, now awaiting sentencing after she was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter last month. Prosecutors charging Baldwin with involuntary manslaughter. The actor's team filing a motion to throw out the indictment. The state responding by slamming Baldwin, saying,

quote, the combination of Hannah Gutierrez's negligence and inexperience and Alec Baldwin's complete lack of concern for the safety of those around him would prove deadly for Helena Hutchins. Both parties in their case filings raised issues with information that had been shared with the media, including NBC News. We reached out to Baldwin but have not heard back. Baldwin had previously said he was told the gun he was handed was cold, meaning without live ammunition. One more, one more, one more.

I forgot to recall this up. Right away, right away. Let's reload. Prosecutors claim Baldwin relentlessly rushed the crew and Gutierrez Reed to work faster, alleging that his actions further compromised safety. But some footage also showing Baldwin apparently halting takes over safety concerns. I don't know why you're going up hills and all this other. You're going to break your neck.

So I want you to lead him on the nicest path. No, no, no, no, no. I want you to go on the nicest path. Prosecutors also saying Baldwin and his attorneys spread misleading information in the aftermath of the shooting, like in this interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos. So you never pulled the trigger? No, no, no, no. I would never point a gun at him going to pull a trigger at them, never. The prosecutor's filing calling this claim absurd, citing a year-long investigation by law enforcement.

Now with Baldwin's trial set for July all eyes on how these allegations will play out in court. All right, Elwyn Lopez joins Top Story Live tonight from Los Angeles. So Elwyn, the armor from this film was just found guilty for involuntary manslaughter in March. We saw that happen, and her sentencing is coming up. What could that sentence look like? Yeah, so she is scheduled to be sentenced next week on April 15th, and she faces up to 18 months in prison, Tom. Elwyn Lopez for us tonight. Elwyn, thank you for that.

When we come back, talk about an unwanted guest, a woman in Florida, finding an eight-foot alligator inside of her kitchen, and the weird way that gator got inside, how it was finally taken out. That's next. All right, we're back now with Top Stories News Feed, and we begin with a helicopter crash in Southern Rhode Island.

Aerial footage shows. the chopper completely submerged in a pond after going down. The pilot and the passenger were able to climb out of the helicopter before a fisherman rescued them. They were rushed to the hospital and are expected to be okay. Officials telling NBC News the crew was testing sensors on the aircraft when it crashed. Now to a public health warning in Illinois over fake Botox injections. State health officials say people were hospitalized with symptoms associated with botulism, A rare but potentially fatal illness that can cause difficulty breathing and muscle paralysis.

Authorities say both patients had received Botox or a possible counterfeit injection of the product. No word yet on their condition. And in Florida, a woman startled to find an alligator inside of her kitchen. Take a look at this. New images show an eight-foot alligator line on a kitchen floor of a home in Venice after actually just walking right through a screen door that was automatic and apparently opened up. The homeowner said she first heard her. rattling noise and when she went to check it out she found the gator strolling through her house

no one was hurt thankfully she managed to call the authorities and the gator was safely captured and if you don't want to wait about two decades to use your eclipse glasses again you can donate them eclipse glasses USA collects used undamaged glasses to send to children in underserved communities all around the world you can email them for information about donations astronomers without borders also collecting glasses, you can find local drop-off sites on their websites. Experts say modern eclipse glasses do not expire. Now, when attack plot foiled in Idaho, a teenage suspect is under arrest, the FBI says he's an ISIS sympathizer who was stopped the day before he was set to launch deadly attacks

on churches. Kandelanian has this one. Prosecutors say this is the suspect, 18-year-old Alexander Mercurio, posing in front of an ISIS flag. According to the criminal complaint, he allegedly told associates he had spent months formulating a plan to attack churches and kill parishioners in Cordillane, Idaho. The FBI arresting him the day before they say he planned to carry it out. Mercurio allegedly wrote in a text message he would walk into a church, start beating people, and then kill them with his knives and machete, saying he would burn down the building. He said he would keep going

until police killed him. That message allegedly sent last week to a confidential FBI informant. During his arrest, the FBI seizing knives, a machete, and butane. Intelligence officials have been warning about the risk that disaffected Americans could become lone wolf attackers, especially after the Hamas terror attack and ensuing war in Gaza. The FBI director just today. The ongoing war in the Middle East has raised the threat of an attack against Americans

inside the United States to a whole other level. The potential for a coordinated attack here in the homeland is now increasingly concerning. Mercurio's alleged plot has echoes of the recent deadly ISIS-K attack on a Moscow concert hall. Court records describe Mercurio as a disillusioned teenager radicalized with ISIS propaganda during pandemic school lockdowns. A U.S. intelligence bulletin issued Friday warns of an elevated risk of ISIS-inspired attacks on sports venues, concert halls, and churches here in the U.S. Tom?

All right, Ken, thanks for that. Next tonight, the major settlement in the East Palestine train derailment. The Norfolk Southern Railroad Company agreeing to a $600 million payment to resolve class action lawsuits filed. But for some East Palestine residents, the money isn't enough. NBC's Aaron McLaughlin has a story. It was considered the most hazardous train crash in Ohio history. 38 cars carrying toxic chemicals derailed, sending a thick plume of smoke into the sky and striking fear into the small village of East Palestine.

Now more than a year later, Norfolk Southern, the company responsible for the freight train, announced a settlement. $600 million to resolve all class action claims within a 20-mile radius from the derailment. The statement adding, for those residents who choose to participate, personal injury claims within a 10-mile radius. But some residents in East Palestine today say they're frustrated. We need to know. We don't know what the long-term effects are. We first met Melissa Boyer days after the crash. Literally lit it up back here. She and her family live half a mile from the derailment site.

She says this settlement does little to ease her long-term concerns. We've had more upper respiratory infections, bronchitis. We don't know if we're going to get sick or cancer or anything from this. The monetary is going to be gone. That is a lot of money for a trained around. Attorney Mark Bryant represents 800 plus East Palestine plaintiffs. He says it's unclear how many claimants will ultimately come forward, but it could be in the thousands. In the statement, the company says the agreement, which has yet to be approved by the court,

does not include or constitute any admission of liability, wrongdoing, or fault. Regardless, Boyer says, No money is going to fix this because it's never going to be fixed. that's never going to be the same again. Aaron McLaughlin, NBC News. Coming up, Dad to the Rescue, a wave crashing onto a seawall, sweeping a child into the ocean.

The moment her dad jumped over a railing and into the rough waves to save her. That's next. We're back now with a stunning new whistleblower complaint against Boeing. Tonight, the company once again under fire concerning the safety of its aircrafts. The FAA now investigating

as the fallout at Boeing continues, Here's Tom Costello with war. Already under unprecedented scrutiny, Boeing is tonight facing new allegations. The FAA tells NBC News it's investigating new whistleblower claims first disclosed by the New York Times, made by a Boeing quality engineer who warns the 787 Dreamliner's fuselage was improperly fastened together. In a letter to the FAA, his attorney writes, it is likely to cause premature fatigue failure over time in two, major airplane joints. That could cause the plane to break apart after many thousands of flights. He is alleging that Boeing knowingly took a series of manufacturing shortcuts in the construction

of the 787. But Boeing strongly objects, insisting the 787 is very safe and has undergone intense stress testing, saying these claims about the structural integrity of the 787 are inaccurate and do not represent the comprehensive work Boeing has done to ensure the quality and long-term safety of the aircraft. Still, the new claims come after two fatal Max 8 crashes overseas and the Max 9 door plug blow out in January, all to be the subject of congressional hearings next week. Boeing is putting profits and production speed ahead of quality and safety. The 787 fuselage is made of a lightweight composite material. to make it stronger than aluminum with better fuel economy.

Boeing and three different providers make the components that join together in the final assembly. The FAA has already approved Boeing's plan to tighten paper-thin gaps between those sections, which the engineer claims are vulnerable. Boeing insists they are stress-tested and safe. The plane, it says, should fly for decades. The new whistleblower worked at the same South Carolina Boeing plant where another whistleblower worked. who took his own life last month. Before these new allegations, the FAA chief told Lester last month, Boeing's quality control remains under intense FAA oversight and inspection.

I will make sure that we're not approving any aircraft into the system that are not safely built. Boeing says the 787 should fly 40 to 50 years if maintained properly. There are now 1100 in service worldwide. The company says it's spent years going over every element of the plane to make sure it's safe. Tom? All right, Tom Costello for us. Now to Top Stories Global Watch and a check of what else is happening around the world. We start with violent protests erupting in southern Mexico. New video shows people throwing rocks through windows at a government building in Guerrero.

The building then set on fire along with dozens of cars. No word on any injuries just yet. Protesters are calling for an investigation to the march killing of a rural college student who had confronted police over the 2014 abduction and killing of 43 students. from that same school. And some hard-stopping video shows the moments a father saves his daughter after she was swept into the ocean in Australia. The child and her father seen running along a seawall in New South Wales when a monster wave

crashes onto it. Another wave then knocking her into the sea. Her dad quickly jumping over the railing and luckily managed to grab her. The two were quickly pulled to shore by emergency crews and are OK. And Hong Kong authorities making the largest gold smuggling bust in the city's history. Customs officials announcing they seized 146 kilos of gold worth almost $11 million from a cargo shipment bound for Japan. The metal had been molded and camouflaged into parts of two air compressors.

It is believed a criminal organization looking to evade Japanese taxes may have been behind this operation. So far, one person has been arrested. Okay, when we come back, a WrestleMania for the history books. The two-day event bringing wrestling legends, including the rock, back to the ring, and it was a record smashing hit. We'll tell you why. Stay with us.

Finally tonight, WrestleMania 40, not just a special night for wrestling fans, but also a record-shattering event for the WWE, in-person attendance and viewership, exploding as the company

moves forward with new leadership. Guadvanegas breaks down the numbers. The final boss has arrived at WrestleMania. It was the event of the year for wrestling fans young and old.

Seattle took a swing. WrestleMania 40, marking the 40th annual WrestleMania event. RKO! And becoming the W.W.E.'s most successful one yet. We just got married in January, and we're here at WrestleMania on our honeymoon.

Attendance at Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field topping 145,000 people, breaking the previous records set by WrestleMania 39 by 78%. according to the W.W.E. There's so many Brits here, there's so many people from all over the world have traveled in, we've kind of just completely taken over Philadelphia. I was like, I owe it to my younger self to go tonight.

The two-day extravaganza streaming exclusively on Peacock. And WWE says viewership was also up by 41% versus last year's record-setting audience. Many tuning in to see the highly anticipated in-ring return of Duane the Rock Johnson. By the Rock, Cody. Who had 51 years old, along with Roman Raines, defeated the American nightmare Cody Rhodes and Seeth Rowlands on Saturday. On the right, crossroads. But on Sunday, it was Rhodes who came out victorious,

taking home the WWE Universal title. It feels just so sweet, and it's validating, because this main event yesterday, WrestleMania 40, was totally willed into existence by the fans. Cetus coming against them. The two nights also saw appearances by other wrestling legends like John Sina. Holy Christ! The Undertaker, Kevin Owens, and Randy Orton, who were beaten by former YouTube star Logan Paul.

Fox Flash! And another surprise. I think I know, yep. Recently retired Philadelphia Eagles Center, Jason Kelsey, shocking the crowd with a cameo. I'm the world champion Philadelphia Eagles. WrestleMania, not just for the boys. Macho! Women not only in attendance, but also battling it out inside the ring with Bailey taking home the W.W.E. Women's Championship.

Bailey did it all tonight. This year also marked the first WrestleMania not under Vince McMahon, but with everything from ticket sales to merchandise profits, shattering records, it appears the love for WWE lives on as it ushers in a new era. It's so fun. It's really amazing. I'm so excited for this moment. of my life. Thanks so much for watching tonight. I'm Tom Yamerson, New York. Stay right there. More news on the way.