Top Story with Tom Llamas - Tuesday, January 6, 2026

Episode Date: January 7, 2026

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 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Tonight, the new crackdown inside Venezuela with captured leader Nicolas Maduro in an American jail and the U.S. plans to possibly gain control of Greenland. Gunfire erupting outside the presidential palace in Venezuela as massive pro-Moduro crowds take to the streets. Our new reporting about how Maduro and his wife were bruised and bleeding during the raid, we speak with a reporter inside Caracas about the situation on the ground. Also tonight, the White House's new third threat on taking Greenland are reporting how the U.S. could acquire the territory without using force. Terrifying close call at a Michigan Middle School, a man with a gun opening fire, attempting to break into the building, how he was stopped just in time. Deadly protesting Iran, a demonstrator taking

on police with a makeshift flamethrower, protesters tear gassed, and the threat from the Ayatollah saying rioters must be put in their place. Growing backlash over Elon Musk's AI chatbot. The fake and explicit images of women and children flooding social media. We speak with the mother of one of Musk's children fighting to get explicit photos of herself taken down. Nearly a year since devastating wildfires tore through L.A., the unexpected donation bringing the fire captain a step closer to rebuilding his home. And the tech of the future on display at an expo in Vegas, from humanoid robots to robo-taxies to an at-home allergy test, and major announcements from Samsung and Lego. Plus, also breaking tonight the video confession

from the Brown University mass shooter couldn't lead to new answers about a motive. Top story starts right now. And good evening. We begin tonight with the lasting aftershocks of the American raid in Venezuela. New signs of dangerous crackdowns emerging on the ground.

While tonight we're also learning that the Trump administration is considering a range of options for taking Greenland. In Venezuela, though, this was the chaotic scene at the presidential palace overnight. Security forces opening fire on unidentified drones flying through the sky. The White House confirming the U.S. was not involved. The divide within the nation on full display on the streets of the Capitol, hundreds gathering at a pro-government march in support of ousted leader Nicolas Maduro.

While police say they arrested at least two people for celebrating the U.S. action. And we have new reporting tonight of the U.S. soldiers who were injured in that weekend attack and how Maduro and his wife were both bruised and bloodied when they were captured. The country's future tonight hanging in the balance interim President Delci Rodriguez taking office, as President Trump insists he's in charge. The turmoil in the Western Hemisphere all comes as the U.S. considers possession of Greenland. We're going to get to our White House team in a moment, but we begin tonight with Gabe Gutierrez, who is once again at the Venezuelan border.

Tonight, inside Venezuela, a regime trying to hold on. A large crowd that State TV says supports ousted authoritarian leader Nicolas Maduro, while the government cracks down on any dissent, detaining journalists and police saying they arrested these two people for celebrating Maduro's arrest by U.S. forces. People really don't want to leave their homes, this Venezuelan man who just crossed the border says, adding there are armed groups outside conducting searches. The region also on edge after gunfire near the presidential palace in Caracas overnight. Witnesses say security forces fired at unidentified drones.

Two White House officials tell NBC News the U.S. was not involved. Today, President Trump again touting the stealth military mission that captured Maduro and his wife, bringing them to the U.S. to stand trial. It was so brilliant. The electricity for almost the entire country was, boom, turned off. That's when they knew there was a problem. The country's future now uncertain under Maduro loyalist Delci Rodriguez. A U.S. official tells NBC News that a recent classified intelligence assessment determined

that top members of the Maduro regime, including Rodriguez, were best positioned to lead Venezuela's government and maintain stability if Maduro lost power. That assessment was a factor in the U.S. administration not backing Maria Corino Machado, the exiled opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner. Overnight, Machado is saying she supports President Trump's move against Maduro. January 3rd will go down in history as the day justice defeated a tyranny. At Venezuela's border with Colombia, relief Maduro is gone. Do you support the U.S. coming into Venezuela?

Yes. It was a good stuff, and Trump was right. Joanne Hirado says his father has been a political prisoner in Venezuela for more than four years. That is the government of Venezuela, a tyrannic government. Maduro was a dictator. Gabe Gutierrez joins us tonight from Kukuta, Colombia, right on the border with Venezuela. So, Gabe, we're hearing from the president tonight about oil coming in from Venezuela? Yeah, that's right, Tom. Just a few moments ago, President Trump posted on social media that Venezuela will turn over between between 30 and 50 million barrels of oil to be sold at market price and to be controlled by me, he says.

The president of the United States, that the oil will be taken by storage ships and brought directly to unloading docks in the U.S. So the administration spent a long time saying that its interactions in Venezuela were not because of oil. It was because of stopping drug trafficking. At least according to this post, it was at least partly about oil, Tom. Yeah, and then I know you have some new reporting about the Maduro's and how they were injured along with U.S. troops during that raid. Walk us through some of our new reporting. Yeah, that's right. So the Pentagon, Tom, says that seven soldiers were injured during this raid. Five of them, incredibly, are already back on duty. One of them is still recovering from multiple gunshot wounds to the leg.

Meanwhile, two sources familiar with the matter tell us that Maduro and his wife were either brought. bruised or bleeding after bumping into a wall before U.S. Delta forces arrived. Tom? Okay, Gabe Gutier is there on the border. I do want to bring in Anna Vanessa Herrero. She's a reporter based in Caracas, Venezuela. Anna, we thank you so much for joining Top Story Live. I know this is a very tough time to be a journalist there in Venezuela reporting the story of what's happening. Walk our viewers through what the mood is in Caracas right now. We saw that there was some violence overnight, some uncertainty. It looks like it was anti-aircraft fire shot into the air and there were some firing on the grounds as well near the palace. Walk us through what

you heard and saw. Well, Tom, very confusing situation yesterday night. When reports on social media claimed that military were firing around the presidential palace, some of them even saying that it could be a coup. A source immediately telling us that it was the military around the presidential palace, trying to fight drones that were approaching. One of them saying it's just a confusion. Then today we received reports, the official report, that indeed there were some drones around the area and the military were trying to fight them or attack them. But the minister said that those drones were surveilling drones.

He didn't give any more details, but definitely people were. were very scared. And it shows that all the silence and how quiet the streets are, even though it's like this, it's not what you would expect after Saturday. People are still very anxious. They are still alert. Just feeling that something may happen. You know, there is this thing in Venezuela, which I know you're familiar with. Our viewers are learning about this now. The Colectivo, which essentially is paramilitary, civilians that are armed, that worked hand in hand with the government. They do not wear uniforms, but the Maduro regime had given them weapons to sort of police themselves and also to be a second layer of security besides the military. Are they out in full force? Do you see them out in the street?

Yes, they have precedence on the street, definitely. Yesterday more than today, according to reports, because let me just for a little bit of context, a lot of the information that we're getting, of course, from our own reporting, but it's through social media and WhatsApp. People here, since Maduro's government, took over all the local media and bought all the other newspapers, radio stations, and TV stations. People, you know, just communicate them with others through social media, reports, pictures. And that is how we immediately knew that, for example, these collectives were doing some checkpoints on different areas of Caracas, specifically.

And, yes, a lot of uncertainty, people wanting to get home before nightfalls. So right now, as night falls here in Caracas, a lot of people are just like either going to their houses or already in their places just to be safe, to be sure that nothing is going to happen to them. Are people confused why the U.S. took out Maduro and his wife and allowed Delci Rodriguez,

as the vice president, who was a Chavista, who worked hand-in-hand with Maduro, who was the vice president, to become the de facto leader now? You know, people right now... So the situation around the Venezuelans is the following. Immediately after Saturday happened,

all the strikes in Caracas, people started worrying about the here and the now. So the situation, around who's next, what's coming for the country politically, just started being a conversational issue recently, just maybe a day ago after the ceremony when she was sworn in. People are trying to focus on the here and the now.

What do I need? Do I need water, food, medicines? What do I need so that if this happens again, it doesn't catch me off guard? Because as I was selling you before, people fear and they have this sense, this general sense of something might happen again, either another military action from the United States or even maybe something from the inside here in the government, in Venezuela.

You know, the president on Saturday, I think, during that news conference, said that Machado, Maria Carina, who had won the Nobel Peace Prize and who, of course, was part of the opposition, was what barred. from running in the election by Maduro, didn't have the respect to the support of the people. Was that a correct statement, or is she popular in which she have the support if she ran for president? Well, we really don't know what he meant. She said that she didn't have support. But maybe he was talking about the support that was needed in order to continue the governance in the the country. Because, for example, we see now that Delzi Rodriguez has the support of the Supreme

Court National Assembly, the military, which are a huge part and a basic element of the state apparatus. And now that she has that, we can see that the continuance of that government. Maybe he meant that we really don't know he was just scratching the surface. But if he was talking about popular support, Well, you know, we should maybe ask him where he was getting that from, because up until recently, she had all the support she need. Let's remember that in 2024, she was the leader of a huge political campaign, electoral campaign. And according to the vote, tell she showed the world, the opposition led by her made a new president with over 70%.

She managed to show the world with such proof that even Maduro's allies asked Maduro to give out the numbers, to show the numbers of his alleged victory. Okay. Anna, we thank you so much for joining Top Story. Please stay safe out there. I'm sure we'll check in with you again. Now to that push by President Trump to acquire Greenland and the new report that the U.S. may try to buy the world's largest island. and other NATO allies now sharply responding to the president's latest comments and those of some in his administration. NBC Chief White House correspondent, Peter Alexander, is covering it all.

Tonight, the White House revealing President Trump and his advisors are discussing a range of options for acquiring Greenland, adding that utilizing the U.S. military is always an option. But Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, tells lawmakers, the administration is not eyeing an imminent invasion and that the goal is to buy the island from Denmark, according to the Wall Street, citing people familiar with the discussions. Don't worry about Greenland in about two months. Let's talk about Greenland in 20 days. Right now, Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place. We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security. And Denmark is not going to be able to do it.

But Denmark and other European allies are strongly pushing back at President Trump's renewed comments about taking over the Danish territory, writing Greenland belongs to its people. to its people. Overnight, top White House aide Stephen Miller dismissed the need to use the military. Nobody's going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland. It comes as the president rallied House Republicans

ahead of the midterms, warning them if Democrats take back the House, they'll try to impeach him for a third time. You've got to win the midterms, because if we don't win the midterms, it's just going to be, I mean, they'll find a reason to impeach me. I'll get impeached.

Okay, Peter Alexander joins us tonight from the White House. Peter, let's get back to Greenland for a minute there. There's also an impact on NATO here. Walk our viewers through why NATO has serious concerns about some of that language we saw in your report coming from the Trump administration. Yeah, Tom, you make an important point there. That strongly worded statement from the Europeans emphasizes that Denmark, including Greenland, is a part of NATO, adding that security in the Arctic must be, it says, achieved collectively alongside NATO. including the United States. We should note the Danish Prime Minister told her country

within the last 24 hours, if the U.S. chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops. A senior White House official tonight tells me that other options under consideration for acquiring Greenland include, as we said, purchasing the territory from Denmark, also forming what's known as a compact

of free association with the island. The U.S. has similar agreements right now with Micronesia, among other countries. All right, Peter Alexander, at the White House. Peter, we thank you for that. We want to turn to Michigan now. There were terrifying scenes at a middle school when a man allegedly opened fire while trying to break in. His standoff with police caught on camera. Stephanie Gosk with the frightening video in that story. Frightening moments at a middle school in Romulus, Michigan.

Shooting at the door, trying to get in the locks, shooting at the door. Officers confronting a 44-year-old man on school grounds after receiving reports that shots were fired and he was waving a gun. According to authorities, in this video, police can be heard telling the man to put his hands up just after 10 a.m. as backup arrives on the scene. The man appears to be tackled by multiple officers and then let away. The school on lockdown, while the tent standoff played out just feet from the front entrance. Tonight, the police say they've recovered a handgun, and there is no ongoing threat to the school or the community. But some parents are still rattled. It's getting crazy. Unfortunately, for our kids, we didn't grow up this way, but they do.

The superintendent commending his staff for quick action. Everything worked out. Everybody is safe and secure. Our protocols were followed. In a statement, a school official says the man attempted to gain access to the school with a gun, just a day after classes resumed following the holiday break, confirming that no one was injured, and tonight all the students are safe. Stephanie Goss joins us now in studio. And Stephanie, we're hearing more from the school about this close call. Yeah, president of the school board gave us a statement, thanking the police, thanking the staff for acting quickly, and also singling out, Tom, the school secretary, who was apparently the first person there at the door when this man approached the school,

and she followed the school's safety rules and did not let him inside. And really, you look at that story and you think about it, there's a very good chance she saved lives today. No, it's good when the protocol works. All right, Stephanie, we thank you for that. Turning now to another story where the protocol didn't work in Texas, the trial of a former school police officer who responded to the deadly Yuvaldi school shooting officially underway. He's accused of not doing enough to protect children during that awful mass shooting at Rob Elementary in 2022. NBC's Ryan Chandler was there for opening statements. Former school police officer Adrian Gonzalez was one of the first on

the scene as a gunman attacked Rob Elementary and he could be the first held criminally responsible for the delayed police response. Today he pled not guilty to 29 counts of abandoning or endangering a child. Waited nearly four years. We want to see justice for our baby girl. Inside the courtroom Gonzales sat stoically as prosecutors pointed their fingers at him telling the jury he didn't do enough to stop the gunman before 19 students and two teachers were brutally murdered. When you hear gunshots, you go to the gunfire. Instead, prosecutors charge, he stood around waiting for help to arrive. He enters the building three minutes and 45 seconds after he got there.

And after the damage it was trying to assess a fluid situation and did not fail to act. If government wants to make it seem like he just sat there, you know, he didn't just sit there. He did what he could with what he knew at the time. encouraged the jury to not blame Gonzales for the crimes of the shooter. The monster who hurt those children is dead. The jury was presented with these photos of the shooter's vehicle and a rifle nearby, security footage, and frantic 911 calls. Of the hundreds of officers on scene, Gonzalez and former Yuvaldi School's police chief, Pete Aredondo, are the only two being charged. Gonzales faces up to two years in prison for each charge.

In the room, family members watched a day they've demanded for years. Justice finally is going to be served. Juanita and Jesse Rizzo's 9-year-old niece, Jockey Casares, was killed in her classroom. What does justice really look like for you? Allowing the families, survivors, you know, victims, some sense of, some sense of closure, some sense of understanding, accountability. That's justice to me. Ryan Chandler joins us tonight from outside that court in Corpus Christi.

Ryan, we're just learning that the judge made a late decision tonight to release the jury until Thursday. To quote, address issues, do we know what happened? Some big courtroom drama ending the day early, Tom, and some new details since we last spoke on Nightly. Just in the last 20 minutes, we caught up with the defense team. They were speaking with reporters out here. And they told me that this makes a big material difference to the case. It deals with the testimony of one of the prosecution's star witnesses, a third-grade teacher who was on the scene that day. She testified that she saw the shooter within the vicinity of Gonzalez, something that the defense had never heard before, and she may have never said before.

Makes a big difference when the state tries to argue whether Gonzalez had the opportunity to confront the gunman or not. We'll see what the judge decides tomorrow or Thursday, Tom. Ryan Chandler, with some new reporting right there. Ryan, we thank you for that. Now to those new developments in that mass show. shooting at Brown University last month. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts says the shooter left behind several videos he recorded after the shooting at Brown and the killing of an MIT professor days later.

Tracking it all for us tonight is NBC's Tom Winter. So Tom, investigators aren't releasing this video, but we have a transcript. What do we learn? That's right, Tom. It's four pages in length. It's four videos, just under 12 minutes. And it was found on a device inside that storage unit where eventually the shooter, Claudio Manuel Neves Valenti was found.

You know, there's not a lot in here about specific motive as it pertains to Brown University or the shooting of that MIT professor Nuno Larero. What is in here is an apparent reference to Donald Trump. He talks about how Trump called him a monster in the course of this manhunt. He says he doesn't have a particular issue with Trump. He doesn't have a particular love or hatred for America.

He does have one key line, which I think is important when we look at all these shootings. He says, I'm not going to apologize because during my lifetime, no one sincerely apologized to me. You've just done two stories on school shootings. The FBI's behavioral analysis unit, when they look at these types of shootings, Tom, says that's the common theme that you've hurt me, so now I need to hurt somebody else. That's a common theme that they're seeing across all these shootings, and so this seems to be consistent with that.

Do we understand any more of the targeting at Brown? Do we understand any more why he did it there? I know we're getting just sort of select transcripts from these videos. Right. So, you know, first off, this is a very transparent effort because we never get this stuff unless we sue for these types of things. So it is helpful as far as understanding some of the things that they found. What we're seeing here is that he appeared to for at least three years and own this storage unit for three years want to target Brown University. But why he chose that particular auditorium, it's not clear. Initially, he went in. He didn't see anybody. The students were hiding. So he expressed some dismay like, oh, no, there's nobody here to actually shoot is effectively what he says. He then goes on to victim blame the students that were left behind. So we don't know what it was specifically that drove him to that point. And then the last student that was shot that survived and obviously had to live through that trauma. What are they saying? Because they've been released from the hospital and is Brown stepping up at all security on that campus? Well, Brown has made some significant changes.

They were widely criticized by members of law enforcement. After this shooting occurred, they hired Hugh Clements, the former chief of the Providence Police Department. But Hugh worked for the Justice department. I know him pretty well. And he worked with police agencies across the country on best practices on a number of different fronts. So he's come in and he said, first off, this idea that people are going to be able to walk in and out of buildings without carding in so we don't know who is or isn't in one of these buildings. That's how we're going to put card readers at all the buildings. We're going to have security guards there until we have card readers at all the buildings, new training, and many more cameras. I mean, Tom, we were talking about at the

time. How long did it take to find video of where he was going? Because there were so few cameras at Brown University. That seems like something that they're addressing here pretty much and the mayor of the town saying they had this sort of open campus idea because they wanted the community to feel part of it. It sounds like that may be evolving a little bit. At least a focus on having some measures in place.

Okay, Tom, thanks for that. Good update. We're back in a moment with growing calls for an investigation to Elon Musk's AI chatbot GROC and the explicit images of women and children it's allowing users to create, we'll explain. Plus, new details on the mysterious murder of an Ohio dentist and his wife,

that were gunned down. We've been following this one. The latest on the search for the suspect. And another big coaching shakeup in the NFL, Jim Harbaugh, out after 18 seasons with the Baltimore Ravens and a Super Bowl win. That's ahead tonight on Top Story. We're back now with the mounting anger surrounding Elon Musk's popular AI chatbot GROC. Users on X using the tech to digitally undress women and even children, creating AI-generated sexually explicit images within seconds. NBC's Gotti Schwartz spoke to the mother of one of Musk's children, who says she's been fighting for days to have explicit images of herself taken off the platform.

Tonight, Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok coming under fire from regulators across the globe over a rise in non-consensual and sexualized deep fake images of women and children. I was disgusted and horrified. Conservative content creator Ashley St. Clair, who has a child with mine, says she's seen countless explicit photos of herself on the platform. I immediately asked Grock to stop. Grock said, I received your request. I will no longer produce these images.

And of course, there were only more requests to produce more explicit images of me, including ones of photos of me when I was underage. And Grock obliged and produced all of these images. And some have been removed, but others remain on the site. And she's not alone, an influx of explicit content coming out. after GROC recently enhanced its image generation abilities with a new model last month. An analysis from the European nonprofit AI forensics, finding more than 50% of images generated by GROC between December 25th and January 1st

were non-consensual sexual images, primarily targeting women and 2% of them, depicting a person who appeared to be 18 or younger. With GROC, imagine. You can turn any of your pictures into videos. An NBC News review of GROC's output finding, though many of many of... of the inappropriate images have been taken down, GROC continues to produce sexualized images of non-consenting parties. I found that GROC was producing at least a dozen inappropriate images every minute.

People are commanding the chatbot to take people's clothes off, basically. And it's become such a meme, and so many people are doing it. Now tonight, growing calls for action. Ofcom, the UK's communications regulator saying that they have made, quote, urgent. urgent contact with X and XAI to understand if there are any potential compliance issues that warrant investigation. Meanwhile, officials in India and Brazil have also expressed concern with Brazil's federal deputy calling for the suspension of GROC in the country.

It's really difficult to go and outright ban technology. It's like saying let's ban the internet. What we really need to be doing is seeing governments talk to those big companies like meta and X and OpenAI. and work with them and really work quickly. Musk responding to the mounting criticism, posting on X that anyone using GROC to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as anyone uploading it,

though Musk also using GROC to make a deep-baked version of himself wearing a bikini calling the chatbot creation perfect. Musk and XAI have not responded to NBC News's request for comments. All right, with that, Gadi Schwarz joins us now. Gotti, our viewers are going to be watching this and be in shock at what is so easily accessible now. The Take a Down Act was signed into law in the U.S. last year. Does that apply to software and technology like this one?

Yeah, this is the kind of thing that the Take It Down Act was supposed to protect against. There's some caveats here, but the law is different for adults and for minors. For minors, it's a lot more specific. It's all encompassing, too. It covers deep fakes that are intended to abuse, humiliate, harass, or arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person. And that is very crucial, because it would seem even the bikini pictures or the posing images that are being generated, they fit that bill. And the penalties include mandatory restitution, fines, the possibility of jail. And to complicate things, Tom, in the act, there's also this mandate that online platforms set up a way that people can report these and get them taken down immediately.

That part doesn't kick in until May of this year. But bottom line, we expect answers as so much of this will be headed to court. Tom. All right, Gotti Schwartz. Make sure to watch his fine broadcast. Stay tuned right after this one. Gotti, we thank you. Still to come on top story, federal agents on the ground in Minnesota, carrying out what they're calling the largest immigration operation ever, what we're learning tonight. Plus, the first court appearances for the suspect accused of attacking the home of Vice President J.D. Vance, why the defense says it wasn't about politics. All right, we're back now and watching a major ice operation underway in Minneapolis.

The Department of Homeland Security says it's the largest operation in Minnesota's history, a surge of over 2,000 ice agents deployed to the Twin Cities amid statewide child fraud allegations in the state, which has involved convictions of some residents of Somali descent. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem on the ground today. This is her with officers for what the department is calling Operation Metro Surge. I want to bring in Joe McCoy from NBC. He's Minneapolis affiliate CARE 11. Joe, thanks so much for being for us and being there for us tonight.

What can you tell us tonight about the ICE operation you've been monitoring? Well, Tom, the Department of Homeland Security says this is the largest immigration operation ever in the U.S. And as you mentioned, Secretary Nome, she is here in Minnesota alongside 2,100 federal agents. And that includes 600 Homeland Security investigators who are here to investigate fraud at those Minneapolis, Minnesota daycares, as you mentioned. Now, Secretary Noam, she said today that DHS has already arrested a thousand people in Minnesota, and that includes 150 people yesterday alone. We were there today at the local field office for ICE, and we saw dozens of federal agents coming in and out of that building. We even saw one man being detained in that building and brought

inside in handcuffs. Tom, this also, of course, is on the heels of Governor Walls announcing that he is going to be dropping out of the Minnesota governor's race. He said today that fraud has simply become too big of a distraction and that he would not be able to give a campaign his all. He also said that President Trump has waged war against Minnesota, and he said that the growing attacks on him have put the entire state at risk. So fraud, immigration, and Governor Wallace have all been lumped into one ginormous story here in Minnesota. And we do not know, quite frankly, how long,

this federal immigration enforcement will last. We did learn today that Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino is also coming to Minnesota. So it's a question of how long this will last and if there will be any unrest that comes from this additional immigration enforcement, Tom. Joe McCoy, we thank you so much for joining our broadcast. In Ohio, police are asking for the public's help and identifying a person of interest caught on surveillance video. Near the homeworn Ohio couple was shot and killed. Tonight, NBC's Maggie Vest by asking the victims, relatives, who would want to do this? Tonight, a murder mystery in Columbus, Ohio, deepening with police asking the public for help

identifying this hooded person of interest, spotted investigators say in an alley near Spencer and Monique Teppie's home, the morning of the killings. Do you recognize that person? No. No. Not at all. Nope. Audrey Mackie is Spencer's cousin.

Do you have any idea who would want to do this? I have no idea. They were, you know, warm and welcoming. I can't think of anyone. Investigators now saying they believe the dentist and his wife were shot between 2 and 5 a.m. on Tuesday, December 30th, adding this grainy surveillance video of that person walking nearby was taken during that three-hour window. Police say the couple died in the upstairs level of their home with a police report noting three spent nine millimeter casings were found at the scene. I can hear kids inside, and I swear I think I heard one yell, but we can't get in.

Friends finding the couple's four-year-old daughter, one-year-old son, and family dog unharmed after Spencer didn't show up for work. He appears dead. There's blood. Investigators saying there were no signs of a break-in. Audrey saying Spencer and Monique always locked doors and windows. They were very careful and not forgetful. They felt completely safe. They felt safe at home.

One week later, still no answers as to who killed this couple. Maggie Vespa joins us now tonight live. Maggie, police have been incredibly tight-lipped about this. I know they refused to answer our questions again today, but are we getting updates on the investigation from another source? Yeah, Tom, we are. The Franklin County Coroner, now dubbing the apparent causes of death for both Spencer and Monique Tepeh homicide by gunshot wounds,

noting final autopsy results, are still pending. And that's important because that backs up what police had said, that they believe this is a double murder, not a murder, suicide. And that being said, since making that initial disclosure, police in Columbus have really gone dark, not answering questions for days now, and refusing, again, Tom, to your point, to answer our questions today for tonight's piece, citing, quote, the integrity of this investigation. Tom. Good clarification there. Maggie, we thank you for that. Not at Top Story's news feed. We start with the man accused of vandalizing Vice President J.D.

Vance's home appearing in court today. Remember, we told you about this guy last night. 26-year-old William DeFore, you see him there. He's facing both federal and local charges, that according to court documents, and that he smashed windows at Vance his home in Ohio. You see where he did it. While Vance and his wife were in D.C., though, DeFore's attorney and family say the incident was a result of a mental health issue, and he was not intended to be a political statement.

This was not due. The vice president says his home was attacked by a crazy person. with a hammer. And CIA officer Aldrich Ames convicted of betraying the U.S. by spying for the Soviet Union has died. You may remember Ames was serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole after admitting to compromising the identities of several agents resulting in at least 10 of their deaths. He also said he gave the Soviet Union and Russia huge amounts of information on U.S. security policies. Ames was 84 years old. All right, another death just in tonight. Michael Reagan, the eldest son of former president Ronald Reagan, has died.

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute announced the news, describing him as a successful author, radio talk show host, and public speaker. Right now, no word on a cause of death. Michael Reagan was 80 years old. And a major shakeup in the NFL tonight, the Baltimore Ravens, firing their longtime head coach John Harbaugh. He led the team for 18 seasons and won a Super Bowl back in 2012. Harbaugh was also the second longest-tenured coach.

in the league, the Ravens owner saying in the statement, this was an incredibly difficult decision. Harbaugh is the seventh NFL coach. Look at that to be let go just this season. All right, coming up tonight, new details on the investigation to that deadly fire at a Swiss ski resort where safety inspections up to code. We'll tell you about that. Plus, the growing protest in Iran security forces cracking down on demonstrators as President Trump issues a new warning to Tehran. We'll tell you what he said. With the protests once again across Iran today, demonstrators crowding into Tehran's Grand Bazaar as unrest over the dire economic situation escalates. Kier Simmons is tracking it for us.

Stunning moments on the streets of Iran, a man with a makeshift flamethrower facing off with security forces. Protests over the spiraling economy, only growing, demonstrators packing into the Grand Bazaar. Tear gas as security forces try to break up the cross. crowd. Protesters scrambling to escape a crush of people. Today's demonstrations, the largest so far and in their second week. Flames and fury over the country's currency falling to a record low. According to an NBC news producer in Tehran, oil and some food costs five times more than

it did last week. Two human rights groups say at least 20 people have been killed, President Trump issuing a warning to the Iranian government. Sunday. We're watching it very closely. If they start killing people like they have in the past, I think they're going to get hit very hard by the United States. Iran's foreign ministry spokesman saying the Iranian armed forces will show, quote,

no negligence or hesitation. The people are truly exhausted, says this man. I sincerely ask those who are able to help to ease the people's pain. All right, Kier Simmons joins us now. Kier, you know, all eyes are in Venezuela. but we just saw those pictures in your story here. Is this the next global crisis unfolding in front of our eyes? Well, Tom, Iran is quaking right now.

This isn't the first protest that we've seen. In 2022, there were protests over the death of a woman called Massa Armani who was arrested because of what she was wearing. These are the biggest demonstrations since then, and it comes at a time when the Iranian regime is weaker than ever after the U.S. Israeli strikes on Iran's nuclear capabilities last year. tracking what's happened in Tehran all over the country of Iran, but in the capital of Tehran, they're having this water crisis where you're not even sure if they're going to give people water,

just drinking water. That's how bad it's gotten in Iran, the economic crisis as well. I do want to ask you, I mean, these two countries are very aligned. Is there any connection with the timing of what's happening in Iran and Venezuela? There has been a deep connection between Iran and Venezuela. They have been very linked politically over time. And just keep in mind, As I mentioned, just last year, as we know, the United States, the Trump administration hit Iran's nuclear capability. Now, in the past days, we've seen the Trump administration take out President Maduro in Venezuela. It does feel like, doesn't it, Tom, as if there are multiple global crisis, geopolitical

crises around the world, and it does feel as if there's a connection. Perhaps the connection is this, major powers intervening in places close to them in a way that they haven't done in the past. Kier Simmons for us tonight. Kier, great to have you in studio and see you here. We appreciate it. Okay, we're going to turn out of Top Story's Global Watch. We start with an update on the investigation to that fire at that ski resort in Switzerland that killed 40 people and left more than 100 others hurt. Local authorities now saying that fire safety inspections had not been carried out at the bar since 2019. Investigators have said they believe the fire was caused by sparkling candles put

on the top of champagne bottles. And Nestle says it is issuing a reasonable. recall for some batches of its infant formula products because they could be contaminated with a toxin. The recall effects dozens of countries across Europe. Not the U.S. though. So far, no reports of anyone getting sick just yet. But Nestle says people who look out, people should look out for symptoms, including nausea and vomiting. And the countdown is on for the Winter Olympics with the game set to begin in exactly one month from today in Milan, Cortina. Preparations in Italy now in full swing to get ready for the opening ceremony, and a reminder, you can catch all the Olympic action right here on NBC and Peacock. Okay, back here at home, it's been nearly a year since the devastating wildfires in L.A.,

and one fire captain and his wife have been struggling to rebuild their home for 20 years. But now the couple is getting an extraordinary donation that will finally help them start over. NBC Los Angeles reporter Jonathan Gonzalez has this one. And the house wasn't very big. It was just over 1,200 square feet, but it was just over 1,200 square feet. It started right around here. For 20 years, Al and Carmen Hugo have called Altadena home. We had a fire pit right about here where we have a glass of wine and watch the hills.

Al is an L.A. City fire captain, and not even he thought the flames in those hills on January 7, 2025, would ever reach their home. And it was northeast of here, well over two miles away. I didn't expect the fire to do what it did. They took this video of the historic winds at their home just hours before the Eaton fire broke out. And just hours later, the Hugos and their four dogs were forced to escape. It was surreal. I can't believe it's almost been a year. It literally flew by and the struggles of trying to rebuild. One year later, the couple still has no home to return to, still dealing with insurance issues, even during the holidays. It just felt emptiness and just not the same.

This was the heart of the family where everybody gathered and just not the same. But amid their struggle came a helping hand from the widow's orphans and disabled firefighters fund. And through our partnership with J.M. Eagle, we're here today at this moment to present you with a check to help towards your recovery effort. It was a check for $200,000. Oh my God. So here you go. Wow. Thank you. Thank you very much. This is amazing. I was speechless. I couldn't believe it. It just make us feel more closer that we were going to be home.

The Hugos were one of five firefighting families who lost their homes in the Eaton fire, five families who all received the same sizable donation. It's a big, big help and boost. And hopefully down the road, that's going to be. pushes over to be able to rebuild. Rebuild a home that took them 20 years to create and just hours to lose. But even on their now empty property, there are signs of life, a flower memorial for their granddaughter who died at childbirth, blooming once again. The flowers, they weren't up hot and they burned. But then I came home, and to that, I couldn't believe it.

And with that, she's selling me, yeah, I'm with you. still ahead tonight from humanoid robots to self-driving cars we'll get a look at some of the new products making waves in the tech world right now plus the super surprise for a Pittsburgh Steelers fan who set up a food pantry to help fight hunger in his hometown that's next we're back now with a look at the tech of the future the consumer electronics show or CES is underway in Las Vegas and this year the robot race is on take us look at the Hyundai owned Boston Dynamics, publicly demonstrating its humanoid robot Atlas. The company says a version of this robot will help assemble their cars as soon as 2028. Pretty cool.

Following all the developments from the biggest tech trade show in the world, a good friend of top story, tech radar editor at large, Lance Ullinoff, who joins us now from the show floor. Lance, I wanted to start with those humanoid robots. They are everywhere this year at CES, including some demos of how they could help around the house, which have been pretty incredible and I see some you have some right there behind you yeah these are actually called humanoid and they're doing bin picking so this is in the factory setting they would be going through that just moving stuff around I saw another robot down there that knew how to take the red apple and put on the red plate and the green apple no matter how many times they moved it so these

robots are smart yeah and then not all robots obviously walk and talk like us in addition to humanoid robots there's a march of the mini bots including a new robot vacuum that you saw that can tackle stairs? Yes, yes. So that's Robo Rock, Rover, and it's got two legs. It's like first, last year they introduced a robot vacuum with an arm. Now they got one with two legs, and I watched it. It climbs up the stairs, it turns to the side, it runs back and forth.

It also, it's quite agile. It can move like this side to side. It can jump up and down. You know, there are no obstacles that this robot vacuum can't get over. Yeah, and another big focus at the show this year is self-driving cars. The biggest headline Uber is getting into the robotaxy business, announcing a partnership with Lucid Motors on Robotaxies they hope could be on the roads in 2026. That's pretty ambitious and pretty fast. How does this stack up to competition from Tesla and Waymo that have been at this now for many years?

Yeah, and the thing is, oftentimes they're keeping people in the driver's seat or they're remote controlling them. So full autonomy is quite far away. There's a company here called Tensor that has a fully robotic car. they say it's level for autonomy. That is basically your hands off and go nowhere. And for robo-taxies, that's really what you need. But honestly, there are very limited spaces where these fully autonomous robo-taxies can work.

It has to really know the grid, and nothing can change. So we're kind of a bit away from really having them everywhere. Yeah, I don't know if you know the answer to this one and not to put you on the spot, but one of Uber's sort of business plans was that it was letting people become their own boss, right? When we talked about that sort of share economy when it first came out, this new model, if this goes the way it does, it sort of takes the driver

completely out of the picture. How does Uber sort of balance that? You know what? That's a question for virtually every industry. When you're talking about AI, because it's really what you're talking about as it replaces some of these jobs, that is a question that you constantly have to ask. And the reality is a business like Uber will say, what is good business, what's going to help us expand, what's theoretically going to make it safer? They will go in that direction, and drivers may end up finding different work. You know, I know we love the humanoid robots, but I think the self-driving vehicle. I mean, that's sort of the technology we are going to see in the coming months and years right away

that is sort of going to change everything, and you wonder who's going to win that race. Will there be multiple players like Waymo and Tesla and Uber, or will Waymo that seems to sort of have the leg up right now, at least in the commercial market around the country, sort of be king and stay there? Let's transition to phones now. Samsung has done folding phones before they become very popular. But now they're taking it to the next level? Try to fold. And it's big. Unfolds to a 10-inch screen.

Start 6.5-inch one unfolds twice. It's actually lovely. It's a beautifully designed phone. And I will tell you, Samsung's been working on foldable phones now for like seven years, and they have perfected the art. Apple has some real catching up to do because we don't have a folding iPhone yet. I know, Lance, but I'm trying to understand this, why now three, sort of three parts, if you will?

Why does it need three parts? I got the two-part one, but why trifold? Okay, so, you know, the trifold, the Galaxy Z-Folt 7 unfolds to an 8-inch tablet. This unfolds to a 10-inch tablet, which means it is a true productivity device. So imagine you have almost a full-size monitor in your pocket that's no larger than a phone. You can attach it to a stand, you can attach it to another computer or a keyboard, and you're at work. So it's a real multimodal device. Is it something that would fit comfortably in someone's pocket?

I mean, it sounds like we're almost moving away. Oh, really? Okay. 309 grams, about 12.9 millimeters thick, about this wide, absolutely would fit in your pocket. All right. Sounds like it's some sort of breakthrough technology there. You also looked at some consumer tech that won't break the bank, including this was interesting, a food allergy mini lab that retails for just $200. What exactly is that? Yeah, so basically this allergen testers.

system. It's for consumers. It's a little device. You take your food, you put it in a packet, it matches it up, it takes the proteins out, mixes them up, does a little chemical work right in there, and tells you whether or not it has gluten or milk allergens in it. So you know right away, as opposed to asking the server or checking, you know, you go to someone's house and they go, I'm not sure, you'll know for certain. And they are going to be adding the rest of the allergens, other food allergies that you would have there. And the packets are something that you would have to buy more of over time because they are one use thing for a test. That's incredible. I know one of the big developments of the toy world, the Lego group unveiling a

smart brick. How big of a deal is this? And explain to our viewers how this works. It is a big deal. So it looks like a regular Lego brick, but it has intelligence in it. And it can recognize when something is put near it, that it might have some sort of activation. So the little brick will play a sound or make a, it will say, a line of dialogue from Star Wars. So, and the bricks look like regular bricks. They're not bigger, they're not fatter, they work with the system. So it's a real breakthrough. It's not like you have to buy an app or you have to do anything else.

Just get these smart bricks and add them to your build. That's pretty cool. Lance, tech is your life. You've been to many of these, I'm sure. What was the one thing that has really surprised you this year? You know, honestly, I really feel like it's, for me it's all the humanoid robotics. So I've been tracking Boston Dynamics and the Atlas robot for, over a decade, well over a decade.

And to see it in person for the first time, to have it out there in front of people, that's bringing the idea of Rosie the robot, your own C3PO, that much closer to reality. You know, I know it's going to be in factories, but these are going to be in the home. You know, Tesla's here with Optimus. There's so many of these humanoid robots that are showing up,

2026 is not necessarily the year of the home humanoid robot, but within the next five years, you're going to have one in your house. Yeah, Lance. Yeah, and I just want to tell you. the viewers out there, there was a TV show called the Jetsons. Rosie, the robot, was a character on the Jetsons. We got a kind of, we got a generational thing happening here. Lance, before you go, though, I know you gave a timeline on that. I know you probably don't know the answer to that,

but that type of robot, do we have any idea what the price point is going to be on something like that? Yeah. Yeah, well, the Neobot, the one X, Neobobob is about $20,000, I believe. 20,000. That's expensive laundry. Yeah, so it's, it's, it's, yeah, I'm sorry, you know, LG-Cloid, which is the other one that they showed off here. I mean, that's not going to be a cheap robot. It's more of a demonstration thing. But because of AI, the development of these things is moving super fast. So it's coming quicker than you thought.

Lance, so great to have you. We thank you for being there for us. We appreciate it. It was a tiger. Finally, tonight, the story of a Steelers super fan who supported his community through the difficult days of the government shutdown. Now getting the surprise of a lifetime from his favorite team. Take a look.

My kids and I woke up this Steelers Sunday and decided to do something good. When AJ Owen saw people in his Pittsburgh community going hungry, he stepped up. I walked into just so many donations. Opening a food pantry in his front yard. A lot of people came. I would say 70% of it went. It started small, continuing to build. People dropped off a ton of stuff.

The Steelers super fan, even getting a lot of. remarkable delivery. You're stocking all this stuff and then all of a sudden. The team's defensive end, Y.A. Black and his wife dropping off bags and bags of food back in November. You never know what a day is going to go to unfold. Thanks guys. And this weekend? We were looking for a jersey, right? Another incredible surprise. That's for you. Owen thought the Steelers were presenting him with a jersey to thank him for all he's done for Pittsburgh. You know what else is for you, though? Look.

No, you're kidding me. No, no, no, no, no, no. Two tickets to the Super Bowl next month. No way. You're... What? Can I hug you? Yeah.

I wanted to just jump off and give him a big bear hug, because he is a large man, and he has an even larger heart. A heart-filled surprise for a man tackling hunger in his town. Nothing short of being a good human, man. Oh my God, you're going to make me cry. Try. Dude. Come my God. My children and I started this food pantry simply to feed people. We didn't expect anything out of this. It really is nice to see that people want to help. If you give them an opportunity, they will do it. All right. That does it for us tonight. Thanks so much for watching Top Story. I'm Tom Yomis in New York. Stay right there. More news on the way.