Top Story with Tom Llamas - Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Episode Date: February 15, 2024

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

Breaking tonight, the killing at the Kansas City Super Bowl parade. At least one person is dead and two dozen injured. Moments of chaos and horror as terrified parade goers run for their lives. Shots ringing out as the city's famed Union Station. Police darting through crowds and dozens of ambulances rushing to the scene, the breaking details just in. Also tonight, Russian security threat, the House Intelligence Committee chairman, making a rare public statement about a, quote,

serious national security threat. The chairman urging President Biden to declassify all info related to the threat. White House officials saying there's no need for mass panic what we now know about the classified information and its ties to Russia.

Also breaking in D.C., three officers shot while serving an animal cruelty warrant. The suspect barricaded in his home for hours, firing off shots, the dangerous situation forcing school lockdowns. Toxic beach, Mexican sewage, hitting San Diego's beaches, the crisis going well beyond the waters as officials warn of a potential environmental catastrophe, youth sports turning into fight club, games getting out of hand,

not with the kids, but with the parents and relatives in the stands, the brawl spilling onto fields and courts, and sometimes involving the referees. Minnesota lawmakers calling timeout, pushing a bill that would slap unruly spectators with a $1,000 fine. Plus, Queen Bee Of country? Beyonce out with a new look and a new sound. So why did a country station turn down a fan's Beyonce song request? The station now reversing course, but the move striking a chord with the beehive, is Beyonce about to take over a new genre and show everyone who runs that world? And sick of swiping, more people ditching dating apps, yearning for the old-fashioned way to meet people in person.

Remember, pick-up culture, singles bars, blind dates? The creative ways people are searching for love this Valentine's Day. Top story. Starts right now. And good evening. Moments of celebration turning scary and at least one case deadly. The Kansas City Chief Super Bowl parade, now the site of America's latest mass shooting. The shots rang.

out at Kansas City's famed Union Station. Just as people were leaving the parade, police jumping over parade barricades and darting through crowds as they ran towards danger. Horrifying images of the wounded being loaded into ambulances, we know at least one person is dead and officials confirming 22 others were shot. A local children's hospital says at least nine of the patients

are children. Panic and mayhem filling the streets as people ran away from the gunfire. Police confirming three people were detained. Police are working to figure out of this man seen tackled by bystanders is one of the men detained. The Kansas City Chiefs releasing this statement, writing in part, quote, we are truly saddened by this senseless act of violence. NBC's Jesse Kirsch was there for all of it.

Tonight, he has the late-breaking details. Tonight, what was meant to be a day of celebration for Kansas City. Instead became a day of fear and panic. We just heard a bunch of, you know, pop, pop and people started running and scattering. The girl next to me where my daughter was standing with her husband was shot in the mouth. Our children witnessed it. She was on the ground bleeding from her mouth all over her shoulder. Police say at least one person was killed and up to 15 injured after a shooting at a parade

celebrating the chief's second straight Super Bowl win. Immediately officers responded to the area, took two people into custody, and also immediately rendered life-sustaining aid to those victims. Just moments earlier, it was an all-out party. Officials had prepared for about a million people to pack downtown. Kansas City, let me hear you one time! It was all winding down when suddenly the atmosphere changed. We might have a situation here.

We're trying to keep an eye on. Our Kansas City station, KSHB, was broadcasting live. The moon is definitely shifted here as we're seeing everybody jump barriers. As the shots rang out, confusion in the crowd. Everyone started running out of the building, and you could hear people yelling active shooter, active shooter. As some fans began to flee. They were telling us to run, but then they said active shooter, and then so we just dropped down to the ground. My daughter tried to climb on top of me

to protect me, and I tried to just hold her so nothing would happen to her. Police rushed in, searching for the shooter. The police chief says the response was immediate, with more than 800 officers already on scene for the parade. I'm angry at what happened today. The people who came to this celebration should expect a safe environment. The injured carried out on stretchers. A sniper stood ready on a nearby rooftop. Three law enforcement officials briefed on the case tell NBC news the shooting is believed to be criminal in nature and not terrorism. Before the parade, I asked the mayor about plans to keep the event safe.

Our police department's prepared for whatever comes our way. The mayor says all chiefs players, coaches and staff. are accounted for and safe. Tonight, the Chief's writing in a statement, we are truly saddened by the senseless act of violence. And three days after winning the Super Bowl, Patrick Mahomes posting, praying for Kansas City. Jesse joins us tonight from Kansas City.

Jesse, you were there originally to cover the celebrations. Talk to us about the moments after the gunfire started, what you heard, what you saw, and just the reaction of the crowd as we saw in your package. Yeah, Tom, so I want you to imagine the end of any major. event. People know it's wrapping up. People are trickling out toward the exits, in this case, just moving away from this general area. That was all unfolding right behind us here in this field

with the stadium or with the stage right up against the front of Union Station. And what we noticed was while most people were just trickling out, picking up their belongings and moving away, I could see what appeared to be dozens of people right up to the right side of the stage were rushing away from the area. And clearly they had nowhere they could be going quickly So that signaled to me, something was not right. At the same time, it appeared to us that police were moving in, and we saw people seeming to be jumping over the barricades. And then we started hearing the sirens,

and you can still hear sirens out here tonight. We noticed that there were multiple teams that have been on rooftops with binoculars and at least one long gun. And we saw one person, part of that sniper team, running to the other end of the rooftop, and then running back over to the front end of the rooftop, looking over the stage area. And so clearly we could tell quite immediately

that something was not right. And as the afternoon progressed, things just continued to continue to signal us that this was a terrible situation. But what I can tell you, Thomas, throughout all of that, people continued to just be trickling out. There were at least two different announcements

we heard over loudspeakers asking people to leave the area. But there was no mention of gunshots in those announcements. And I can also tell you, with so many people down here, at times it was impossible to get text messages and phone calls through. That improved as people have been moving away from the area, but there's also the possibility

perhaps that people were having trouble getting alerts, if any, were being sent out. So I can just tell you this was a perfect storm, unfortunately, for something like that to happen. And we talked about all the security precautions in place here, Tom. But what I can tell you is it was very easy to get quite close, I'd say, around 50 yards to the stage itself this morning where people have been camping out overnight without going through a metal detector or having a bag check. So people could have had nefarious equipment getting very close to that stage, Tom. And Jesse, you know, so many cities across the country sort of are on standby, right?

They're just being very careful because of the war in the Middle East and fears of any type of terror attack over here on our shores. We know for sure, or at least police are saying this was not terrorism. Yeah, Tom, officials who have been briefed on this telling us that this appears to be related to crime. And just again, on the security front, we've heard from officials that there were over 800 officers in the area because of the parade. they were expecting about a million people to be downtown. That's double the population, roughly, of the city of Kansas City, packing into just a downtown area over here and along the parade route,

which is just off in the distance there. I talked to the mayor yesterday before the parade. He said they are prepared for contingencies. They prep for something like this for months, and they did it last year because they had won the Super Bowl last year. This is not the way they wanted to be ending the celebration, of course, for back-to-back titles, Tom. Yeah, a terrible way.

Okay, Jesse Kirsch for us live on the scene tonight. Thank you for that. We want to turn out to another shooting, this one in Washington, D.C. Three officers wounded while serving a warrant at a home. The suspect barricaded it inside, as Garrett Hake reports, it's part of a surge in violence in the nation's capital. Shots fired on multiple officers of his hit. Tonight, a D.C. neighborhood locked down for hours as police struggled to apprehend a suspect who shot three officers that barricaded himself inside a home and continued shooting. I got three officers hit.

The police union says all the injured officers are expected to survive. This is a magnitude of police cars I've never seen in my life. The officers were attempting to serve an arrest warrant for animal cruelty when the suspect opened fire, according to the D.C. police chief. The moment caught on this doorbell camera across the street. One officer struck twice in the chest, his vest stopping both bullets. What do you make of it? So I grew up in the district. We are kind of migrating back to times of old.

The shootings are the latest high-profile incident in a city where violent crime spiked 39% last year, even as it fell across the country. The district recording its deadliest year in two decades, the police union blaming local leaders. We're short 500 police officers, and it puts us all in danger. Do you feel the staffing shortage is hindering your ability to do what you need to do in the city? Well, I think, not just here in the city, I think across the United States, there's staffing shortage. shortages with law enforcement officers. The murder of former Trump administration official and father of three Mike Gill in a January carjacking helping elevate D.C. crime into a presidential campaign issue, with Donald Trump

floating a federal takeover of the self-governing district. It's a crime fest right now, and we can't have that. The Biden administration is trying to address the violence problem in D.C. by surging resources into the district, including by the DOJ, standing up a new specialized gun intelligence unit. Tom. Okay, Garrett, we thank you for that. We want to turn out to an NBC News exclusive, our Justice and Intelligence correspondent, Ken Delanian, getting new details about the special prosecutor interview with President Biden over the mishandling of those classified documents. The issues over his memory raising a lot of questions and generating tons of headlines in recent days. Tonight we're learning new information about one of the most talked about aspects of the special counsel report. Here it is. Special counsel her saying, quote, he did not remember even within several years when his son.

son, Bo died, of course, talking about the president there. The president lashing out in a briefing with the White House press corps last week. You may remember when he said this. I know there's some attention paid to some language and report about my recollection of events. There's even reference that I don't remember when my son died. How in the hell dare he raised that? Frankly, when I was asked, the question I thought to myself wasn't any of their damn business. The first lady, then questioning special prosecutor her in a recent fundraising letter,

writing, I don't know what this special counsel was trying to achieve. We should give everyone grace, and I can't imagine someone would try to use our son's death to score political points. Ken Delanian joins us now. So, Ken, even though the president said this, we're learning that it's not exactly how it happened, and he may have mischaracterized the conversation? Tell us what you've learned. That's certainly what my sources are telling me, Tom. People familiar with this interview are saying that, in fact, Rob Herr didn't grill the president about the date of his son's death or quiz him.

He never even asked him directly, actually. As we understand it, what happened was Her was asking him about his work in 2016 to 2018 in a Virginia house with a ghostwriter who was working on a memoir. And Mr. Biden began talking and trying to place events and people in time and remember what was happening. And at that point, he got the time of his son's death wrong, and the year wrong. And it wasn't just a slip. It was, as described to us, it was a profound confusion about time and place. And it was something that her felt compelled to include as an example of Mr. Biden's memory lapses. And the reason he included the material about the memory lapses, he has said, and other Justice Department officials have said,

is that he was writing a declination memo explaining to the Attorney General why he wasn't. bringing charges against Mr. Biden, despite significant evidence that Mr. Biden had in fact intentionally taken classified information and had relayed some of that classified information to the ghostwriter and was on tape back in 2017 saying, I found the classified stuff downstairs. So that was important evidence. Her had to explain why, despite that evidence, he didn't think charges were merited. And one of the reasons was he said Mr. Biden's memory was faulty. And before a jury, that would be a significant mitigating factor, Tom. The Justice Department and your sources were they sort of taken aback by the president characterizing this and essentially telling America and the press corps that the special counsel asked him about his son and brought this up.

And essentially, that's not what happened? Yes. The people who know about this, and it's not a large number of people who know the details of the interview, were very frustrated by this. And they saw this as the White House going on the attack to distract from the significant findings and the report. There are other people of the Justice Department who had no idea about this and took Mr. Biden in his word who are shocked today. In fact, I've heard from people who say they are very surprised at how this was mischaracterized. And here's the interesting thing, Tom. There's a transcript and an audio of this interview. And right now it's classified and it's not public.

But we can expect that Congress, the House Judiciary Committee, is going to demand to see that and probably going to make it public. So at some point, we're going to see exactly what I believe Mr. Biden said and didn't say and what he was asked during this interview. And then I understand that the special prosecutor thought that, or at least the people around him, the people that he works with, thought that he was going to be attacked for something else and didn't see this as sort of the lane of attack that he's now been sort of privy, not privy to, but he's been attacked because of. Yeah, and this is where a lot of people think that Rob Her, a career Justice Department official, was naive because he wrote these very sort of unflattering things about the current president's memory and mental state. And he honestly, according to people who know him, did not see it coming that that would be a huge news story out of this report. He honestly thought that the blowback that he was going to get was from Republicans and Congress and elsewhere questioning why he wasn't charging Mr. Biden when Donald Trump is charged for taking home classified documents and obstruction of justice. He made a point in the report of distinguishing those two cases. But the memory stuff, he didn't see that that was going to be a big issue.

That was clearly a mistake on his part because it obviously is, and it's distracted from, again, significant findings, not of criminality, but of recklessness, of things that you would not expect a then former vice president just leaving the vice presidency to handle classified information that way. Ken Delaney was a big exclusive tonight. Ken, we appreciate all your reporting. We want to stay in Washington, a top Republican sounding the alarm about what he warns is a serious national security threat. learning it has to do with Russia's capabilities in space. NBC's Peter Alexander has more. Tonight, President Biden facing calls to declassify details following a cryptic warning that there's a, quote, serious national security threat to the U.S. That ominous and highly unusual public message from the House Intelligence Committee chairman, Republican Mike Turner, saying the president

needs to make that move so that Congress, the administration, and our allies can openly discuss the actions necessary to respond to this threat. Tonight, four, Four sources with knowledge of the matter tell NBC News that threat refers to a Russian military capability. With two of those sources specifying, it refers to Russia's military capabilities in space. We pressed the President's National Security Advisor about Turner's warning. Can you tell Americans that there's nothing they have to worry about right now in terms of what he describes as a national security threat? In a way, that question is impossible to answer with the straight yes, right? because Americans understand that there are a range of threats and challenges in the world.

I'm confident that President Biden, in the decisions that he is taking, is going to ensure the security of the American people going forward. A top House Democrat is urging calm. There's really no cause for panic or alarm around this particular piece of intelligence. And tonight this from the House Speaker. I want to assure the American people, there is no need for public alarm. Steady hands are at the wheel. We're working on it. Two U.S. officials tell NBC News, President Biden, has been tracking the threat and directed his national security advisor to engage with top lawmakers, with a meeting already set for tomorrow.

The U.S. has long been concerned about Russia's missile and nuclear capabilities, as well as its anti-satellite weapons systems. Tonight, there is no indication the intelligence behind this threat will be made public. The heads of the Senate Intelligence Committee say they're discussing an appropriate response with the Biden administration and urging caution. to avoid potentially disclosing sources and methods that they say may be key to keeping all response options available. Tom? Okay, Peter, thank you. President Biden speaking out today against the impeachment of Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, who was accused by Republicans of allowing millions of migrants to cross the border into the U.S. This marking the first time in 150 years a cabinet official has been impeached. NBC's Ryan Nobles has the latest. Tonight, President Biden, forcefully pushing back on the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Majorcas, slamming it as a, quote, blatant act of unconstitutional partisanship.

Republicans have accused Majorcas of refusing to enforce the law, allowing millions of migrants to cross the border. It's a good day when we can start to finally hold people accountable for what's gone on at the southern border. But the push to impeach Mayorkas comes on the same night Democrats cruise to a victory in a special election on Long Island, taking back a swing seat once held by disgrace Congressman George Santos. We run. Democrat Tom Swazi attacked the impeachment of the secretary, leaned in on immigration, and hammered Republicans for backing away from the bipartisan border deal. Tom Swazi talked about common sense solutions. and finding bipartisan common ground, Tom Swazi won. But Republicans shaking off the loss, noting it's a blue district that Swazi used to represent.

That is in no way a bellwether of what's going to happen this fall. The Democratic win shrinking the Republicans' razor-thin majority. They can now only afford to lose two GOP members on a party-line vote. And that's not all. The House and Senate are not in session next week. When they return, they will only have two. two days to avoid a partial government shutdown. Tom? Ryan, thank you. We want to turn out of the forecast up to six inches of snow falling across

the heartland tonight with millions under winter alerts stretching from South Dakota to Michigan. And two fast-moving storms set to race from the northern Rockies to the northeast throughout the rest of the week. Let's get right over to NBC News meteorologist Bill Karens, who joins us live in studio. Bill, what's the latest on that track? Yeah, quick hitter. And the timing will be key, especially in the early morning areas, people trying to get out, especially around Minneapolis. So 15 million people are in the way of this first storm. And we're already seeing snow breaking up. Pretty heavy snow at that, maybe inch per hour rates in central portions of Minnesota. Minneapolis had snowing now. In between Minneapolis and

Mankato would kind of be like one of the sweet spots around three to six inches in that region. Also from Wausau to Green Bay, another three to five inches. Looks like Milwaukee to Chicago, you're too warm, just rain for you. And then tomorrow we'll track this through the northeast, mostly northern New England, one to two inches, then behind it, a lot of cold air. This big blob, that's just lake effects, snow coming up on the Tug Hill Plateau. And then all our attention this weekend will turn to all of our storms lined up here on the West Coast. We're not going to see too many problems tonight. We are seeing rain moving on shore.

This is Friday. This kind of stalls out, kind of similar to what we had a couple days ago, a couple of weeks ago, early in February. This storm system looks like it should drop anywhere between two to five inches of rain. This is on top of areas that are already soggy. So if we get just three inches more of rain time, we will break the February. all-time rainfall record in Los Angeles. So we'll wait and see how problematic the storm is going to be. Again, the timing of that is going to be all weekend.

Okay, Bill Karens for us. Bill, thank you for that. Still ahead tonight, Uber and Lyft drivers across the country are going on strike. Thousands of drivers refusing to work on this Valentine's Day, typically a very busy day for the apps, what these gig workers are calling for. Plus, a string of brawls at youth sporting events pushing one lawmaker to call for major change. What he's proposing to bring an end to this kind of bad. behavior. And a powerful avalanche captured on camera. Look at this. The critical warning just

hours before that likely saved lives. Stay with us. Top story just getting started on this Wednesday. All right, back now with the grim and somewhat sick warning from officials on the West Coast who say there's an escalating water contamination crisis at the border. A new report showing the impact of billions of untreated sewage and industrial waste flowing into Pacific, into the Pacific Ocean and resulting in San Diego Beach closings. Stephen Romo has the latest. Tonight, a chilling report details how Americans could be at risk from toxic waste that is spilling into the Pacific Ocean, mostly from Mexico. Salmonella, Listeria, hepatitis, those have been found in the water.

Experts saying more than 100 billion gallons of untreated sewage, industrial waste, and urban runoff have spilled into the Pacific Ocean via the Tijuana River in the past five years and now pose health risks to kids, the elderly, and pregnant people in the San Diego area. This is probably the biggest environmental disaster, one of them going on in the whole hemisphere right now. The report was commissioned at the request of Representative Scott Peters and was unveiled Tuesday in Imperial Beach where the contamination has resulted in more than 700 consecutive days of beach closures. Our local beach here behind me has been closed every single day this year. It's devastating.

San Diego State University researchers now saying these toxic chemicals previously thought to remain isolated to the water can also be airborne and have much larger environmental health impacts. We're finding chemicals that have been banned in the United States. We're finding antibiotic resistant genes or microbes in the environment as well that are of concern. For some locals, the blame falls on Tijuana, Mexico, where an apparent lack of proper infrastructure in the face of a population boom has allowed waste in their water to reach the United States. They're not pumping sewage. They're saving millions and millions and millions of dollars a year by dumping their sewage inoffs. They know exactly what they're doing. Officials with the Tijuana Municipal Government did not return NBC's request for comment, but the Secretary for the Environment of Baja, California, spoke to NBC News, San Diego. as part of their special toxic tide, saying the current Mexican administration is committed

to solving the problem. It's a problem that we share, but also it's a problem that we can solve together. Adding that the cost of fixing this problem will cost Mexico hundreds of millions of dollars after years of neglect. Unfortunately, for the last governors, instead of facing the problem or recognizing the problem, they've been in a war of declarations with public declarations with our counterparts on the other side of the border. On the other side of the border, despite the circumstances, there is hope.

Mexico has been nothing but cooperative on this. I think it's easy to blame Mexico. Sometimes we do that as Americans, but I've spoken to the ambassador. They are committed to doing this project. They've broken ground. I don't think it's unrepairable. Both sides have to be invested in expanding the infrastructure, repairing the infrastructure, and building the capacity.

Stephen Romo, NBC News. Okay, we thank Stephen Romo for that. Next tonight to a new effort to stop a concerning trend, violence at youth sports games. Videos of brawls breaking out at a high school games and Little League matchups, getting millions of views online. Now, one Minnesota state lawmaker, who is also a former referee, proposing a law that could deter that disruptive behavior,

Rahima Ellis explains. Tonight, spectator brawls at youth sports games, sparking new concerns over player and referee safety. Videos of the altercations racking up millions of views collectively. From chaos on the sidelines of a youth football game in Virginia to spectators rushing the field after a junior league soccer match in California, leaving two players with broken noses. To this brawl at a middle school basketball game in Vermont, a man with a heart condition who was involved, dying hours later of a cardiac arrest. Part of an alarming trend in a survey of thousands of referees and sports officials in the U.S., nearly 70% responding that sportsmanship is getting worse. One state now trying to crack down on unruly parents and spectators, Representative John Hewitt, a Minnesota state lawmaker and former referee.

plans to introduce a bill to penalize those who misbehave on the sidelines. If you come down on the floor and aggressively go out a player or a coach or a referee or a game official in any way, you've crossed the line. Just last month, two fights erupting at youth basketball games in Minneapolis. Video from a high school match shows multiple people involved in a struggle on the court. And authorities say another brawl at a middle school game just days later involved up to 200 adults and children. According to the new bill, the state could find people up to $1,000 for being disruptive or physically interfering with officials, coaches, and players at youth sporting events. One theory for the rise in violence, an increased pressure for students to earn college scholarships. That raises the stakes for both parents and players.

I'm going to make bad calls. I have made bad calls, but it's part of the game. And what are we telling our kids? But supporters of a new Minnesota bill hoping sports can continue to be a safe and positive outlet for children. And that Minnesota State Representative says the money collected from the fine proposed in the bill would go toward hiring and training referees as leagues across the state and the country experience shortages. Tom? Okay, Rahima. Thank you for that. When we come back, we'll have the latest in the deadly shooting at the Chief Super Bowl Parade. At least one person killed, more than 20 people shot.

We'll have a live report from Kansas City. Coming up next. All right, we're back now with Top Stories News Feeding. We begin with a massive Valentine's Day strike for ride share and delivery drivers. Thousands of drivers across the U.S. and the U.K. for companies like Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash turning off their apps demanding better pay and working conditions. Rideshare companies say they already pay their workers fairly and have mediation practices in place. An update tonight on one of the migrants who allegedly took part in attack on two NYPD officers in Times Square

and was then released. Senior law enforcement officials say Darwin Gomez Ezekiel has been arrested again for allegedly shoplifting and attacking a security guard at a mall in Queens. The group he was with accused of stealing one. more than $600 worth of clothing. The man was originally arrested in connection to the January 27th attack and is now being held without bail until its next court appearance. And Waymo announcing a voluntary recall

of its self-driving car software following two reported crashes. According to Waymo, two of its cars collided with the same pickup truck in Phoenix in late 2023, resulting in minor vehicle damage. Waymo says it has updated its software to better predict the future motion

towards a vehicle. This marks the first recall by the alphabet-owned self-rength. driving car company. Next, we want to turn back to the deadly shooting at the Super Bowl parade in Kansas City leaving at least one person dead and 22 other shot. Three people have been detained so far. Jesse Kerrish joins us again live tonight here on Top Story.

Jesse, get us up to speed on the latest from the ground there. Yes, so Tom, we know from police that they say they have detained three people, and there's video that's out there that police have been asked about, and they have confirmed that authorities are now looking into the possibility that one of the three people detained was captured on camera being tackled by bystanders. And our NBC news team has spoken with one person who says she witnessed a gun flying out as that person was being tackled. So that's something we're going to continue to be asking more information from authorities on. There's also a press conference that just wrapped up from a hospital. So we're trying to see if there are any new

updates there. And just something that sticks out, of course, to us. We hear that there have been 22 people shot, one person, at least one person killed, according to officials. And we know from one hospital that at least eight children are among those shots. Just a reminder that this was an event that involved people of all ages. This was a huge party. That's how the day started here in Kansas City. And such a big party that public schools here had canceled classes, not just in the city but several communities in the area had canceled classes so kids could be down here and that's what families wound up being at was the aftermath of a deadly shooting tom do we know if it was a shootout jesse yet or do we know if you know i know three people have been detained but you hear the number

of people shot especially those kids and you just wonder about the sort of the back and forth with the bullets that so many shots had to be fired. Yeah, and Tom, there were a lot of cops around here. We're told by police that there were upwards of 800 law enforcement officers on site because of the parade, not because they rushed in because of some tragic event. They were here already. They were watching out for incidents at this event. We saw that there were teams with binoculars.

There have been drones overhead. There was at least one sniper long gun position on a nearby rooftop. All of that was in place because of the scale. scale of this event and then it all was put into motion in a way you do not want to see at this kind of event, Tom. We don't know how many people may have fired a weapon. We just know three people detained. We haven't heard if they are all shooters. And we also don't have many, if any, details from what I've seen about if officers return fire at all. And then, Jesse, we know know the Kansas City chiefs have responded on social media, putting out a release, essentially saying

that they've watched what happens and they're just incredibly disappointed. Yeah, we know from officials, Tom, that everyone from the chiefs, the team, the staff, they are all accounted for in okay, according to the city's mayor. But I think something that just sums up the absurd contrast of this day is that just three days after he became Super Bowl MVP and helped lead his team to a title which this city was celebrating. Just three days later, Patrick Mahomes was tweeting today about praying for this city, Tom. All right, Jesse Kirsch on that breaking news. Jesse, thank you for being there for us. Next tonight, we want to move to the Middle East and the war in Gaza. The U.S. launching an investigation to some of the strikes carried out by Israel in Gaza and Lebanon.

This says we learn more about an American teen who was killed in the West Bank. NBC's Molly Hunter is in Jerusalem and has more. Tonight, as Israel pushes further south in the Gaza Strip, ramping up its campaign against Hamas, the U.S. is now investigating Israeli airstrikes that have killed civilians. including the use of white phosphorus in Lebanon last October. The U.S. is reviewing the actions of its close ally as part of an effort to track how American weapons are being used. This comes as the conflict escalates tonight across the northern border,

Israel striking back at Iranian-backed Hezbollah after an Israeli soldier was killed in a cross-border rocket attack. And tensions also high in the occupied West Bank. In the village of Bidu, wrapped in a Palestinian flag, the funeral procession for 17-year-old American Mohamed Khadur. Don't be scared, his younger brother whispers. His family says their gentle, kind teen, was shot and killed Saturday by an Israeli settler. One human rights group estimates nearly 100 Palestinian children have been shot by settlers or Israeli troops since October.

A lot of people, they think the war and the killing in Gaza, but not. It's in West Bank, too. We met his parents Ahmed and Hanan. Born in Florida, Muhammad was a senior in high school here. His 16-year-old cousin Malik was with him Saturday afternoon at a popular place for picnics. I heard gunshots, Malik says. Muhammad was shot twice in the head, the blood still on Malik's jacket. All our life has changed.

We are not the same as before. Everything is different. U.S. officials visited the family earlier today. We're looking for justice. Do you think you'll get it? I hope so. Now, Tom, we've asked the Israeli military about this specific incident, and they refer to the Shinbet, which is the domestic security services.

They have not responded for comment. The State Department says they have asked the Israeli government for more information. Tom. All right, time to get to. check of what else is happening around the world, which means it's time for Top Story's Global Watch. We start with the race against time to rescue nine miners in central Turkey after they were buried under a massive landslide. CCTV shows a giant mound of soil crashing down over the gold mine. That dirt pile was processed for gold and piled on the hills

moments before the landslide. Local streams have been sealed off as dangerous chemicals leaked from the site. Four people, including the Pitts Field Manager, have been arrested as part an ongoing investigation. Okay, new video capturing a powerful avalanche in India that remarkably injured no one. You can see that massive plume of snow rushing down the mountain in the northeastern part of the country. An avalanche warning had been issued to the area after heavy snowfall struck the area last Thursday, allowing residents time to get away. So far, only some property has been damaged. A new report throwing doubt on claims Cuba could soon run out of fuel, an investigation by Reuters finding internal infrastructure and logistical

issues may be to blame for the country's frequent blackouts. The findings contradict claims made by Cuban officials who blame the power outages on a lack of fuel, which they say is due to U.S. sanctions and a growing economic crisis. And outrage in Montreal after an art teacher was caught allegedly selling their students' artwork without permission. The hustle discovered after a student at Westwood Junior High School found a listing for drawings they made in class. Some of the drawings sold on items like beach towels, reportedly priced as high as 160 bucks on the teacher's personal website. According to school board spokesman Darren Becker, the school has received formal legal notice from parents and is cooperating with investigators. When we come back, Beyonce

taking a swing at country music, but not everyone is on board, at least not right now. Her newest single heating up the charts, but one country station denying listeners' request to put it on their airwaves at first. We'll explain the reasoning and why it has so many fans outraged. Plus, Beyonce, is she about to take over country music? We'll find out. That's Beyonce's new single Texas Hold'em, and so her cards down, down, down, down, down. That's Beyonce's new single Texas Hold'em from her forthcoming country album. You heard that right. Beyonce is going country, and so far her fans are loving it. But it's also already causing controversy on country A local Oklahoma station reversing their initial decision not to play the song.

A listener tweeting, he requested the track from 100.1 K.YKC. But the station responded, we do not play Beyonce on KYKC as we are a country music station. After intense backlash, KYKC changing course and playing the song. For more on the back and forth between The Beehive and Country Radio, Marcus Dowling joins me now. He's the Nashville country music reporter for the Tennessee. Thank you for being here tonight. So, you know, the request of that song also wrote, quote, I want to put this up on the screen for our viewers.

This station needs to be held accountable for their blatant racism and discrimination against Beyonce. But general manager, Roger Harris, saying in a statement, we initially refused to play it in the same manner if someone requested us to play the Rolling Stones on our country station. Fact is, we play Beyonce on two of our other stations and love her. She's an icon. We just didn't know about the song. So, Marcus, what do you think is going on here? I mean, racist is a very strong word.

Is that what's happened here, or is sort of the music world, like many of our fans, shocked that Beyonce's going country? There's a common lack of awareness of the protocols of country music radio, which require a song to be serviced to a station so that it can be played. So even if you can request the song, sometimes if a station literally does not have it within its purview to be able to play it, they're not going to break protocol to be able to play the song. Now, of course, in relation to things Beyonce related, there is a decade-long historical precedent that says that there are, you know, racialized notions that are tied to, you know, her long existing desire to have a foray into a significant country music career. So, you know, country music, as you know, because you cover this, it does have a long history of excluding black artists.

It has gotten better over the years. But in recent memory, Billboard removed Lil Nasax's Old Town Road from the hot country charts, and Beyonce herself was subject to controversy after she performed Daddy Lessons at the 50th Country Music Awards. Rapper T. Payne also recently said he stopped fighting for credit on country songs after facing racism for his contributions. You think this is still a real problem in country music? I think that it's a problem that is culturally beginning to solve itself in the sense that, you know, America since 2020 has been in a day-to-day, second-by-second, minute-by-minute, reckoning with understanding and undoing its racist histories. And there's, you know, numerous, you know,

stories in country as well of, you know, artists that have experienced president's success. Like, you have a guy like Breeland who's coming to the space. And, you know, he did not have a country career prior to my truck. And now he has a very viral artist who also had a number one single with, here's on me with Dirk's Bentley and Hardy. So we're caught directly in the midst of what I feel like is systemic and generational change in country music. So while there are as many stories as things like T. Payne and, you know, artists like, you know, like Little Does X, you also have artists like, you know,

Kane Brown as well. Right. He's a 10-time number one, you know, country radio chart-topping artists. One of the biggest names right now in the genre. Right. Squirley in the middle. Yeah. So, you know, we talked a little bit about the negativity on this. I want to talk about some of the positive. This is a great track, especially if you love Beyonce.

Talk to me about your initial thoughts on the song. I would like to say that Rianne Giddens playing the claw hammer banjo at the start of the track is one of those things that if you needed a sonic moment in which you really get a sense of the breadth and depth and scope of just. generational change and pop crossover success in country music, it's right there. You have a MacArthur, you know, Grant Award winning, you know, fellow who is a pureless player of the banjo playing on a track that's being sung on by Beyonce that is being debuted at the Super Bowl. You know, that's all real things and that, I think, more than anything, showcases, you know, just where country music is at?

and the unprecedented possibilities and popularity that the genre can have. Beyonce already has the beehive. Do you think country music fans will embrace her? I think that that is as tale as late, that's yet to be told. I always say that we only have two tracks right now. We've had three overall, if you count daddy lessons. And by historical corollary, Morgan Wallen put out a 36-track album last year. So, even maximally, we could have 33 more Beyonce tracks by which to judge her, you know, seriousness and talent or lack thereof even in the country music space.

So I think that fans are, it's going to be a track-by-track basis for fans growing accustomed to hearing Beyonce's voice into space. And I think that they'll be pleasantly surprised. And I think that there's a potential for incredible acclaim and positivity. So I think musicians, musicians just. like actors and really any other artists, they can make artistic choices, and then they can make strategic choices. And the entire country has seen Taylor Swift, who has her roots in country music, just take over all of music, right? Take over all of America, if you will. You think part of this is a strategic play? I know Beyonce's from Texas. I know her roots very well. My wife's

in the Beehive. That being said, do you think this is also strategic? I'll say that country music is popular music's fastest rising and quickest entrenching movement in probably 50 years. It's doing what hip-hopped in the 1980s in New York City. It's just at an unprecedented acclaim level and the desire to be a part of anything that's cool and anything that's relevant and the ability to create, you know, top-tier sounds and relevant, you know, spaces is something to any pop star. was to do. So, of course, it's premeditated. But I think also she's a 41-year-old mother of two who has billions of dollars sitting at her disposal and wanted to make a country record.

And who are we to stop her if that is her want and desire in this time and at this time of her place in the world? I totally agree with you. And we look forward to more tracks. Marcus Dowling from the Tennessee. And Marcus, thank you so much. I really enjoyed this conversation. It's sincerely a pleasure, as always. Coming up next, love disconnection. We'll tell you why this Valentine's Day, some people, sick of swiping, are logging off when looking for love. Stay with us. All right, finally tonight, logging off to find love.

This Valentine's Day, swiping fatigue, turning some singles off from the dating apps. Instead, they're looking for in-person connections, signing up for offline, speed dating events, and more. But some turning to AI also to help build their programs. files and message potential partners. NBC's Valerie Castro explains it all. Bumble, Tinder, coffee meets bagel. The dating app options just like those profiles are endless. But on this Valentine's Day, instead of swiping right, more singles are logging off. Dating app fatigue is setting in with many looking for something new, saying the apps can feel impersonal. It seemed kind of fake. It didn't seem as genuine as like meeting someone in real life. Every date kind of felt like an

interview. Anything that's new loses its charm, right? So like dating apps were new and cool like 10 years ago. But now it's been a decade of swiping and people want something else. Maxine Williams, founder of We Met IRL, noticed the switch and now organizes singles meetups and speed dating events in real life. You get four minutes with each person. We have like an activity beforehand so people can kind of break the ice that way before they're like thrown into the speed dating, but it's two hours, it flies by, and people just really have a great time. But this doesn't mean the apps are going away. Now AI technology is giving some people the extra edge. A new survey by Cosmo and Bumble of 5,000 singles ages 18 to 42, finding 86%

believe AI could help solve pervasive dating fatigue. Chat GPT, dude. Comedy Central, South Park characters already catching on. There's a bunch of apps and programs you can subscribe to that use Open AI to do all your writing for you. People use them to write poems, write job applications, but what they're really good for is dealing with chicks. Online dating is challenging and kind of. Your move AI founder, Dimitri Marikayan, says his app can help create and fine tune your profile, enhance photos, and help those who feel awkward online start the conversation. That conversation, hopefully leading to a face-to-face meeting. Get two people sitting in front of each other, having a conversation.

I feel like texting doesn't do it justice. For some, it's a useful tool. but for others a disingenuous way of connecting. I don't trust that, yeah, especially not about love life. It kind of just takes away from, I mean, it's not real to me. Like, you know, it's not a reflection of who you are. It's a reflection of the AI. The way we date constantly evolving, but always looking for love.

Valerie Castro joins us now in studio. So Valerie, I guess my first question is if people are getting sick of the dating apps, Are they going back to sort of the traditional ways people met before the dating apps, like getting picked up at a bar, going to singles bars, getting set up on blind dates? Yeah, so there are more events out there these days. People got really tired of sitting home during the pandemic and not having that human interaction. So now there are singles meetups. There are speed dating events. That sounds old school. But it is happening and people are enjoying it. They want to meet people in real life at these events. People have to start working on their game then. And then I also want to ask you, because I want you to explain this, the AI and the dating profiles. How does that work?

So the biggest way that people are using AI is to have conversations with people via through a dating app or through text messages. Some people just need help getting the conversation started and maybe continuing the conversation. So you can ask the apps to help you answer a question or what do I say next? How do I flirt with this person virtually before I meet them in real life? So that's how people are using that. But it can come with consequences as well because you're not going to have that app in front of you when you go on that date. As we saw with South Park. All right, Valerie Castro, thanks so much for that.

And we thank you for watching Top Story. I'm Tom Yammis in New York. Stay right there. More news on the way.