Top Story with Tom Llamas - Wednesday, November 26, 2025

Episode Date: November 27, 2025

Tonight's Top Story has the latest breaking news, political headlines, news from overseas and the best NBC News reporting from across the country and around the world Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Breaking tonight, the shocking ambush in the nation's capital. Two members of the National Guard shot. The FBI now investigating it as a possible act of terror. Look at the chaotic and terrifying scene in downtown D.C., videos showing the moment that others helped take down a suspect. At one point, we saw this gurney being rushed to a chopper on the national mall, witnesses running for cover. The president pledging to punish the shooter as the Pentagon orders more troops into the city.

Our new reporting breaking late tonight that those guardsmen may have been targeted. The holiday snowstorm slamming the upper Midwest, whiteout conditions, and icy highways, tractor trailers jackknifing. Look at that. Hundreds of crashes reported, just as millions of us are making that last minute dash to the Thanksgiving table. The deadly Hong Kong fire, a huge series of flames ripping through high-rise towers. Dozens dead, nearly 300 missing. The desperate race to try to get to those still track. Captain Sae. Case closed, the Georgia election interference case against President Trump dismissed why a new prosecutor said he wouldn't pursue charges. Don't feed the animals. The warning tonight

from officials in Tennessee after this group was spotted trying to feed a bear. Thieves making off with tens of thousands of dollars in rare wine video capturing almost every moment of this highbrow heist, including the customer who tried to help out by chasing them down in his Porsche. And we'll take you inside those final preparations for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and show you some of the new characters joining this year's balloon lineup. Plus, the jury deliberating in the Megan the Stallion defamation case, how will they decide in a major test for a new deep fake law? Top story starts right now.

Good evening. I'm Hallie Jackson in for Tom Yamas tonight. And right now we are looking at the shock and horror in our nation's here in Washington, after two National Guard members were shot in what officials are calling a targeted attack, just a couple of blocks from the White House. And we've got some late-breaking developments just in tonight. The FBI now says the shooting is being investigated as an act of terrorism. We're going to get into that a little bit more in a second, but take a look here at video of just this really awful scene. National Guard members, police rushing in. They seem to be taking down the suspect as others fought to save the people hurt in the attack. Those two service members rushed to local hospital.

And look at this, first responders running this gurney into a chopper that landed on the national mall, which was just nearby. A man and a woman are in critical condition tonight, both victims. Officials are saying this was an ambush, that the suspect is now in custody. In a minute, you're going to hear from witnesses describing the panic on the streets as they started to hear these gunshots. All of it happening really just two blocks from the White House, forcing that building into lockdown, even prompting a temporary ground stop at Reagan National Airport just across the potential. from downtown D.C. The president, not at the White House. He is down at Marlago for the holiday week, but he's posting from there that the shooter will, in his words, pay a very steep price.

Tonight, members of the National Guard consoling each other. So many in shock that something like this could happen to one of their own. We have complete team coverage tonight. Plus, some of the new details on additional guard troops being sent to D.C. and what else we're just learning about the suspect? But I want to start with Tom Costello, who is on the ground in Washington. And Tom, We've got a number of late-breaking details just coming into us. Tell us more. Yeah. Yeah, that's right, Halley. First, a scene setter here. If you've ever come to D.C. as a tourist, there's a very good chance you have walked right through here. This is Farragut, West Park. We are a block and a half from the White House here. That's the Hay Adams Hotel around the corner. This is a very, very popular area. It's a heavily policed area. All jurisdictions of police are around this area right here. And we now hear from two senior law enforcement. officials, that the FBI is now looking at this possibility that this was a terrorist attack. Separately, the suspect in custody is an Afghan national. And we now know that this was a targeted

attack and using a pistol in which the suspect fired at the guardsman's heads. And all of the aftermath caught on camera. Terror in the heart of Washington, D.C., just two blocks from the White House. This is a targeted shooting. One individual. who appear to target these guardsmen. Video capture the moments, police and national guard troops subdued a suspect, while a few feet away performing CPR on someone who's down. Suspect came around the corner, he immediately started firing a firearm at the two National Guard members. Two National Guard troops shot.

NBC Washington reports one is a male guardsman, the other a female, both from West Virginia in critical condition. There were other National Guard members that were in the area. the area. They heard the gunfire. They actually were able to intervene and to kind of hold down the suspect after he had been shot on the ground until law enforcement got there within moments. West Virginia's governor posting, our prayers are with the brave service members, their families, and the entire guard community. NBC's Andrew Mitchell was nearby. I was about half a block away, heard sirens. People were running in the opposite direction. I came over, talked to a woman. She said she was in an Uber. Her two loud booms, she did not see

the alleged shooter or the incident itself, but all of a sudden, police secret service started congregating right at this morning. I had definitely heard two boom-worms. I saw the children running. I saw the adults ready. President Trump, not in the White House, but in Mar-Lago for Thanksgiving, riding on Truth Social. The animal that shot the two National Guardsmen, with both being critically wounded and now in separate hospitals, is also severely wounded, but regardless will pay a very steep price. God bless our great National Guard and all of our military and law enforcement. It was last May when President Trump ordered National Guard troops into D.C. to assist police in bringing down violent crime. Yesterday, he credited the troops with helping to do

just that. And you can walk down any street in Washington, and you're going to be just fine, and I want to thank the National Guard. Today's deadly incident follows a series of attacks against federal law enforcement. In July, 10 suspects in tactical gear attacked an ICE facility wounding a local police officer in Alvaredo, Texas. Days later, a suspect opened fire on Border Patrol agents in McAllen, Texas. The suspect killed. And in September, a sniper on a roof in Dallas opened fire on a van at an ice facility. The suspect had inscribed anti-ice on his ammunition.

Two undocumented immigrants killed. Tom is back with us now from Tom, as you describe it, that very active scene in the heart of D.C. And at this point, you know investigators are going to be looking for any piece of information they can find about this suspected shooter and this person's background. Yeah, that's right. And we don't know yet whether he is cooperating or talking to police. We know that the suspect was also wounded and is in a local hospital. The FBI and D.C. Metro Police are leading this investigation. It is a high priority, as you would imagine, for Homeland Security,

the FBI and D.C. police and the National Guard to find out why did this horrific attack. happen just on the eve of Thanksgiving. Hallie. Tom Costello, live for us here in D.C., Tom, thank you. Let me bring in our senior national security correspondent, Courtney Kuby. And Courtney, it's happening as the Pentagon now says they are going to send even more national guard troops here to Washington. Yeah, Defense Secretary Pete Hague says that President Trump has ordered him to send an additional

500 national guard here to D.C. They will join the 2,200 or so who are here now. It's about 1,000 D.C. National Guard. But importantly, about 1,200 of them here are from other states. Today, of course, West Virginia is one of them, but they're from many other states. Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, from all over the place. It's not clear where these additional 500 will come from at this point, though. You mentioned the West Virginia National Guard, the two victims here, the two service

members who were shot from West Virginia, volunteering, right? The West Virginia National Guard volunteered to stay longer. Yeah. So most or many of the West Virginia National Guard who were here as part of this Joint Task Force Mission in D.C. Their mission essentially ended on November 17th, and many of them went home. About 160 of them volunteered to stay through the end of the year, December 31st. So we know that they are the ones who are there on the streets today.

It's not just part of the safety patrol. Part of the additional mission that they're supposed to have here is known as their beautification mission. So it's not just doing the patrols like we saw here today, but they also go and they try to help make monuments look nicer. They also protect federal facilities. So, Western Virginia National Guardsmen who are on the streets today and tonight are here as volunteer, Sally. Courtney Kubi, thank you very much for those updates. More to come. I know this holiday week.

Appreciate that. I want to bring in Evie Pompores now, former Secret Service agent and NBC News Law Enforcement Analyst. Evie, we're glad to have you here. And important to note, this shooting, as we described, is being investigated as a possible act of terror. Explain why that's important here and how law enforcement takes a case like this and moves forward. Well, it's very likely now that it's going to fall into the... FBI's Washington Field Office and be investigated by JTTF, which is a Joint Terrorism Task Force.

And what they're going to look at is, I know we have one person in custody, but you definitely want to verify that that suspect did operate alone, that there aren't any outside issues, maybe other people who aided and abetted. Typically, when we see something like this, there is some type of manifesto or it's communicated in some way, so you really want to understand why it's targeted. Did they really intend to target the National Guard members, Are they intending to do something else and then change their mind? One of the things that concerns me is it is close to the White House, and having worked in that area, and as Tom was saying first, when he was reporting, that area is a very

highly secure area. You're looking at lots of law enforcement, U.S. Secret Service, Metropolitan Police Department, National Guard. So did that person intend to actually target the National Guard members where they may be going somewhere else? So I really would want to verify all that information. And then again, weapons. Now, our understanding is that the person had a handgun, where did they get that weapon?

Is it legal, illegal? What was how much ammunition on them? Even something like that can really give you insight on intent as to what that individual was trying to do. And of course, the reporting, obviously that individual knows that the members, guard members are wearing vests. And from what it sounds like, he specifically targeted and shot them in the head where you know that those guard members are not protected. You know, Evie, when you mentioned the location here, which I think is significant because that may play into where this investigation goes or at least a part of it, it's worth noting that this area, Farragut Square, it has freedom of movement, right? Unlike if you get closer to the White House, they've restricted. They've got roads blocked off. To get anywhere close to the White House, you've got to go through Mags, etc. That's not the case when you're on what is a public street, despite it being close to the White House and heavily secure, as you point out. You're correct. So the area, the immediate area around the White House in recent years, really has been secure. Actually, years and years ago, you could actually even go through the area, drive-through,

and let's just change the securities, expand it out over and over again. But it isn't an attraction. The public comes. They go for White House tours. They walk through the national parks. So it's so interesting. It's a combination of allowing the public to come, people to come, to experience it, and then at the same time to secure it.

I have to tell you, I actually did White House Permitur Security, one of my squad, so to speak. And it was one of the most difficult assignments because you had to be. letting people in, right? And having all those variables come in. I mean, we would have incidents where people would even just leave packages and boxes behind or backpacks just to see sometimes how we would respond, how long it would take us to respond. So it's this really delicate balance of how much do you allow people to move and how secure can you keep the area? Because it's not just keeping the President of the United States safe. It's the public. The public is also vulnerable. So you're thinking about all these different things that you have

to kind of balance. Evie Pompura's important perspective and analysis for us here on a night of late breaking developments. Evie, thank you. Turning now to that holiday travel rush and a snowstorm in the Midwest making it messy for a lot of folks trying to get where they're going. Here's Liz Croix. Tonight, Thanksgiving travelers coming face to face with Mother Nature. In the upper Midwest, blowing and blinding snow, this truck skidding off the road in North Dakota. Across the region, and hundreds of accidents. Massive waves in Lake Michigan, pounding a local lighthouse. In southwest Michigan, a small plane flipped during takeoff.

Two people suffered minor injuries. The weather delaying both arriving and departing flights in Minneapolis and Chicago, both critical hubs. Casey Standahar from NBC5 Chicago is at O'Hare. Lines are still manageable for travelers getting to their Thanksgiving Day destinations. However, the strong winds and those falling temps overnight, cause of that temporary ground stop. Now, though, there have been a thousand cancellations here at Chicago O'Hare and roughly 35-minute delays. In Atlanta overnight, scary moments when a

passenger on a KLM flight preparing to leave for Amsterdam suddenly opened an emergency exit. This is crazy. KLM went on the runway trying to get back to the gate. They have a slide deployed, taxiing. The passenger, who police believe was experiencing a mental health episode, arrested. But nationwide, most airports reported clear skies. 90% of those traveling are going by car from the northeast. The later in the day you go, the worse it gets. To the blustery road conditions in the Pacific Northwest. Everybody's always in a hurry to get somewhere on Thanksgiving.

Liz Kreutz is joining us now from LAX, where people presumably are in a hurry to get somewhere for Thanksgiving. And there's actually good news for them tonight, Liz. I mean, it looks like, hey, knock wood, it's fairly smooth sailing so far. Yeah, it has been smooth sailing for the most part today, which is good news. I'll show you the board right here. You can see most of these flights are on time. There's a few delays, but even most of those delays are just like 10, 15 minutes.

So definitely something to be thankful for. That said, here in L.A. And a lot of places across the country, the bigger issue is on the road. You can see all this red here. This is the 405 in the heart of L.A. People getting off work right now trying to get to their Thanksgiving destination and facing a lot of gridlock on the freeway, Hall.

When is the 405? Liz, when is the 405 ever not all red? Come on. Fair. Good point. True. Yeah, always. But it feels particularly, you know, red today as I look at my commute home in about an hour. 100%. All right. Get home safe. Liz. Thank you very much. Let me get to NBC News, meteorologist Bill Karens. Okay, Bill, good news. Got to dry out a little bit. Bad news. Bring the puffer coat if you're heading somewhere the next day or so. Oh, and it gets even worse than that, but we'll get to that in a second. I know, right? All right. So we're getting done with the storm that caused the problems this morning. There's still some wintering weather that's going to be had in areas coming off of Lake Michigan, Lake Michigan, Lake. Ontario, Lake Erie, well advertised. These are the snow towns. It's that time of year. You can deal with it. Just be careful drive on Interstate 90, especially in New York State's freeway, especially tomorrow morning. Otherwise, the Pacific Northwest is kind of stormy for Thanksgiving.

Everyone should be able to drive pretty well to their destination's house. So that's the good part. Do you want the bad news? I know you're going to give it to me, regardless of what I say. So go ahead. Any chance you're going to be in Chicago this weekend? I'm not. I know plenty of folks are, and I cannot imagine how frigid it's going to get. Yeah, and they're going to be shoveling a lot of snow, too. So, yeah, here comes our storm. This starts Friday, areas of Montana. On Saturday, this heads out into the plains.

The blue shows you snow. This is an all-out, like midwinter-like snowstorm. Iowa, southern Wisconsin, maybe southern Minnesota, northern portions of Illinois, Michigan, and Indiana. Be prepared. You're not going to want to be on the roads. You probably won't even be able to get on the roads. That exits and heads to the northeast. Thankfully, it's warmer in the northeast.

Mostly just going to be a rain event except for northern New England. So how much snow are we talking? We're talking about the chances for one of our biggest November snowstorms in Chicago history on Saturday into Sunday. The early indications are six to 12 inches in general through this region. We'll fine-tune this, Halley, as we get a little bit closer. It's been almost four years since we've had a foot of snow and a snowstorm in Chicago. So a big heads up to everyone in this region. It's going to be almost impossible to travel on the roads come Saturday afternoon evening and maybe even not until Sunday afternoon until it's all cleared out. And you know, that's another huge travel day in Nightbill, so plenty to watch on that front. Thank you very much for being all over. I appreciate that, pal. We've also got new fallout tonight in President Trump's push for peace in Ukraine after this leaked WhatsApp call.

It hasn't been verified by NBC News. But in it, it reportedly reveals a top Trump envoy seeming to coach a Russian rep on how to get support out of President Trump. And despite that controversy on Capitol Hill here in Washington, the president is defending that envoy, Steve Wickcoff, on Air Force One overnight. That's a standard thing, you know, because he's going to sell this to Ukraine. He's going to sell Ukraine to Russia. That's what a dealmaker does. You've got to say, look, they want this. You've got to convince him with this.

You know, that's a very standard form of negotiation. I haven't heard it, but I heard it was standard negotiation. And I would imagine he's saying the same thing to Ukraine. Kear Simmons is joining us now watching all of these peace talks closely. And Keir, you heard the president there suggesting this is a standard thing. His critics say it's anything but. They do, and the transcript appears to show President Trump's envoy, as you set out there, Hali, Steve Wickoff giving the Russian representative tips on effectively how to win over his boss,

how to win over President Trump. So that transcript is published by Bloomberg, not verified by NBC News, says Wickkoff advised that Putin should tell Trump, you should say you respect that he is. is a man of peace and then that they should suggest that they write a peace plan together. It is, Halley, it seems, the very beginning of that peace plan that emerged, that 28-point peace plan that was then criticized for seeming too pro-Russian. Perhaps you could argue, looking at this transcript, you can see why. As well as that, another piece of this, in that call, Wittkoff, encouraged.

the Kremlin to ensure that Putin phones Trump before a visit by Vladimir Zelensky of Ukraine. And that call was important because they discussed the supply of Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine. Afterwards, President Trump seemed to back away from that idea. The Ukrainians seemed taken by surprise that they thought that President Trump's position had shifted after that call. So it had an impact, and Steve Wittkoff is being criticized. as you mentioned, President Trump supporting him. All of it as the president here is backing off that Thanksgiving Day deadline for a deal.

So plenty to watch, I know, for you. Kier Simmons, thank you. Back here at home, we've got the president getting a big legal win tonight in Georgia, with a judge there dropping the 2020 election interference case against him. NBC's Kelly O'Donnell is traveling with the president now. She's joining us from West Palm Beach, where she has been. And Kelly, people may think, okay, there was a sort of a web of legal cases involving President Trump. This is the one involving Fannie Willis, obviously, the former prosecutor who was on this case.

And that plays a part in why this was ultimately dismissed, right? That's right. And this is, in the minds of many people, the most serious of the cases against the president, because it was described originally by prosecutors as an elaborate scheme to overturn the Georgia results. And, of course, remember Georgia, a key battleground state in 2020, Joe Biden won. President Trump was trying, according to the evidence, to flip that and to he famously made a phone call that got a lot of notoriety where he was speaking with state officials and said, I just want to find 11,780 votes, and that would have been the margin of difference. And the Republican state officials there pushed back on the president at the time and said their election was conducted properly. and some of the claims that he made to them during that phone call about the voting machines and so forth, they said to him, no, you've got the wrong information.

You mentioned the prosecutor at the time. She was the district attorney Fannie Willis, and she was ultimately disqualified in this case because she had placed a prosecutor in charge who has, she had a personal relationship with. And that was considered a kind of breach that they could not get passed. So another prosecutor then did a search to try to find the replacement. He then could find no one willing to step up, and so he decided to do it himself. And he presented to the judge today that he does not believe it's in the interest of the people of Georgia to pursue this case over the next five or even ten years against a sitting president

and given all of the political context around it. And the judge agreed, and that's why this case is dismissed. Hallie? Kelly O'Donnell, live for us there from South Florida, where she is traveling with the president. on this holiday week. Kelly, thank you. Overseas to Hong Kong now, where a huge fire. Ripping through a high-rise has killed dozens of people with hundreds more missing tonight. Danielle Hammamchen has more. Tonight flames engulfing an entire housing complex in Hong Kong.

The inferno raging for hours through multiple apartment buildings leaving at least 44 dead. Hong Kong's leaders saying nearly 300 people are still unaccounted for. The smoke could be seen billowing from miles away, as rescue workers rushed survivors to the hospital, many in critical condition. One resident saying he heard a loud noise at 2.45 p.m., and within 10 minutes, firefighters were on the scene. As strong winds fan the flames, I'm just taking things one step at a time, he says. Now I'm just thinking about where I'm going to sleep tonight. Hundreds were taken to temporary shelters as emergency workers struggle to locate the missing. The temperature inside the buildings concerned are very high.

So it's quite difficult for us to enter the building. Tonight the cause of the fire is unclear. Home to more than 4,800 residents, the towers were under renovation. Officials say they're now investigating whether bamboo scaffolding and unsafe materials on the outside of the the building were a factor in spreading the fire, which is now the deadliest in Hong Kong in decades. Danielle Hampton is joining us now. And Danielle, there are some suspects in custody now in connection with these fires, right? That's right. Authorities in Hong Kong late this evening announcing they arrested three people

on suspicion of manslaughter. They're not giving us many more details other than the fact that their ages between 52 and 68 years old, but we don't know why they were arrested. I do want to draw your attention, Halley, to something a security official said earlier this evening, and this is regarding the works and the renovations being done on one of the buildings. He said, the protective nets, waterproof canvas and plastic sheeting on the external walls of the building in question, once ignited, the intensity and speed of the fire spread were far greater than that of materials meeting safety standards. We consider this to be unusual. In light of that, a criminal investigation was launched, Halley,

and shortly after, the announcement came of those three individuals arrested. Halley? Danielle Hammam, Jen, much more to come potentially on that story. Thank you very much. We've got a lot more to get to here on the show, including a high-end heist, tens of thousands of dollars worth of wine, swiped from a Virginia restaurant cellar, how it all led to a wild chase on foot,

and in a Porsche captured on camera. We're back now with something out of a movie. A high-brow heist that ended in a high-speed chase, thieves stealing tens of thousands of dollars worth of rare wine from a Virginia restaurant, leaving decoys in their place. The owners, even a customer pursuing one of the thieves in a Porsche. NBC's George Solis has more on the search for a suspect still happening. No, no, no, no. A dramatic chase captured from multiple angles. On foot and on the roadway after a heist ripped straight out of Hollywood.

The Target, the high-end wine cellarer at Lelbertes-Provenceal Inn and Restaurant in Virginia, Shenandoah Valley. This duo allegedly stole around $40,000 worth of French Pinot Noir, according to the owners. Tonight, the search still on for one of the suspects. When you steal something, especially of that value, it feels like you just came into my house and stole family portraits. Christian Borell's family has owned the restaurant since the 1980s. Video he shared shows him escorting the pair.

A woman in a coat and red scarf and man Borel says had a bushy gray toupee and was wearing thick glasses, overcoat, and dark pants. After the tour, Borel says he knew something was amiss. Some of the fine French wine replaced with cheap decoys. Do you think they were just pulling randomly? No, they definitely targeted those specific bottles from that producer. And the fact that the decoy bottles that they left had fake, labels of Romanicante on it. That was their prize. That was their mission. In this clip,

the women authorities have now identified as 56-year-old Natalie Ray from the UK is heard asking about touring the wine cellar ahead of a private event. Borell says one staff member was able to stop Ray before she entered a getaway car parked off property. Tonight, the sheriff's office says she's being held without bond and is due in court in early December. NBC News has reached out to Ray's attorney, but is yet to hear back. The rest of the staff and one patron, there for dinner with his wife in hot pursuit of the second suspect. Have you ever done anything like that before? No, pursuing a criminal? No. No, that's not my, not my forte.

That's Ryan Dotson racing off with the bartender in hopes of cutting off the getaway driver. His dash cam recording as his Porsche hit another car, taking him out of the chase. Oh, he's going to f***. What would prompt such an act on your behalf? I am a loyal customer. The very first meal I ever had in Virginia when my wife and I moved here from California was at that restaurant. Or else says there'll be no more wine tours for the time being still rattled, but undefeated by the heist. I would love to know the thinking behind it, but I really hope this proves that not all the bad guys get away.

George Solis is joining us now from Miami. Every detail is more fascinating. than the last. But not least of which is there's apparently this pretty hot black market for super fancy wine. Yeah, that's right. And so, Hallie, there's a silver lining in all this. Two bottles were recovered at the end of this highs. Now, here's the kicker, though. They're actually with police as evidence right now. So if they're not stored in a cool, dark place, those bottles might actually be ruined. Now, as for that second suspect still on the run, well, according to Borrell, investigators are saying she's not really being cooperative. So right now, she's looking to take all the heat

for this high stally. So interesting. You gotta hope that evidence locker is like in a cool, dry area, presumably for the wine. George, thank you very much. Still ahead on top story. We've got a new dash cam footage into us from this high speed chase, just moments before the death of a Dallas Cowboys star. We've got those new details tonight. Plus, a jury now deliberating in Megan the Stallion's defamation civil trial. That's next. Back now with shocking new video from the high-speed police chase involving a former Dallas Cowboys player, Marshawn Neeland, who died by suicide after the pursuit earlier this month. Neelan, which is 24 years old, he's seen on dash cam racing it up to 160 miles an hour on a Dallas highway. Here's Aaron McLaughlin.

Tonight, it speeds as fast as 160 miles per hour. Shocking police footage shows the harrowing moments Texas law enforcement pursued the. Dallas Cowboy Marshawn Neeland. You got above 160 when I was chasing. The high-speed chase captured across multiple police body and dashboard cameras concludes two hours later. When police say the defensive end was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. We found our suspect.

It all began the evening of November 5th on a Dallas highway. You see Neelan's black dodged charger zoom past a state trooper who notices the speed and begins the pursuit. Neelan's car sideswipes at least one vehicle. Hey, are you okay? I see he just hit me out of nowhere. Yes, Sam, I don't know what's going on. Then you see officers scramble to find him after he abandoned his car and took off on foot.

He just hit me and then he started running. Video shows them searching guns drawn inside a parking rush, even firing pepperball. Please put a pepper ball. Pepper ball, pepperball, pepper ball. Where'd they go? Where'd they go? Where'd they go? The footage captures Neelan's girlfriend, who was never

charged in handcuffs. After police pulled her over for driving a car linked to him. You got anything on you? I'm trying to get her to call him and give up like you say that he's going to have to follow. Before finally zeroing in on the portable restroom where they found his body. We still don't know why Neeland had been driving so fast. Aaron McLaughlin is joining us now. Aaron, what are we hearing from the family of Marshawn Neeland? Well, Hallie, we're hearing from Catalina Mansara Neeland's girlfriend. who's pregnant with their child in a heartbreaking statement on Facebook.

She wrote, Marciaan was more than just my boyfriend. He was my best friend, my muse, and my reason. I don't know what life has in store for me, but you will be a part of my every step. The Cowboys have said that a memorial fund has been set up to support Mancerra. Hally? Erin McLaughlin, thank you. Turning now to Top Story's News Feed, starting with Campbell's firing an exact. accused of making racist comments and mocking the company's products, saying, therefore, quoting here, poor people.

It all comes after a former employee followed a lawsuit against Campbell's and allegedly recorded the conversation with that executive, Martin Valley, which NBC News obtained. We've reached out to him for comment, but haven't yet heard back. And a daring rescue caught on camera in Mississippi. Look at it here, a DeSoto County Sheriff's Captain wading into these water. The flood, it's coming up, up higher, higher after two teen girls got trapped in their car when they, crashed. The captain got the door open, managed to pull them to safety. Officials say one of the girls was hurt from an airbag, but fortunately both of them are expected to be just fine. And food network star Guy Fieri is now in a wheelchair after he says he was hurt while filming his new show.

The celebrity chef says his leg, in his words, exploded after he fell downstairs reporting an episode of Flavortown Food Fight. The fall apparently tore his right quad in half. Fieri says he had emergency surgery and has to be off his feet for eight weeks. meaning his family will be cooking the Thanksgiving feast this year. And in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, Black Bears seem to be getting a little too friendly with people, or is it actually the other way around? Look at this, people walking up, appearing to try to feed the bear to get it to come closer. People, officials are like, don't do this.

Can we just don't do this? Then there was this one. Look at this, nicknamed Parkour Bear. Somehow getting up on the restaurant's roof, it was up there for hours before wildlife officers say they safely tranquilized it, and then released it into a nearby national park. Moral of the story, don't feed the bears. Let's talk tonight about rap star Megan the Stallion and that defamation case tonight

in the hands of a Florida jury as we are officially on verdict watch. Their job is to try to figure out whether an online influencer harassed Megan by sharing an explicit AI video featuring her likeness. Here to break it down, NBC News, legal analyst, Misty Maris. We have been following this case for several weeks now, Misty.

The jury has it. They already have asked for clarification on Florida's new deep fake law. This lets victims sue over things that are generated by AI that are explicit, that they don't have consent for, et cetera. Explain how that plays into this and what this jury is looking at. Yeah, so this is one of the central issues in this case. They have to look at whether or not the defendant

willfully and maliciously promoted an image that she knew or should have known was fake. So those are the critical issues the jury has to analyze. Remember, in this case, the defendant, is not accused of actually creating the image. It's about whether or not she promoted it. And what came out during the trial is that she received the video during a live feed

back in 2024, posted it to over 20,000 followers while debating whether or not it was real or fake. Ultimately, it was taken down later. But the question is going to be, this being one of the first tests of Florida's new law, does that factual scenario fit into the parameters of the law and will the jury find liability? The other piece of this, too, is that the jury is home now.

They're not going to come back because of the Thanksgiving holiday until Monday. Does it surprise you that they didn't try to wrap this up before Thanksgiving, that it's sort of taken this length of time for these deliberations to happen? Yeah, Halley. So usually there is a lot of pressure when it comes to a jury to make a decision before a holiday weekend like this. And there's incentive. We would call it the Friday pressure, but this is the Friday pressure on steroids, given

that tomorrow is Thanksgiving and they're not coming back until Monday. So this to me says, especially given the fact that we heard a couple of questions before the jury broke for the day, that they're really going through this, they're really analyzing this, and maybe there is some debate in that jury room that didn't allow them to actually come to a conclusion before this holiday weekend. Misty Maris, thank you very much for that. Appreciate it. We've got to get to some breaking news just coming into us in the last maybe 90 seconds or so. A suspect has now apparently been identified in that shooting of two national guard troops in D.C. I want

to bring in our national law enforcement and intelligence correspondent Tom Winter. All right, Tom, bring us up to speed. Yeah, Haley, four senior U.S. law enforcement officials briefed on the investigation say they've identified the man they believe is responsible for shooting of those two national guardsmen who are now in critical condition. They've

identified the individual as Rock Manula or Rob Manula Lockenwal. Data birth is February 9, 1996. Last known address is in Bellingham, Washington. This individual was identified through, he did not have an ID on him. We have a photo of him being put into a stretcher, had been stripped of his clothing or had very limited clothing. Apparently, at the time of this incident occurring, as he targeted these two National Guardsmen, used a handgun to commit it, apparently as an Afghan national. I was still

trying to get some details on his immigration history, but they were able to use kind of a rapid fingerprint type technology that is completely electronic. So take out of your heads, kind of the law and order version where they put the ink on your fingers and check from there. This is all digital. And we're able to check that against the database and come up with this individual's identification. Having seen a photo that we're still trying to confirm of this person and a photo of this person that was on the stretcher, they do appear to be the same individual. So again, Rock Manula or Rob Manula Lockenwal from Bellingham, Washington, and Afghan National, born in 1996, is the person that the FBI now believes is responsible for this.

And as we've been reporting, and as NBC News was first to report tonight, in fact, the FBI is investigating this initially as a potential act of terrorism. Of course, motives can change in the course of the investigation. They can look into that. But at least initially here, this is going to be led by the Joint Terrorism Task Force in Washington, D.C. And this information is now being shared with law enforcement agencies, we're told, across the country. Just, given the fact that they want to check up on all these things. Certainly, officials here in New York are aware of this information were told from officials in D.C. Because they wanted people in the law enforcement agencies here in New York to be aware of who this person was to see if there's any ties,

anybody they need to check, with tomorrow being the 99th Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Right now, there is not believed to be any sort of specific or credible threat to that, according to an NYPD briefing. Tom, can I ask you something, and I don't want us to get over our skis here on this, but you point out that the last known location of the suspect was in Washington State, obviously, across the country from Washington, D.C. Is there any reason to believe on the basis of the sources you're talking to that this individual traveled across the country for the purpose of carrying out this attack? Had they already been spending time or living in D.C. for a little bit? Do we not know?

That's probably the number one question that they're trying to figure out at this time. Check back on travel schedules, figure out how this person got there. They do have information as far as their driver's license and vehicle. They'll check that. There's obviously license plate readers. We've seen that come into such use by law enforcement over the past several years. And just this year, you look at New Year's Day. That information was so helpful in trying to determine the location and how the individual that attacked New Orleans on New Year's Day.

And also, remember the incident at the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas, that individual who had an incendiary device that arrived at the hotel there. They were able to trace that person's travels through the license plate reader and get an identification. So all of that, Hallie, will go into the investigation. But you've asked the question that law enforcement is desperately trying to figure out at this hour. And I know you're working the phones to try to figure that out. Tom Winter, thank you for jumping in front of a camera with that developing news late tonight. Appreciate that. Next tonight, a new warning about those popular e-bikes with injuries involving those bikes spiking some 350 percent recently. According to new data,

analyzed by NBC Bay Area Senior Investigative Reporter Bagad Chaband. He explains how some e-bike manufacturers seem to be skirting past safety regulations, and the growing calls to keep younger riders safe. Scott and Monica Stafford got a knock at the door one day that no parent is ever prepared for. It was really scary. I knew it was a matter of life and death. One of the kids in the neighborhood came screaming that the Stafford's 15-year-old. old daughter, Amelia, was involved in an accident while riding on the backseat of an electric bike

nearby. I ran down the block, and that's when I saw a group of people, you know, just huddled around and she was in the street. We were very realistically prepared for the worst. You thought she could die? I thought that she either could die, was dying, or that if she did come, back, it wouldn't be her. Amelia was rushed to the hospital with a severe brain injury. She spent a week in a medically induced coma and remained hospitalized for the next two months. She ultimately underwent five surgeries. You just have to sometimes move forward, even though you're kind of partly dying inside.

That's how you fell. Yes. Amelia miraculously pulled through. I look back at photos of myself and I, it's like, oh my God, that was me. There were several points where doctors weren't sure if you'd make it. Yeah, many points. She says the electric bike she was riding on operated more like a motorcycle or moped than an actual bicycle. While pedal assist e-bikes give you a motorized boost while pedaling, throttle e-bikes like the one Amelia was on,

don't actually require you to pedal. To accelerate, all you need to do is twist the grip. In California, anyone under 18 riding any kind of bike is required to wear a helmet. But Amelia wasn't wearing one when a friend invited her to hop on his brand new e-bike. I got on it unhelmeted because I was just thinking, like, I'm going to only be on it for about two seconds, you know? A sudden jolt of speed immediately threw her onto the street. Her skull was crushed so severely. Doctors needed to replace nearly half of it with an implant.

It's quite daunting to look at. Amelia's surgeon gave her this replica of her damaged skull. And it's a reminder of everything that I've been through. And everything you survived. Everything that I survived, definitely. In California, motorcycles, mopeds, and even motorized scooters require a driver's license and come with age restrictions. But throttle e-bikes don't have those requirements.

The California DMV does say, throttle e-bikes need to have motors that automatically shut off once they exceed 20 miles per hour. For pedal assist bikes, it's 28 miles per hour. But we easily found e-bikes advertised online with speeds roughly double that. Listed by companies willing to mail those e-bikes straight to California, even though state laws here prohibit those speeds. But yeah, nobody's enforcing it. We have these rules that somehow make us think that we have a system, but it's the Wild West.

Luke Bornheimer is the founder of Streets Forward, a bicycle advocacy organization. He says much of the concern over e-bikes is misguided and should be focused on the high-powered rides he believes are deceptively labeled as e-bikes. You kind of muddy the water and make it nearly impossible to figure out what maybe we need better policy and regulations around. State legislation was pitched earlier this year to crack down on illegal advertising and restrict what actually qualifies as an e-bike. But the bill stalled. Meanwhile, e-bike popularity continues to speed up. Sales in the U.S. have quadrupled just over the past five years, and more than two

million e-bikes are expected to be sold this year. Despite the surge, communities have struggled to understand the safety risks. That's because injury data often lumps e-bikes with other modes of transportation, like skateboards and scooters, making it difficult to track how prevalent e-bike injuries actually are. That's why California lawmakers decided to enlist the help of researchers at the Manetta Transportation Institute in San Jose to analyze hospital records and release a full report on their findings by next year. Our investigative unit got a first look at the data, which found more than 4,700 people

in California were injured annually while using an electric buy. Conventional bicycles, which outnumber e-bikes by the millions, produced more than 44,000 injuries. That's nine times higher than e-bikes. But e-bike injuries were generally much worse, with 17% of people going to the hospital, compared to 12% for regular bikes. What we witnessed was this pattern of very serious injury and death. Dr. John Ma is a trauma surgeon of more than a decade. After seeing a spike and e-bike-related injuries inside his emergency room, he and his colleagues at Marin Health began analyzing their own hospital data and found for the most serious trauma

cases. Those hurt on e-bikes were dying at a rate 37 times higher than those patients who were riding conventional bicycles. The severity, the frequency, they were all very alarming. Dr. Ma happened to be in the ER the day Amelia Stafford arrived. You have seen thousands of patients in your career, but it seems like her case specifically has stuck with you. Why? Her case was striking because for me, it was the first instance of a person under the age of 18 being seriously injured after an e-bike accident.

Amelia's accident changed the conversation, like turning on a light switch. Together, Dr. Ma and Amelia went on to lobby California. legislators to pass a new law that allowed Marin County to institute the state's first ever age restriction for throttle-powered e-bikes, requiring riders to be at least 16 years old, and mandating helmets for everyone, regardless of age. I'm here to speak out to protect teenagers like me. The measure passed without a single opposing vote. This first photo is me in the ICU.

It's now been two years since Amelia's accident. That's the first time that I stood up. She's still recovering and also advocating. She doesn't want to see e-bikes completely banned, but says her journey shows a need for tougher safety measures and says it's time for communities to shift gears. I don't want somebody to go through the same thing that I had to. Bagat Chaban, NBC News, San Francisco.

Coming up here on Top Story, our Molly Hunter, catches up with Pope Leo, his Thanksgiving message to Americans of all fates. Plus, an emotional moment for a resource. In a researcher in Indonesia, why a rare discovery deep in a rainforest caused him to break down in tears. We'll explain next. We're back with Top Story's Global Watch, starting in southern Thailand, where officials say at least 33 people have been killed from the region's worst flooding in years. You can see the video showing emergency crews in boats, trying to rescue people, and helicopters delivering supplies.

The flooding, really covering whole neighborhoods, forcing people look at that, to abandon their cars in. in the streets. So far, we're told Thailand and neighboring Malaysia have had to evacuate nearly 50,000 people. Two teenagers in Australia now asking that country's highest court to block a first of its kind ban on social media, which is set to take effect in two weeks. If that happens, more than a million accounts held by kids under 16 would be deactivated. So that includes YouTube. It includes TikTok, Facebook, et cetera. Critics say the move would eliminate the freedom of political communication for young Australians. The ban became law last year. after the government argued social media was hurting teens.

And an emotional moment caught on camera when an Indonesian botanist discovered a very rare flower deep in a forest. Listen to this. It's okay. We did it. We found it. That researcher breaking down in tears in front of the Rafleja flower. He told the BBC he spent 13 years searching for it.

You can see the flower there. parasitic plant that smells like rotting flesh, apparently to attract insects. And in Italy, Pope Leo is getting ready for his first Thanksgiving as Pope at his lakeside home outside Rome. And our own Molly Hunter had the chance to ask the Pope directly what he's most thankful for in a year that saw him ascend to the Vatican and try to make new inroads with younger Catholics. The first American Pope offered a wave to the small crowd below, exiting the gates of his Castel Gandalfa Villa, Pope Leo, stopped to take our question.

Father Molly Hunter from NBC News, of course, as an American, it's Thanksgiving Mistaking week. It is. Do you have a Thanksgiving message? Is there something you're thankful for? Many things I'm thankful for. I would encourage all people, especially with this beautiful feast that we have in the United States, which unites all people, people of different faiths, people who perhaps do not have the gift of faith, but to say thank you to someone, to recognize that we all have received so many gifts, first and foremost, the gift of life. Tomorrow, the pontiff will spend the Thanksgiving holiday traveling, his first international

trip since he was elected, not to his adopted Peru or to his hometown of Chicago yet, but to two Muslim-majority countries, Turkey and Lebanon, both home to ancient Christian communities. A delicate choice, but tonight, his multi-faith message of unity setting the tone. Molly Hunter, NBC News, Rome. Our thanks to Molly Hunter for that. When we come back on this Thanksgiving Eve, the parades popping up across the country, students from New York to Florida to Mississippi

creating their own version of the iconic Thanksgiving Day parade. We'll show you those adorable scenes next. Back now with the last minute finishing touches ahead of tomorrow's Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, those balloons being inflated as we speak. And wait a see some of the new additions this year. Here's a hint. They're not Lafoufus. They are the real deal. NBC, Stephen Romo is on the upper west side of Manhattan at the inflation site tonight. That's the official term for it, I assume, Stephen, because boy, they are humongous. Poor Shrek trapped behind you. A returning favorite, but there's some new ones too, right?

Oh, that's right, Hallie. I call it the inflation station, and it is a lot cooler than I even thought it was going to be, to be honest. Some of the new balloons that I was surprised about, Super Mario, Pac-Man, both from the 1980s, they are. are new this year, along with, of course, Derpy Tiger from K-pop Demon Hunters. They have got to be in here as well. And you mentioned Shrek. This is actually not just Shrek. This is Shrek in the Onion Carriage. He is new this year. The Onion Carriage is the new part. A lot of excitement about these balloons. People are already taking pictures of them. Okay, but here's the thing. You know that weather is always like such a big factor on this stuff. And we know our friend Valcarons will tell us it's going to be cold and maybe super windy. What does that mean? The balloons are still going to fly, right?

Well, the interesting thing is the balloons will fly in the cold. They will even fly in the rain. But if that wind sustained is more than 23 miles per hour or more than 35 in gusts, they will ground the balloons. That's the bad news. The good news is there's plenty of other stuff that will continue in that parade, including floats, the 11 marching bands, all of the other performers will continue on. So there will be a parade, but it really depends on that wind. We'll have to talk to Bill about that one. on that. Can I tell you something, Stephen?

Yeah. Okay. I was just at the Macy's Parade Studio, getting a behind-the-scenes look not too long ago for a different story on like the artists putting the final touches on the balloons, the floats, et cetera. And you're never going to guess what float I saw. The one that it feels like everybody's talking about, Laboo-Boo Land is coming to the Macy's parade. I actually got a sneak peek at. I was walking around, to be honest, foraging for food. And I saw it, I took a picture of it for my teenage nieces who love their Lububus, and I became the cool uncle, because I knew what they were, and I sent them a picture of it. So right there with you. I can't wait to see that one. Take off. Between Labubu and Derpy, is there anything else? Like, isn't it every tween's dream? This parade's going to be a hit.

Yeah, they've got it. They've got Gen Alpha down. They've got probably Gen Z down, too. I saw plenty of anime. There's Goku back there a little bit. I think this is going to be. ahead with a younger crowd. Listen, us millennials, there's something in it for us, too. Stephen, thank you very much. Have fun out there. Glad you found some food. You can catch live coverage, of course, of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, starting at 8.30 tomorrow morning on your local NBC station and streaming live on Peacock.

But before that parade begins, we are taking a look tonight at how schools all over the country are getting ready for their own special processions, filled with floats and balloons and music on only a slightly smaller scale. Here's Sam Brock. Look at how cool. On small streets around America. Hi guys! Big things are happening.

With students staging their own Macy's Thanksgiving Day parades. Good job, everybody. At St. Kevin Catholic Academy in Queens, New York, plenty of prep work. You can feel the air putting you up. Fifth grade teacher Amanda Hutt, helping kids visualize the balloon experience. So first, I'm going to be getting inflated. I felt very heavy with all the healing metatomy. We're live for an in Bigdale Elementary Times Square.

It's a little chillier. In Madison, Mississippi and Daniel Stone and Kenya Clark are doing their best, Savannah and Hoda. Cozy PJs, we see you right here. With Macy's even commenting, reporting live from the cutest Macy's parade ever. Makes you feel so rewarding when you get to see them have so much fun. knowing that they can create pretty much anything. From Washington State to Florida, classrooms putting their own touch on a timeless celebration. Do you get a sense of pride from the kids and from their families?

Oh, of course. They can't wait to talk to us about what they're building, how long it's taking them. Wait till you see what I bring in. Those balloons proving it's not the scale of the Snoopy floats, but the spirit of the holidays being gobbled up at schools near and far. Sam Brock, NBC News, New York. Our thanks to Sam Brock for that one, and our thanks to you for watching Top Story, as always.

Tom, we'll be back next week. I'm Hallie Jackson in Washington. Stay right there. We've got more news on the way.