Top Story with Tom Llamas - Wednesday, April 19, 2023

Episode Date: April 20, 2023

New developments in three shootings where the victims appeared to be shot for simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time, a wild car chase through the streets of Miami, the Pentagon's lead investigator of unexplained aerial phenomena tells Congress that many UAP's may actually be from international adversaries, President Biden's nominee for labor secretary faces scrutiny for unemployment fraud during her time at California's labor department, and the new Mexican artist taking the music world by storm.

Tonight, three people shot in three different states, all for apparently making simple mistakes. What is going on? Peyton Washington, the latest victim, the all-star Texas cheerleader in the ICU, after police say a 25-year-old suspect opened fire on her and her friends for accidentally trying to get into his car in a dark parking lot. Meanwhile, in New York, a 65-year-old man in court on murder charges after shooting and killing a young woman who was in an SUV that mistakenly pulled into his driveway. And an update tonight on Ralph Yarl, the new image of the teen as he recovers from a gunshot wound to the head after ringing the wrong doorbell. That gunman in his 80s now released on bond. Also, the wild chase caught on camera near Miami. Two suspects leading police on a high-speed pursuit, carjacking multiple.

vehicles armed with what appears to be rifles, one suspect ramming a law enforcement truck head on and taking off on foot, how this all came to an end after one of those men jumped into a canal. Plus, an IRS whistleblower is telling lawmakers he believes the Hunter Biden investigation is being mishandled. NBC News obtaining a copy of the letter sent to Congress, one of the Wall Street Journal reporters who helped break this story joins Top Story Live with more on the allegations. UFO War games, the Pentagon giving an update on hundreds of unidentified objects in the sky. However, officials say they don't believe aliens are to blame and that the threat could be coming

from right here on Earth. The advanced technology that could be in the hands of Moscow and Beijing, including a Chinese spy drone, able to travel three times the speed of sound. Crybaby, the passenger on a southwest flight throwing what some would call a tantrum. After a baby on the plane was screaming for 40 minutes. So is he in the wrong? The Internet is divided tonight. And the CEO in hot water after she was recorded telling her employees to, quote, leave Pity City after they asked about their canceled bonuses. But she took home nearly a $4 million bonus herself.

The email now sent to staff. Top story starts right now. And good evening. We begin with those tragic shootings across the country. All the victims appearing to be shot just for accidentally being in the wrong place. And all of them, teenagers or young adults. Tonight, two Texas cheerleaders among them, 18-year-old Peyton Washington and Heather Roth shot while they were in a parking lot, getting into the wrong car near Austin. Washington on the left, they're now in the ICU.

Roth was treated at the scene and is doing okay. But 25-year-old suspect, though, Pedro Rodman. Rieges fleeing the scene but has since been arrested and is facing felony charges. Thousands of miles away in New York, loved ones remembering Kaelin Gillis, who was gunned down inside an SUV after her boyfriend pulled into the wrong driveway. That suspect appearing before a judge today and will remain in jail as he faces murder charges. But a glitter of a glimmer of hope tonight, Lee Merritt, the attorney for Ralph Yarl, who appeared on Top Store, you'll remember, appearing in a photo and posting it today of the 16-year-old at home and now

recovering after he was shot in the head for going to the wrong door. The 84-year-old homeowner also in court today, he's facing two felony charges but was released on bond. Morgan Chesky has been following all these stories and leads us off tonight. Three shootings in one week, Missouri, New York, and tonight Elgin, Texas, all tied to seemingly innocent mistakes, approaching the wrong car or home. I'm Payton, Washington, I'm Woodland's lead generals. High school cheerleader Peyton Washington, the latest victim.

After a stranger opened fire on her and three friends in the parking lot of a grocery store outside Austin. It was unfortunate. These girls were just trying to get home. The girls traveling home from a late night practice to where they had all parked their cars. After one of the teens mistakenly approached the wrong vehicle, police say a man began shooting multiple times. The guy got out and they saw that he had a gun. and so they tried to speed off and he shot his gun like five times or so. Police arresting Pedro Telo Rodriguez Jr. charged with deadly conduct, a third-degree felony as Washington remains in the ICU.

She's won every title there is to win in All-Star Cheerleading. She's literally a role model for the kids in this industry throughout the country. Everybody knows her. The latest shooting comes days after a Kansas City teen was shot in the head. after going to the wrong home to pick up his younger brothers. The 84-year-old suspect pleading not guilty today to first-degree assault and armed criminal action and was released on $200,000 bond. The family pressing for additional hate crime charges.

Ralph Yarl is now out of a hospital, his family releasing this new photo, calling him a walking miracle. Adding had the bullet hit his head a fraction of an inch in any other direction, he would probably be dead. Meanwhile, tonight in upstate New York, Kevin Monaghan pleading not guilty to murder and remanded into jail without bail. Monaghan's accused of fatally shooting 20-year-old Kalin Gillis. She was in a car that accidentally pulled into his driveway, looking for a friend's house. Police say the suspect fired two shots from his front porch, killing Gillis. For this man to sit on his porch and fire at a car with no threat, It's just angers me so badly.

Tonight, community is grieving after common mistakes ended with violence in three separate shootings. Morgan Chesky joins us tonight from Austin, Texas. Morgan, I want to go back to that cheerleader who was shot. She had to undergo surgery. Do we know how she's doing tonight? And what about the man that shot her? Yeah, Tom, we do. We spoke to a friend of the Washington family.

They tell us that Peyton made it through that surgery and is in fact already talking to visitors here inside this Austin hospital. The road to recovery long but a steady one, they say. As for that man who pulled the trigger, Tom, we're told because he was charged with deadly conduct here in Texas, if he's convicted, he faces up to a $10,000 vine and anywhere from two to 10 years in prison. Tom? All right, Morgan Chesky, leading us off tonight. Morgan, we appreciate it. We're also following another breaking story tonight, this time involving Hunter Biden. The Wall Street Journal breaking the news that an IRS supervisor is seeking whistleblower protections, suggesting they have information regarding the Biden administration improperly handling the criminal investigation into Hunter Biden. NBC News tonight obtaining the letter sent to Congress saying that the IRS supervisor is ready to disclose information. And this is the important part here, quote, that would contradict sworn testimony to Congress by a senior political appointee. Number two, involve failure to mitigate clear conflicts of interest in the ultimate disposition of the case.

And three, detail examples of preferential treatment and politics improperly infecting decisions and protocols. Hunter Biden most recently seen overseas on President Biden's trip across Ireland, where he met with multiple world leaders and learned more about his family heritage. Join us tonight to talk about this. One of the reporters from the Wall Street Journal that broke this story, Katie German. Sadi, thanks so much for joining Top Story tonight. I guess, you know, people are going to be hearing about this first tonight here on Top Story and seen it on NBCNews.com and your website, of course. Can you tell us more about what we know about this potential whistleblower?

So this person is an IRS, you know, criminal tax supervisor investigations. He, this, you know, we don't know much about the person's identity from the letter that was sent to Congress. But we do know that this person is seeking whistleblower protections. to allege preferential treatment and politics playing a role in the Hunter Biden investigation. And that's significant because the Attorney General has said time and time again that he has left this investigation in the hands of an independent U.S. attorney in Delaware, David Weiss, and has given him all the resources he needs to do his job. This particular, this person who is seeking whistleblower status suggests that he has evidence that that's not true. and so that could potentially upend, you know,

certain elements of the investigation if, you know, if it plays out in a public way. There have been so many allegations that have been leveled against Hunter Biden, many involving that he was using the Biden name to cash in overseas on all types of foreign deals. What exactly is the IRS part of this investigation as we know it? Well, basically what we know is that the FBI for months has believed it has enough evidence to bring a tax case against Hunter Biden, as well as a gun charge.

That's a result of many different investigations that have been taking place since 2018 into Hunter Biden's business dealings. So the IRS would have been involved in that investigation pretty deeply. We do also know that prosecutors have been going back and forth with defense attorneys for some time and have put witnesses in front of the grand jury who could speak to any sort of mitigating evidence that might complicate a case, such as Hunter Biden's well-documented history with addiction and drug abuse, things that might make their case a little more complicated, a little weaker. So we know that this has been an ongoing saga for about five years now.

Sadie, talk to us about this whistleblower status, right? Because what we're talking about here is somebody that it sounds like is involved in this investigation and has seen something that is improper. Why are they asking Congress for the whistleblower status instead of, quote, quote, running it up the, you know, the chain of command? Well, according to the letter, this person has taken their allegations to at least two inspector generals with the Justice Department and the IRS. We don't know the status of those investigations or when exactly the allegations were reported to them.

So now they are taking it a step further and asking Congress to protect them from any sort of retaliation that might come as a result of reporting these allegations in a post. public way to the congressional committees that investigate these matters and have oversight over these law enforcement agencies. And so this person is saying, basically, you know, if I come out and share this with you, you have to, you know, ensure that I am not, you know, fired or punished in some other way. What could these implications mean that these allegations indeed are correct? What could we be talking about here? Well, I think at the very least, it opens the for defense attorneys to argue that, you know, no matter how the case plays out, you know,

there was some impropriety here. It also provides ammunition for critics of the Attorney General and the Biden administration. You know, Republicans have long been saying that the Justice Department is mishandling this case, that of favoritism toward the Bidens. And so this feeds right into that narrative, even if, you know, these allegations don't necessarily bear out. And that remains to be seen. And do we know if the Biden administration has the White House commented tonight and or Hunter Biden? No, none of them have commented. We have a pretty thick paragraph in our story of no comments or declined to comments or deferred to comments.

But we know that Hunter Biden has repeatedly insisted that he has not done anything wrong on these matters. And the president has been, you know, has stood up for his son. and, you know, he has a very well-documented history of addiction and alcohol abuse over this time period. So, you know, his story is well on the record. And then, and then, Sadie, finally, if this person is granted a whistleblower status, what type of timeline before the public will hear from this person? Well, the public, you know, may not hear from this person. What they're providing is, you know, information to Congress.

And it's up to the congressional committees, I think, what they want to do with that. So, you know, this is just the first step in what could be a protracted process. Yeah, judging from what's happened with congressional committees lately, it sounds like I'm pretty certain the public will get a taste of what this whistleblower has to say. Sadie German, we appreciate your reporting tonight, and thanks for joining Top Story. Next tonight, the 21-year-old Air National Guard's been charged with leaking top-secret intelligence documents in court today after a judge agreed to grant a two-week delay for his hearing. This, as there are still questions surrounding why he had access to such top.

secret material. The military now taking action against his unit and putting new limits in place to access similar information. With that, I want to bring in NBC News as Andrea Mitchell. Talk to us about some of those things they're putting in place right now to limit the access to those top secret documents. Tom, the Air Force Inspector General has now reassigned the National Guard Airmen's intelligence unit for retraining. So that means that they're temporarily taking away their access to top secrets while the Pentagon investigates just what went wrong. And in fact, the entire Air Force by the Air Force Secretary is being ordered to stand down for a 30-day review of

security procedures and how all of them handle intelligence. And, Andrew, you know, we've been asking this question since last week. You've been pressing lawmakers about this. Do we still not know how the Massachusetts National Guardman, Jack Tex-Texera, that 21-year-old, how he had access to these documents? No, we don't. And the Intelligence Committee members say they don't. After a secret briefing, they came out, that's one of the big questions Congress is asking.

the whole House and the whole Senate, Tom, were briefed today. Intelligence Committee members afterwards were asking, why did a 21-year-old enlisted man at a basin, Cape Cod, have access to so many top secrets? Or did he not have legal access? The Senate intelligence leaders in both parties call that not acceptable. And tonight they've sent a letter to intelligence officials demanding answers to 10 major outstanding questions on all of these subjects. Do we understand or know why there's now this two-week delay? No, we don't. He was in federal court, as you reported in Boston, trading his military uniform for an orange jumpsuit. The judge granted a defense request for a two-week delay before the next hearing, but it's still

not clear why they wanted the delay, and he remains in custody. No bail. All right, Andrea Mitchell for us, Andrew, we appreciate it. Today, the official who runs the Pentagon's program looking into unexplained aerial phenomenon, issuing a warning, what are commonly referred to as UFOs may actually be balloons or even advanced Chinese or Russian vehicles. NBC News correspondent Tom Costello has the latest. Whatever they are. There's a whole fleet of them. They seem to defy the rules of physics, hovering, stopping on a dime, moving at hypersonic speeds.

It's splashed. Today, the man in charge of investigating UAPs said his office now has 650 reports. More than half have a round or sphere shape, possibly balloons, typically white, translucent or metallic observed at 10 to 30,000 feet. So far, no sign of alien involvement. No credible evidence thus far of extraterrestrial activity. Sean Kirkpatrick says this case remains unresolved. A cylinder object spotted somewhere in the Middle East. But this flying object with a tail, he says, turns out to be a plane. This is the heat signature off of the engines of a commuter aircraft that happened to be

flying in the vicinity. More concerning, Russia or China, could have advanced capabilities the U.S. doesn't have. Could you describe potential threat that might exist out there if they are foreign? Are there capabilities that could be employed against us? Absolutely. Two months after U.S. fighters shot a Chinese spy balloon out of the sky. The Washington Post reports leaked intelligence documents not verified by NBC News suggest China could soon deploy a high-altitude spy drone, able to travel at 3,000. three times the speed of sound and able to surveil and attack American targets.

The adversary is not waiting. They are advancing and they're advancing quickly. The Pentagon's UAP office has been open only nine months, three dozen experts trying to determine what's a threat and what's not. Tom. Okay, Tom, we thank you for that. We went ahead now to Florida. Governor Ronda Sanchez expanding the state's so-called,

Don't say gay law to include all students up through high school. It's a major victory for the Republican governor as he faces a rocky ramp up to a possible presidential campaign. NBC's Gabe Gutierrez reports for us tonight from Tallahassee. Tonight, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is in the early primary state of South Carolina, the top potential challenger to former President Trump slamming what he calls the woke mob. People also side with us on wanting our school system to be about educating kids, not indoctrinating kids. Gender ideology has no place in our K-12 school system.

Today, Florida's Department of Education expanded the state's Parental Rights and Education Act, banning classroom instruction of gender identity and sexual orientation from kindergarten now through 12th grade, unless it's required by state academic standards or part of a health course that parents can still opt out of. LGBTQ advocacy groups who dubbed it the don't say gay law slamming the expansion, saying it will further stigmatize and isolate, a population of young people who need our support. Disney also opposed the law, sparking that growing feud with DeSantis. Republican lawmakers now trying to end the decades-old deal that gave Disney self-governance and tax breaks. Isn't it risky to go after

the largest single-site employer in Florida? I think it's risky not to hold people accountable and make sure that people play by the same rules. Disney, not the only company DeSantis is taking on. He's now got Bud Light in his sights for their ad campaign, with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. The beer company has drawn protests from conservatives. DeSantis now joining in. Do you want to drink Bud Light? I mean, like, honestly, that's like them rubbing our faces in it,

and it's like these companies that do this, if they never have any response, they're just going to keep doing it. The battle comes as questions mailed over DeSantis' not yet official presidential campaign after a bruising visit to Washington, where more Republican members of Congress endorsed Mr. Trump instead. Florida House Speaker Paul Renner is a staunch DeSantis ally. Has he indicated to you that he plans to run for president after the session is over?

No, he hasn't. And what I appreciate about the governor, he's focused on this very, very big transformative session that I think is leading where the country ought to go in the coming years. Among the Republican-backed bills passed so far, abortion restrictions, school vouchers, and expanded gun rights. Other sources tell NBC news that Governor DeSantis could announce a presidential run as early as next month. Tom? All right, Gabe Gutier is there with a lot of new reporting. We appreciate it, Gabe. We've been covering here on Top Story. The rough couple

of weeks Governor Ron DeSantis has had as his spotlight on the national stage is growing. So what is going wrong and what can we expect in a possible campaign? Political reporter Benji Sarlane has written about this. He's the Washington Bureau Chief at the new new startup semaphore. He's covered

politics for 15 years and has a column that grabbed our attention. So, Benji, you say that Governor Ron DeSantis and candidates on the Republican side that are vined for that nomination. They could actually learn something from President Trump back in 2016, which is you have to basically be blunt and tell voters why you're running for president. And that's a problem, a lot of these candidates, including Rhonda Sanchez is facing right now, because they're not really saying why they'd be a better candidate than Donald Trump. That's right, Tom. This is a problem that pretty much almost every

Republican candidate or potential Republican candidate exploring a run right now is running into, which is that everyone is still very sensitive about how they docked to Donald Trump. They don't want to alienate his supporters. A lot of the voters they're talking to don't even believe that Trump lost the last election. So it's a sensitive point. But voters are smart. They all know why these people are running for president. They think Donald Trump isn't incompetent that he blew the last election

and that he's going to blow the next election by whining about how he blew the last election with a bunch of conspiracy theories and lies to go along with it. If you don't accept that that's the premise of these campaigns, odds are your vote is not up for grabs in the first place. Now, this is something that Donald Trump himself understood. In 2016, when he started, the big frontrunner was Jeb Bush. And his biggest vulnerability was that his brother was George W. Bush, who was one of the least popular modern presidents

and presided over the Iraq war and a financial meltdown. But Republicans, there was a total tab. on discussing those failures of the Bush presidency. So people were very reluctant, and they spoke in these kind of vague metaphors about how we can elect Jeb Bush because we need a new generation of politicians, whatever that means. Trump just came in and said, hey, you shouldn't elect Jeb Bush because his brother, George W. Bush was a terrible president. He got us into Iraq, and he left us with Barack Obama and all these Democrats in power

in the House and the Senate. And you know, at first people predicted that attack would backfire because polls show. that George W. Bush was still fairly popular. But I think what happened is that people understood that Trump was actually saying what people were already thinking to some degree was the number one vulnerability with this candidate, and they credited him with being more blunt.

And the candidates who danced around topics like this, who gave sort of indirect reasons not to support their opponents, they ended up getting tagged as kind of career politicians in ways that hurt them. Right, but Benji, do you think there's a calculation being done here, and maybe that calculation was done in 2016, though? I don't think so, but I think it's being. done now, which is if a certain number of candidates run, right, former President Trump has the

baked-in MAGA vote, right, which could be anywhere from 23 to 40 percent, depending on what poll you look into. Don't you think some of those people are making a calculation that, hey, I need my base, whatever that may be, my voters, and I need some of that MAGA vote that maybe I can peel away from Donald Trump? You think that's a risky gamble? Absolutely. It's a huge risk.

I mean, just starting from where the polls are right now, obviously, Donald Trump has a dominant lead. All these candidates know they've been hearing from the same pollsters and focus groups have been telling them, look, if you just run as a purely anti-Trump candidate, you will get branded as a Liz Cheney type, and you will have no chance. They're not imagining this problem. But if you think you can get the nomination against Donald Trump without saying what the core reason is for running against Donald Trump, while saying he's been this great president, I love him, I respect him. I just happen to be running for president also. You probably shouldn't be running.

I mean, either the votes are there or they're not. So you're basically saying you have that hold on the base. He's going to win. Yeah, you're arguing that whomever wants that nomination on the GOP side has to take Trump head on and just go for the jugular and stop this tap dancing around because it's just not going to work with voters and or taking down Donald Trump. Yes, at least at some point. Now, to be fair, Ron DeSantis has not even announced a campaign yet, okay?

So there is time. But Trump announced months ago, and he's been attacking him relentlessly, and you're seeing DeSantis fade in the polls now. It's exposing real concerns about his vulnerability, and he's not responding in a forceful way that makes people think, hey, this is a guy who really wants to be president, and he has a case to make. But I guess when I say time is not running out, people haven't announced the first debates in August.

That's been announced. It'll be on Fox News. And what we know is that that first debate, that person. whoever that candidate, if they emerge, it'll have to be at that time, because after that, as we learned in 2016, it was too late. And Trump just ran off with the nomination because he just kept getting more and more momentum. Absolutely. The risk is that he's essentially locked them down and also defined all these other candidates in a way that it makes hard for them to, you know, introduce themselves and make their own personal pitch, too. We're already seeing that start to happen with Ron DeSantis, where many of his attacks are starting to stick. So this is a serious problem for them.

But the other danger is that if you wait too long to pivot to what your real attack is, your real message, your real closing argument against Donald Trump is, when you finally make it, it can look disingenuous because you haven't been saying it the previous one, two, three, four, five years. This also happened in 2016, where a lot of the harshest things you heard said about Donald Trump were in candidates who were on their absolute last legs. Right. And they've been saying nothing but nice things for weeks before. It happened with Rubio. It happened with Cruz. It happened with a lot of candidates. Benji Sarlane, great column. Thanks for joining. Top Story. We'll definitely check back with you later throughout the campaign. We do want to stick with politics now. President Biden's nominee to become the next Labor Secretary is expected to face tough questions tomorrow after her Senate confirmation hearing about the massive amount of fraud in unemployment benefits during the COVID pandemic. Julie Sue was in charge of California's Labor Department while fraudsters stole billions. Her critics say she failed in California. Her supporters disagree. Kandelanians getting to the bottom of it. August 29, 2020.

L.A. rapper Newk Bizzle raked in $700,000 from unemployment fraud and was only caught after he wrote a song about it. A Nigerian gang made off with $2 million. California prison inmates stole a billion, with some benefits even paid to convicts on death row. It was all part of a massive raid on the, unemployment system in California, where Julie Sue, President Biden's nominee to become the next

Labor Secretary, was then the state's Labor Commissioner. The total loss now estimated at more than $30 billion. Nationwide, pandemic unemployment fraud pegged it more than $100 billion. It's the biggest fleecing of America I think we'll ever see. California was the epicenter, and critics say Sue bears some responsibility. California's state audit found that your directives jeopardized. the integrity of the system. Why did you take those actions? Why did you jeopardize the integrity of the system? The pandemic unemployment assistance program was more vulnerable to fraud. Again, it was a balance there of wanting to get money out quickly because we needed to. And then once we saw the fraud, we took immediate

steps. Sue was confirmed after that contentious hearing in 2021 as Deputy Labor Secretary on a party line vote. Now some moderate Democrats are wavering on whether to support promoting her to cabinet rank. Her confirmation hearing is tomorrow. Critics are asking whether Sue should better answer for what happened on her watch in California and whether she's done enough in her current job to fix the nationwide problems that led to the fraud. I think she's been there for 22, 23 months. What have we accomplished? Are we in a better position? And most importantly, are we in a position to deal with the next economic downturn? I fear we're not.

I fear most states are not because there hasn't been that coordinated leadership from D.C. John Pulas ran Kentucky's unemployment system before taking a political job overseeing unemployment relief in the Trump administration. He says Sue made decisions in California that contributed to the record fraud there. He cites a January 2021 state audit, which said that California's unemployment agency under Sue waited about four months to automate a key anti-fraud measure, took incomplete action against claims filed from suspicious addresses, and removed a key safeguard against improper payments without fully understanding the significance of the safeguard. Sue has said she inherited

a neglected system and responded as best she could to an unprecedented attack by organized criminal groups during the pandemic. The Labor Department under Sue has awarded hundreds of millions of dollars in grants to states to upgrade aging computer systems. Sue has said that fixing the long-neglected problems will take time. I was completely shocked, upset, and like, this has to be a joke. That doesn't satisfy Stephen and Gloria Clark. Documents show someone stole the couple's identity in early 2021 and made off with $30,000 in California unemployment benefits.

They don't live in California. They live in Iowa. They found out when they got a notice from the IRS, saying they owe nearly $4,000 in taxes. How many times would you say you tried to either call or email California's Labor Department about your problem? Trying to reach out by phone, it had to be anywhere between, I think, 15 to 20 times. But they got no response for months. Then the IRS deducted the money from this year's tax refund. No, I'm just hoping that, you know, California and even our federal government will do something, work a little bit harder to get this rectified.

You know, I think, you know, those of us who live regular lives here in the United States, we need some, we need a help. All right, Ken Delanyan joins us live tonight here in Top Story. So, Ken, in fairness, you know, California was not the only state hit by this fraud. It was happening all across the country. So what are Julie Sue supporters planning to say, or what's their strategy tomorrow? You know, you're absolutely right, Tom. California by far lost the most money to fraud, but this happened in nearly every state. And what Julie Sue's supporters would say is the unemployment system has been neglected for years, underfunded.

And she would also say that they never could have anticipated this organized attack by criminal groups against the pandemic unemployment relief program. That said, though, it's absolutely the case. that government watchdogs warned early on that fraud was exploding at the beginning of this, and California and other states were very late to act. I guess the biggest thing we're looking to see tomorrow is whether these concerns influence any of the votes of the senators who have to decide whether to confirm her to cabinet ranks. Tom. Okay, Ken, we will be watching. We appreciate that. We want to turn out of the forecast. There's a little bit of weather that's popping up. Eight million people in the risk zone for a severe storm threat, large hail already

raining down in Wisconsin. Let's take a look. You see it there. The dangerous system stretching from Iowa to Texas mid-April. High wind gusts and tornado is also possible in that region. The weather expected to worsen overnight, and because of that, we have our main man right here, NBC News meteorologist Bill Cairns. Bill, walk us through what we're expecting here. We see that blob there on the radar. Yeah, this was a big thunderstorm that was in northern Illinois. Just missed the Chicago area going on the south side of town. But this has been notorious for producing large hail up to two inches. That's like hen size or like an egg size. and that can potentially do a little bit of damage. That's one of the storms. All the white dots on here is hail reports.

The main show and the main event is now beginning. This is the area that we have a chance of seeing baseball-sized hail. That's like your fist. That's like two and a half inches. That can smash windshields, dent your car. It can ruin the shingles on your roof. And if it's the middle of the growing season, it can ruin farmers' fields. So that can be devastating.

Billion-dollar weather disasters have happened from large hailstorms that similar as possible tonight. So that's from Omaha southwards in all of these. storms that are popping up rapidly. So when you get these huge hailstones like this, so that's tennis ball size, about two and a half. Baseball is about two and three quarters. And of course, they're extremely rare, but they have happened baseball softball size, four inches. You have to get the strong updrafts in the thunderstorms so you don't even realize it when you're looking at it. But these thunderstorms can have updrafts of 80 to 100 miles per hour.

That's winds going northwards, vertical, up into the atmosphere. And that's what's going to happen. Here's one tornado warning actually just popped up here also. And the right on just inside the Iowa border there near Nebraska. So isolated tornadoes, a lot of hail, and hopefully we'll have all those tornadoes missing towns and people not like what we had a couple of weeks ago. So there's the 8 million people at risk, that area from Omaha down the Kansas City to Wichita, and then tomorrow time we'll do it again. And this time it's going to include Dallas, Fort Worth, and our friends in Little Rock. So our break from covering severe weather, it's over. That tornado looking like it may not be too far from Omaha. We'll have to wait and see where

it hit. Bill, we appreciate that. Still ahead tonight, the wild chase near Miami. Two suspects carjacking drivers armed with rifles during a pursuit at one point ramming into a law enforcement truck. And one of those men running into a home, how it came to an end. Plus, the new video showing a mob of young people in Chicago, appearing to attack a couple at random, at one point threatening to kill them. And what did the mayor say? You may be surprised. And the CEO car on camera telling her employees to leave pity city after they questioned why their bonuses were canceled. the massive bonus she received,

and the email now sent to staff amid growing outrage. Stay with us. Top story. Just getting started. Back down to that wild armed carjacking in Miami caught on camera. Two suspects now in custody after an intense high-speed police chase.

Both assailants drawing guns on multiple motorists, successfully stealing a Tesla. The dangerous cross-country pursuit ending in an armed standoff with one suspect jumping into a canal. This entire story was crazy. NBC South Florida reporter Nico Clemens has the latest. A chase spanning several counties. Broward Sheriff's deputies got reports of a stolen white Lexus out of North Miami speeding through Broward County on Florida's turnpike. They say the two suspects went northbound on the turnpike into Moka Raton and eventually ended up back in Broward County. Deputies say getting on Commercial Boulevard, one of the men

tried to carjack another car but was unsuccessful. Short Shortly after one of the suspects armed with a long gun carjacked a Tesla, but they didn't get far. Only one suspect makes it inside that stolen Tesla. The other tries to get in but fails, running off and getting arrested. The Tesla driver crashes into a law enforcement truck on commercial boulevard near Rock Island Road. He runs out, jumps a fence, swims across a canal and into a neighborhood where he got inside a home on Northwest 54th Street. The people inside that home got out safely. Police swarmed the house.

and that second suspect eventually came out only wearing underwear. All right, luckily, no bystanders or other drivers were hurt, apparently, during this chase. So far, no word on what charges those suspects are facing, but there's likely a lot of them. Nico Clemens from NBC South Florida, we appreciate your report. We went ahead to Chicago now where a disturbing video shows a couple being brutally attacked by a crowd of young people downtown. NBC Stephen Romo shows us how a good Samaritan stepped in to help. But a big part of this story is what some politicians in Chicago. are saying about it.

Censeless violence in Chicago as a mob made up of what appeared to be teenagers swarms a couple. You can see punches being thrown by the overpowering crowd. It all escalated from a social media planned teen takeover by young people across Chicago, where police say officers were monitoring several large gatherings that flooded the streets last weekend. This is the couple at the center of that assault, now speaking out to NBC Chicago. It was horrible. It was absolutely horrible. 20-year-old Ashley Knudson and her boyfriend, 22-year-old Devante Garrison Johnson, say they were out shopping in the Chicago Loop and looking for a place to eat when they say they got caught up in one of these large groups on Saturday.

And they were quickly overwhelmed. They shoved him, and then they ended up shoving me too. And I So DJ, I just got pushed, and he turned around and he said, don't put your hands on her, don't push her. And as soon as he said that, everything went crazy. The mob allegedly yelling, they were going to kill them, according to the couple, with no one intervening. Until Lenora Dennis, who witnessed the attack, decided to step in. Oh, my God. Like, at that moment, I needed to take action.

He was bleeding from the mouth, his head, his eyes. He couldn't make straight eye contact with me, so I felt like he might have been concussed. Dennis says she tried to alert police about the assault. Went in front of a police car that I saw and was like, stop. These people over here are getting assaulted. Dennis telling NBC Chicago, she did not end up getting any help from police, and that she drove the couple to the precinct herself, where they reported their shoes, phones, and credit cards were stolen.

Chicago police verifying this video and saying an internal investigation about the response is ongoing. No arrests have been made. Despite the scenes of violence, Mayor Lori Lightfoot describing what took place this way. The mass majority of the young people that came downtown, came downtown because it was a great weather and an opportunity to enjoy the city. That's absolutely entirely appropriate. There are a few that came with different intentions, and they have, they have. have and they will be dealt with. But I'm not going to use your language with I think is wrong to say that as man. In the other chaotic takeovers over the weekend, police say a 14-year-old

was shot in the thigh as thousands gathered at the beach. He was actually on live and heard the gunshots and then he just collapsed on the ground. And a cell phone video obtained by NBC Chicago shows this vehicle up in flames shortly after that shooting. One state senator, tweeting about the violence this weekend, seeming to give credibility to the actions, saying in part, quote, I would look at the behavior of young people as a political act and statement.

It's a mass protest against poverty and segregation. His tweet, drawing condemnation on social media, witnesses to the chaos disturbed by what's happening in Chicago. It's heartbreaking. Kids fighting, chasing each other. Some of them got guns, and then it's really heartbreaking

when one of them actually get hurt. And that's, unfortunately, that's what happened last night. All right, Stephen Romo joins us now live in studio. It sounds like those politicians, and they're getting some heat for it, are completely out of touch with what was happening on the ground. Did the police actually intervene in any of these incidents? Yeah, the police did speak out. They said they made 15 arrests here, nine adults, six young people,

and they say they're doing more going forward. They're trying to put these bag checks in beach entry points, as well as a curfew for people at Millennium Park to try to cut down on this. but they're also just saying, hey, this crowd is mostly teenagers. So parents, we need you to step up too and together try to control the situation because it is clearly out of hand, Tom. Yeah, okay, Stephen Romo, we appreciate that. When we come back and update on that mass shooting at a sweet 16 party,

the three arrests just made, including a pair of brothers, just 16 and 17 years old. The charges the three are now facing. A new video showing the moment a parking garage collapsed here in New York City. What investigators say likely caused that incident? All right, we are back now with News Feed and an update on the shooting at a sweet 16 party that left four people dead, 32 injured. Police announcing the arrest of three suspects five days after that deadly shooting. The FBI saying two of the suspects were just 16 and 17 years old are brothers. It will be charged as adults.

A 20-year-old also taken into custody late today. They're each charged with four counts of four. reckless murder. All right, we have an update tonight on that deadly parking garage collapse here in New York City that we brought you last night. This new surveillance video being reviewed in connection to the investigation showing the moment that structure in Manhattan gave way. Investigators tonight saying an initial report shows the weight from the number of vehicles parked on the roof, plus the age of the building contributed to that collapse. The Supreme Court is temporarily extending nationwide abortion pill access until Friday. The justice is giving themselves until

Friday to decide whether restrictions on the commonly used abortion pill should be imposed. The decision follows a Texas federal judge's call to suspend the drug's FDA approval. And an end of an era, Netflix's famous red envelopes are headed to the recycling bin this fall. The company announcing they will be ending their DVD rental service after a 25-year run. Yes, it was still operating. The shutdown coming as the streaming giant prepares a broad rollout of its crackdown on password sharing in the next few months, planning to move forward with a paid sharing option. All right, now to a CEO's pep talk to her employees turning into a public relations disaster.

The CEO of a designer furniture company telling her employees to focus on company earning goals instead of asking about bonuses they wouldn't be getting. Many calling her tone cold and hypercritical after the Zoom recording leaked. Valerie Castro has this story. tonight a CEO getting slammed after her tone-deaf comments about staff pay in a virtual town hall were leaked I had an old boss who said to me one time you can visit pity city but you can't live there so people leave pity city let's get it done Andy owen the president and CEO of miller knoll a high-end furniture company whose brands include Herman miller and design within reach addressing employee concerns

about a lack of bonuses questions came through about how can we we stay motivated if we're not going to get a bonus. Some of them were nice and some of them were not so nice. But critics pointing out the not so nice way she apparently tried to motivate workers after the company's sales in the latest quarter took a hit. She said to focus on reaching corporate performance targets. Get the damn $26 million. Spend your time and your effort thinking about the $26 million we need and not thinking about what you're going to do if we don't get a bonus. All right. NBC has only seen the excerpt of the video clip circulating on social media and not the full meeting, but observers highlighting Owen's additional compensation

in 2022, according to SEC filings, nearly $4 million in stock options, awards, and more on top of her $1.1 million salary. One podcaster unleashing in a live stream. She now is really just saying, I don't give a fuck about any of you. Just go out there and get the $26 million that we need so I can get my bonus and we can be profitable. And don't complain about it. Social media, up. The irony, this woman is saying lead by example, yeah, and she managed to find some way to give herself a bonus and a healthy compensation package. NBC News reached out to Miller-Nole and Owen and did not hear back. But in a statement to NPR, the company saying the video clip was, quote, taken out of context and struck a nerve. And Andy is confident in the team

and our collective potential. An internal communications email obtained by NBC News from two verified millernal employees details an apparent apology by owen saying in part quote i try to always pick the right words and tone to inspire and motivate adding i feel terrible that my rallying cry seemed insensitive whatever the intention behind what was meant to be an inspiring speech owen signing off with this let's get it done thank you have a great day so many people were talking about that video today. And a lot of it started with the issue of the bonuses. I know there's some new reporting out there on whether those employees will actually get their bonuses.

Right. So we reached out to the company today but did not hear back. But in a statement to the Holland Sentinel, that's a local paper where the company is headquartered to Michigan, that's part of the USA Today Network. They say bonuses haven't been determined yet because the fiscal year doesn't end until May. And they say that also applies for any additional compensation the CEO could potentially be getting. All right, Valerie Castro for us, Valerie, we appreciate that. Turning overseas to Israel, where documented attacks by Jewish extremists against Christians are a growing concern. Church officials also accusing the government of doing little to crack down on the harassment. This all comes during a period of celebration at one of the holiest sites for Christians in Jerusalem.

Josh Letterman is on the ground with the latest. Tense moments during Orthodox Easter weekend in the old city of Jerusalem. As thousands of Christians who flocked from around the world to this holy site, kept out by Israeli police. Police here in the Christian quarter are using their bodies to physically keep back the thousands of people trying to enter the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, saying there's simply not enough room. It's where many Christians believe Jesus was buried, crucified, and resurrected. But this year, for the annual Holy Fire Miracle ceremony, police capped attendance at just 1,800 people. Israeli police say it's about fire hazards and stampede risks.

They say they relied on an engineer's analysis. of how many can safely attend. We're here ultimately to ensure that the people who got the permission from the church leaders are able to attend and attend it safely. But church officials say it's a fraction of how many attended safely in years past, and part of a growing and alarming pattern. Our biggest concern has to do with the Israeli occupation forces using violence to impose restrictions on our freedom of worship as Christians.

As tensions over Jewish and Muslim, holy sites have erupted into violence in recent weeks between Israelis and Palestinians, Christians here in Israel say they're under attack too. At the Church of the Flagellation, Brother Mateo shows me a statue of Jesus ripped down and desecrated in February by an American man wearing Jewish religious garments. Israeli police confirm a U.S. citizen was arrested, but have not released their name. Police also confirming 28 tombstones were vandalized at this historic cemetery, calling them acts of hatred. On the first day of January, two young people, 15 and 18-year-old came, extremist

Jewish youth, obviously only to destroy crosses and plates of the gravestones here. Overlooking the old city, Gadig Varyahu is here to bear witness. A religious Jew from the group Tagmair, he pays condolence visits to victims of extremism. How does it feel as an observant Jew when you see actions like this done in the the name of your faith. I feel horrible. A lot of shame. This is not our faith. It's not written in the Bible. We should all condemn those extremists. Church officials say they're seeing more attacks than ever, and they want Israel's far-right government, which includes a number of extremists,

to do more to stop it. But the government says that religious freedom is a core Israeli value and that they act quickly and decisively against religious violence. Tom? We thank Josh Letterman and his team for that. Coming up, a screaming match in mid-air. A crying baby leading a grown man to throw a temper tantrum of his own. We'll show you the incident that has the social media world divided on who was the bigger baby. That's next.

We're back now with an incident aboard a Southwest Airlines flight you may have heard of. A baby crying uncontrollably mid-flight for nearly 40 minutes when an adult passenger fed up, pushing him to throw what some are saying was an even bigger tantrum. So who was the bigger baby on the flight? Naila Charles with the video that has social media divided. A mid-flight screaming match caught on camera. A crying baby and a grown passenger who just about had it. That child has been crying for 40 minutes on the child down, please.

Other passengers recording the outburst, as the fed up man complained and yelled at flight attendants desperately trying to calm him down. I'm not screaming. You want me to scream? No. You want me to scream? No. Please stop the baby.

That child was a clap baby. What the fuck will be happening right now? I know you're not going there. The Southwest Florida flight appeared to have been stuck in a holding pattern due to weather when the passenger erupted in a fit of anger. So is the baby. We are in a fucking 10-K with a baby. with a baby in a goddamn echo chamber.

And you want to talk to me about being okay? The video now seen over 180,000 times on TikTok, spurring some users to come to the angry passenger's defense. A user, Cici, commenting, quote, I love this guy. They need to give him a year worth of free flying, made my day. But even with all the baby cry, some saying it was the passenger who was out of line.

A user saying, quote, is he the real baby? Yes. Is he vocalizing how most feel? Yes. In a response to an NBC news request for a statement, Southwest Airlines said, we commend our crew for exhibiting outstanding professionalism while handling a challenging situation. And we appreciate the patience of our other customers on board who had to experience such unacceptable behavior during their flight.

After the outburst, the video appears to show the angry passenger refusing to deplane, forcing everyone to get off. He then appears to make his. his case to Southwest security in a Florida airport. Naila Charles, NBC News. Coming up, the billion-dollar Latin music boom. The new Mexican star breaking boundaries with so many headliners this year's song of summer, maybe in Spanish.

That's next. And tonight we end with the Americas and the meteoric rise from Mexican singer Pesso Pluma. His name translates to featherweight, but he's already a giant in what is now a building. million-dollar Latin music industry. His latest song already breaking records worldwide, and it's an incredible story. Juan Vanegas has more.

It's a sound the Billboard Top Ten had never heard before. The song, Ella Bailasola from breakout singer Pesso Pluma, which is smashing glass ceilings, becoming the first regional Mexican song ever to hit Top Ten in the U.S. Billboard Top 100. Just days ago, Bezo Plumma taking on one of the biggest stages at Coachella, joining another giant Becky G. The Mexican singer has become the latest global sensation in a wave of Latin artists, breaking records never seen before, and also cashing in. In 2022, Latin music revenue surged 24%, exceeding $1 billion for the first time,

outpacing the broader music industry. around 13 billion hours of Latin music for stream on Spotify. Bad Bunny set the world record last year, surpassing Ed Shearin for the highest grossing tour and a calendar year, amassing 435 million across 81 shows. Around six tracks of the top 20 global tracks.

Right now on Spotify are Musica Mexicana tracks. So not only within Latin music, it's been an incredible few years. And this year, it's just moving on to new heights, but Musica Mexicana, we see it growing in a huge way. For three years, he has held the titles as the most dream artist on Spotify,

the Puerto Rican megastar, making history this weekend as the first Spanish-language performer to headline Coachella. And then there's Karolji, the first female singer to score a number one album in the U.S. with an album entirely in Spanish,

leading with her hit, song Te Keddo Grande. It's just almost impossible to ignore anymore, especially a guy like Bad Bunny, like who's dominating world popular music. You know, we can't really have our head in the sand anymore and ignore this, the fact that the folks who are listening to the music is not just Latino, it's multiracial,

it's multi, there are a lot of different age. There's a lot of demographics that fit into the people who are listening to Bad Bunny. From the clubs to Coachella with Latin Music, dominating the charts, you'll be sure to hear Spanish on your summer playlists. Guad vanegas, NBC News, Miami. Bezo Bluma, remember that name. We thank Guad for that story, and we thank you for watching Top Story tonight.

I'm Tom Yamison, New York. Stay right there. More news on the way.