Top Story with Tom Llamas - Jan. 26 | NBC News NOW
tonight breaking news five fired Memphis police officers charged with murdering Tyree Nichols all five men now Behind Bars charged with second-degree murder aggravated kidnapping and aggravated assault the D.A saying their actions led to Nichols death what we're learning tonight about how soon the body camera footage will be released also tonight the chilling new evidence in the Alec Murdoch trial the jury shown body camera footage of the moment Murdoch's wife and son were found dead at the family home Murdoch's sobbing as the video played our team is live outside the courthouse fake nursing diplomas the bombshell announcement from the feds more than two dozen people accused of selling fake nursing diplomas to thousands of people one-third of them likely still practicing how states are tracking those health care workers down Russia's Revenge Kiev rocked by a barrage of missiles just one day after President Biden agreed to send tanks to Ukraine at least 11 people killed our team is at the Russian border tonight plus carjacking nightmare police racing to track down the man in this stolen car a woman who had been napping in the back seat trapped inside the call she made that may have saved her life and Uber chaos in Cancun taxi drivers forming a blockade at the airport leaving some tourists stranded why those cabbies are furious with the ride-sharing app and what Travelers heading to Mexico need to know top story starts right now good evening I'm Aaron Gilchrist in for Tom yamas We Begin top story tonight with the city of Memphis bracing for what may be a difficult few days and weeks ahead we expect police to release body camera footage tomorrow night showing the violent arrest that led to the death of Tyree Nichols after he was initially pulled over for a traffic violation now ahead of the release of that footage which has been described as appalling and inhumane by those who've seen it already five officers involved have been fired and now those five men tonight stand criminally charged the same counts of second-degree murder aggravated kidnapping and aggravated assault applied to each of them the Nichols family tonight heartbroken by the loss they have suffered tyree's mother remembering her son as a loving father who enjoyed skateboarding and photography you will hear our interview with the family's Attorney Ben Crump in just a few moments here the message he says the family wants everyone to hear tonight but we begin with NBC's Priscilla Thompson who leads us off from Memphis tonight five former Memphis police officers have been charged with second-degree murder in the deadly arrest of 29 year old Tyree Nichols while each of the five individuals played a different role in the incident in question the actions of all of them resulted in the death of Tyree Nichols and they are all responsible all five officers also charged with aggravated assault aggravated kidnapping and official misconduct charges what happened here does not at all reflect proper policing this was wrong this was criminal the announcement comes amid Rising tension ahead of tomorrow's release a video from the deadly traffic stop he was a human pinata for those police officers it was an unadulterated unabashed non-stop beating of this young boy for three minutes mother heartbroken her son was a dad and loved to skateboard you all had an opportunity to view this video I watched about a minute of it but I couldn't once I heard my son say what did I do I just I lost it and I couldn't police say they stopped Nichols for reckless driving on January 7th and that two confrontations ensued after which Nichols complained of shortness of breath he was taken to the hospital in critical condition and died three days later we're better than this who are better than the egregious conduct and actions of those police officers nearly two weeks after the incident all five officers were fired after an internal investigation found they violated multiple department policies including excessive use of force duty to intervene and duty to render Aid the attorneys representing two of the officers saying their clients plan on pleading not guilty no one out there that night intended for Tyree Nichols to John Terry Nichols to die no one two Memphis fire department personnel who helped care for Nichols have also been relieved of Duty pending an investigation the department says the Shelby County District Attorney's Office the FBI and Department of Justice are all now investigating and Priscilla Thompson joins us live now from Memphis Priscilla Memphis Police expect there to be protests once this video is made public at least they think there's a possibility of that when will the video be released and how is the city preparing yeah well Aaron the district's attorney says that the city will release the video tomorrow evening and Meanwhile we're hearing from the police chief here in Memphis cautioning people ahead of that video release take a listen to some of what she had to say I expect our citizens to exercise their First Amendment right to protest to demand action and results but we need to ensure our community is safe in this process none of this is a calling card for inciting violence or destruction on our community or against our citizens and already we're seeing a heightened police presence here in Downtown Memphis ahead of that video release Aaron and Priscilla I know you've been there in Memphis for different reasons but over the last couple of weeks for several days what's the atmosphere in that City right now as you see it from the people you've spoken to does it seem like we're heading for a violent weekend in Memphis or do you think the calm is is going to Prevail there well there's certainly a lot of anger here there's no question about that we've seen that boiling over in City Council meetings and protests throughout the past several weeks and we heard from the family also urging people to please be calm saying that they are relieved about these charges as I'm sure many in the community are but there are also people in the community who say that they need to demand change because this has got to stop Erin Priscilla Thompson in Memphis for us tonight Priscilla thank you now while the city of Memphis prepares for the release of that body cam video we are joined again tonight by the attorney for the Nichols family Ben Crump Mr Crump we appreciate you being here tonight uh you you spoke to Tom on Monday before these charges came down obviously you you knew they were coming before we did what are your initial thoughts your reaction to the indictments we learned about today we're Aaron the family of Tyree Nichols is very are very relieved that there will be criminal culpability of these officers that they believe are responsible for his death based on what they witnessed on that horrible video you know these charges uh we know are just the beginning of the process here in a lot of ways right I mean you're looking at uh five second-degree murder charges for these former officers do you feel like these officers were charged appropriately in this case we think that the prosecutors did their due diligence uh and based on their documentation of the video that they charged them with the most that they felt they could get convictions on and we've only saw the video one time I know the prosecutors had the benefit uh of being able to rewind and slow down the video to you know document this brutal you know uh assault and battery on Tyree Nichols that uh was so unnecessary you know I do want to ask you about that video obviously we haven't seen the video yet uh you've seen it you you compared it to uh Rodney King and the beating that we all remember from from 1991 is there anything else that that you want to say about this video before the public sees it I think the public is going to be just shocked when they see the other escalation of force in this video and when they hear Tyree saying what did I do uh why they shall all kind of profanities at him and you know he has said I just want to go home and there's never a level of humanity extended to tirade by the officers you just kept waiting for somebody to say hey guys uh we got them let's just calm down uh but you don't see that and you know after he's crying out for his mother um the last words out of his mouth that we ever hear him utter you know and then he's and handcuffs are sitting against the car and you just see his body fall to the right side and then after a minute they pick them up and then it body falls to the left side and uh you know you watch this go on you watch him there on the ground and handcuffs uh obviously in distress moaning and nobody offers to render Aid to him and so on top of all of that brutality that he just engaged in they still had no Humanity for Tyree as he's sitting on the ground dying and that's what I think is just going to be so shocking to people that this was so unnecessary all of it was unnecessary and we know how agonizing this has been for for tyree's parents for the family there uh you the parents and you spoke with our Priscilla Thompson uh several days ago is there a message tonight from tyree's family now that these charges have been filed you talked about them having some sense of relief is there something that they want the rest of us they want the Memphis Community to know well you know they all right they expect when the video is released that they're going to be very strong emotions they're asking that people uh peacefully protest if they decide to protest uh these are good people uh people who want Justice for Tyree and they don't want it to be sidetracked by people doing uh bad things so they're asking for people to peacefully protest do you do they have a feeling that this is the Justice they're looking for I mean obviously we have the officers who were fired last week we now have uh this this long list of charges against these officers is this the sort of Justice they were hoping for is there another step that they would like to be seen taken where they were hoping for this Justice and for Justice Criminal culpability and civil accountability so that it would serve as a deterrent for them doing this to anybody else's child this is very very painful for so many reasons of Ben Crump the attorney for the Nichols family we appreciate you making some time for us this evening and our thoughts are with the Nichols family and the City of Memphis as they go through this now thank you you're very welcome thank you and for more analysis on these charges and what's next for this case in Memphis I want to bring in criminal defense attorney Andel Brown and retired Los Angeles police Sergeant Sheryl Dorsey and Della start with you here just help us understand the charges that we're looking at here can you walk us through them especially these kidnapping charges that we're hearing uh anything here surprise you but nothing here surprises me Aaron when we look at the facts of the case and what we've heard so far it seems like a very extreme and brutal uh incident that happened to Tyree Nivens the second degree murder charge carries a maximum of of 8 to 30 years in prison uh and excuse me 15 60 years in prison with the aggravated kidnapping caring eight to thirty years in prison those are the most serious charges these officers are facing and with charges at this level if there are convictions we expect that they will face significant amounts of time in prison uh at their sentences Cheryl let me turn to you here the Memphis police chief has emphasized a commitment to transparency uh coming out of this this case do you think that they've done enough to sort of set up expectations to be upfront about how terrible this video is to watch enough that the public was going to trust the way that this department is handling this case well I think they've certainly done all that they can to set up the expectation I mean the fact that they have delayed the review of the video by the public a day after charges were filed so that people understand that they are trying to do something in terms of holding these officers culpable criminally but you know what what would be nice is to make sure that going forward we don't have officers who are working a specialized unit like this scorpion team which kind of would give you an understanding as to why these officers have the mindset that they do that they can beat someone unmercifully at the end of a foot pursuit have those officers looked at right now before they go out into the field to look for guns and stolen cars to make sure that you have an officer with the right mindset and temperament to be a part of a specialized unit such as the Scorpion team and Dale you know right or wrong when when we saw these photos of these police officers there were a lot of people who were surprised that these were five black officers do you think that this case is going to be handled any differently or play out any differently given that all five officers here are black I think the issues at hand are bigger than the race of the perpetrators we're looking at a system and a culture in that Memphis Police Department and we want to know that the community can trust that there's going to be transparency and accountability regardless of the race of the officers that were involved police departments have a tendency to be more aggressive and at times more violent when dealing with black suspects here we have a young man who's mercilessly beaten for several minutes and the police department has done good things in stepping up and saying that we're going to bring charges but we want to know about the culture of that Police Department we want to know what systems are in place to prevent this from happening to anyone else it's not just about these individual officers it's about the entire culture there and the community feeling safe and knowing that there's a trust between them and law enforcement and Cheryl that's likely the case that we might hear made if there are protests that come as a result of this case there's a concern that the protests could come and could be violent once this video is released tomorrow we heard the chief there say that she understands people will protest but she wants to ensure that the community is safe she she made that point in a video message a very measured uh seemingly scripted video message that her Police Department put out as a former Sergeant what's your perspective on this video from the chief before the body cam footage is released well you know I appreciate the sentiment but what we have to be clear about and understand is across these 18 000 police departments uh there are officers with a similar mindset as the five that were involved in the beating of Tyree Nichols these are the kinds of officers that I refer to as elephant Hunters the big game Hunters the the felons that are that are going out there looking for felony suspects and so unless and until you do something to deter this bad behavior you're going to have young officers between two to five years on the job it's reported unsupervised out there acting in a way that is contrary to their training this is not a training issue this was officers who were drunk with power and one of them presumably had been previously sued and so he lives to offend again we've got to get these people off the police department when they demonstrate that they don't have the temperament or the skill set to properly supervise and engage in law enforcement activities and Dale I'll ask you last year as a defense attorney given that this body cam video of these officers exists and we will see it what would you anticipate from the defense team going forward here I think the defense team is going to bring out the fact that anytime officers use Force it's not a pretty sight they are in dangerous situations and they're making split-second decisions they did not go out there with the intention to harm uh Tyree Nichols which is what one of the officers attorneys has already said and has already suggested and they're going to have use of force experts and other people talk about what is appropriate and inappropriate when dealing with taking someone into custody and using Force hear their allegations of either a foot pursuit or some type of reckless driving that occurred before they're going to tell the jury the defense attorneys that they need to look at the entire interaction and not only the portion that's captured on the body cam footage that's what I expect to come out of uh the defense for the officers all right we will leave it there for now and Dell Brown and Cheryl Dorsey we appreciate your time and your perspective tonight thank you now to the latest on the trial of once prominent South Carolina attorney Alec Murdock the prosecution playing body cam footage from the night of the murders highlighting the gruesome crime scene and an interaction between Murdoch and a first responder Katie Beck is in South Carolina with more your honor of permission to published this exhibit the jury heard the chilling 9-1-1 call my wife and from First Responders recounting a gruesome crime scene standing near it a distraught Alec Murdock did you ever see him any tears any physical tears I did not this is official that they're dead yes sir that's what it looks like seen and heard by the jury the police body camera footage from that night and by Murdoch who became emotional several times especially as Witnesses described his son's injuries on tape almost immediately Murdoch tells police the reason he believes his son was a Target this is a long story my son was in a boat break oh the months back he's been getting threats um I know there's somebody I know that's what it is Murdoch also mentioned that theory to the 9-1-1 dispatcher referring to the 2019 boat crash that killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach Paul Murdoch charged with three counts of boating under the influence in the incident had pleaded not guilty and was awaiting trial defense on Cross highlighting the lack of blood on Murdoch's clothing also questions about preserving evidence do your best not to contaminate anything and this is your best and Katie Beck joins us now from South Carolina Katie you mentioned it in your piece there during the cross-examination the defense questioned the preservation of the crime scene right saying that the evidence there may have been Disturbed talk to us about how that might affect the case here they want to try and get points wherever they can and obviously pointing out the fact that investigators weren't wearing coverings over their feet a lot of people were coming and going from that scene there were some Tire prints that weren't molded because the rain came and washed them away these are small points that they can win on process and that's what they're trying to do there point out that perhaps investigators didn't take this crime scene as carefully as they should have and therefore that evidence wasn't collected and preserved as well as it could have been there's also the the the the thought that there hasn't been a lot of hard evidence in this case so far legal experts are saying that this case is circumstantial right what does the prosecution have to do here to prove Murdoch is guilty the prosecution has to make sure that each witness they put up there is a beacon of credibility that everything they say has a purpose and a meaning and is believable that is hard to achieve but it is the way forward with this jury because of the fact that they don't have a lot of Hard Evidence they don't have a murder weapon they don't have surveillance video they don't have any eyewitness that's going to say they saw Alec Murdock shoot his wife and son that night so what do they have to do they have to convince the jury that the circumstantial evidence they have through testimony is credible and is true so what we're hearing on the stand right now is valuable because the jury is going to weigh it in total they're going to see the whole picture the cumulative testimony of all of these people and decide whether or not they believe the theory the prosecution is putting forward Katie back in South Carolina tonight Katie thank you now to the alarming 100 million dollar scheme Federal prosecutors say helped thousands take shortcuts to nursing jobs three schools in South Florida accused of selling fake diplomas and transcripts amid a nationwide surge in the need for nurses Stephen Romo has that report tonight shocking allegations a hundred million dollar scheme selling thousands of nursing diplomas now called fake by federal prosecutors while Healthcare professionals play an important role in our Public Health System we therefore expect our Health Care Professionals to be who they claim they are more than two dozen people a group of school administrators and recruiters have been accused in a wire fraud operation to sell phony nursing degrees creating what prosecutors describe as a shortcut around educational requirements set by the state nursing boards the prepared and sold fake nursing school diplomas and transcripts to nursing candidates knowing that the candidates would use those false documents to one seat for nursing board examinations the investigation known as operation Nightingale feds issued warrants in five states and say that three schools were involved all in Florida Sacred Heart Institute Siena College of health and Palm Beach School of Nursing all three institutions have since shut down so efforts to reach them were unsuccessful but Federal investigators allege between 2016 and 2021 more than 7 600 students obtained fake degrees paying out about fifteen thousand dollars each for a total of a hundred and fourteen million dollars these allegedly fraudulent documents may have allowed nurses to serve in critical Health Care roles more disturbing authorities estimate about a third of the people that received fake diplomas or nearly 2 300 people are actually practicing nursing right now we have not learned of nor covered any evidence of patient harm stemming from these individuals potentially providing services to patients the doj says this isn't just about the training of those nurses involved but the Public's potential loss of trust in the health care industry when we take an injured son or daughter to a hospital emergency room we don't expect really cannot imagine that the licensed practical nurse or registered nurse treating or child took a shortcut around educational and licensing requirements and Stephen Romo joins us now Stephen this is shocking and scary for a lot of people to think about this do we know what happens now to these nurses who who got these uh these fake diplomas yeah and are working right now yeah that's the scary thing they're working right now the last things people want to think about is is this nurse actually do they have a degree well the FBI says that the list of those people some 2300 of them has been given to each State's boards and it's up to them to decide what action to take against these nurses now we reached out to the National Council of State Boards of Nursing and they say that could include losing their licenses but as for charges that are already announced those are focused on the people who were allegedly running those schools and handing out those fake degrees Aaron all right Stephen Romo for us tonight Stephen thank you we head overseas now to Ukraine hit hard by a massive and deadly Russian military assault this comes one day after the U.S and Germany said they are sending tanks to Ukraine RAF Sanchez is there with late details tonight Russia's Revenge just hours after the U.S and European allies
announced they'll send tanks to Ukraine Russia unleashing airstrikes targeting Ukraine's power grid and ripping apart these homes my life is broken why has it all happened to us she says Ukraine says at least 11 people were killed in attacks across the country with thousands more fleeing to shelters this blasting cave captured by Sky News cameras where was it saying today we withstood another massive missile strike by terrorists strikes come just a day after President Biden announced the U.S will send 31 Abrams Tanks to Ukraine though they won't arrive for many months Germany's 14 leopard two tanks could be here by the end of March meanwhile in eastern Ukraine the war means new isolation this bridge was the lifeline for Ukrainian villages on the far side of this River but destroyed during the war and now the only way across is this narrow walkway donated food Fuel and winter clothes all now carried on foot Irena coralenko's parents live on the far side seeing them now a journey over icy water this is scary to walk yes families divided by War but finding a way to stay together and the Kremlin says the U.S and European decision to send tanks means NATO is now directly involved in the war here but Ukraine isn't stopping at tanks officials say they hope the next step will be for the Allies to send American-made F-16 fighter jets Aaron ref Sanchez reporting from Ukraine tonight for more on President Biden's decision and the state of the war in Ukraine NBC News White House correspondent Carol Lee is joining us now Carol President Biden has said that his defense secretary Lloyd Austin signed off on this decision to send these tanks to Ukraine but your reporting found that Austin along with other military leaders really had for weeks said it didn't really make sense to send these tanks had seen before they reverse course about 48 hours before the president's announcement help us understand how this all came together what's going on here sure Aaron well the military advisors the president's top military advisors were making the case to the president for weeks that these were tanks that the ukrainians didn't need that they were cumbersome they take a lot of effort to learn how to train on them it takes a lot of effort to maintain and repair them and so from the military's perspective it didn't make sense in terms of what the military felt was needed right for the ukrainians on the battlefield so that was the position of the White House and we had officials telling us just days before this announcement that the president was not going to cave on this now what was happening behind the scenes was that the president was getting indications from his own advisors but also from his allies in Europe that this was something that was really potentially going to fracture this alliance between the U.S and Europeans on Ukraine and that's been a key critical thing for the president to have as he's tried to execute his strategy on isolating Russia and supporting Ukraine and so the president decided that in this instance he was going to do a make essentially a diplomatic decision a political decision and say okay we'll send these tanks to Ukraine if that means that Germany is going to also send tanks and those tanks would actually get there before any U.S
tanks would and so that's why we saw this reversal and then in doing that the president asked his advisors for as military advisors for options only for sending tanks and that's when secretary Austin said okay here's a recommendation that we could make for you so you touched on the reality of the there that these tanks are not going to get to Ukraine immediately anytime soon right how possible is it that they might never actually see a battlefield it's a great question because it really depends on how long the war goes on so what we've heard from officials is that these tanks could take months double digit months we're not just talking about three or four months or more than a year and so if the Ukraine is still in the middle of a war a year from now which there are some Administration officials that thinks that that's a real possibility then they may actually see these tanks but if not then these are tanks that the ukrainians may never see and that really there underscores what I was saying which is that this is a decision that was largely strategic in terms of diplomacy the president trying to maintain this Alliance and trying to do something that might incentivize other countries namely Germany to send their own tanks that would actually arrive there much sooner than any U.S tanks would and Carol lasting here I know our White House team you guys have been reporting that President Biden is considering a trip to Europe next month to coincide with the one-year anniversary of Russia's Invasion what more can you tell us about that so we know and then we're first to report is that the president the White House are looking at making a trip to Europe around the anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine which is February 24th so just weeks from now and the idea is the the White House and the president want to do something very meaningful something that is symbolic something that sends a big message to the world on this anniversary and so a trip to Europe potentially Poland they're looking at multiple locations we're told Poland is among them would allow the president to have this platform to potentially deliver a speech to meet face to face with allies as he tries to maintain Unity among the alliance and so it's one of the options another option that they're considering and they could do both or they could do none no decision has been made according officials but another option is they could do one of these massive Aid packages military aid packages for Ukraine that we've seen already this month there in the U.S has put forward more than six billion dollars in military aid for Ukraine so there could be Aid there could be a presidential visit it to Europe they're sort of figuring it out but they want to do something big something that makes a splash something that sends a message Carol Lee in Washington for us tonight there is also breaking news from Somalia the U.S military says it has killed a senior Isis leader and at least 10 other Isis militants the raid carried out in a mountainous area of Northern Somalia defense secretary Lloyd Austin saying the target Bilal al-sudani was a key operative and facilitator for the terror group's Global Network no civilians or U.S service members were hurt and still ahead tonight carjacking nightmare a man stealing a car with a woman sleeping in the back seat we'll show you the dramatic chase that he led police on and play you the phone call that may have saved that woman's life plus Uber crisis in Cancun tourists stranded at the airport as taxi drivers protest in the streets we'll explain the chaos unfolding in paradise and Close Encounter of the asteroid kind what NASA says will happen tonight that few people on Earth have ever seen before stay with us we're back now with the Wisconsin woman's narrow escape a carjacker allegedly high in ranting about conspiracy theories stole her car from a gas station while she was napping in the back seat NBC's Maggie Vespa has more on the Rescue all caught on dash camera footage tonight A frantic woman's nightmarish carjacking the high-speed chase captured on dash cameras I I was sleeping and he's in my car and I don't know when she's taking me just after three in the morning deputies say the unnamed victim woke up to Terror after a total stranger stole her car from a gas station as she napped in the back seat her husband had just gone inside I'm really scared this victim bravely calling 9-1-1 begging in the back seat with deputies say a drug-fueled carjacker behind the wheel no you are not no you're nothing at all the investigators just releasing video of the January 14th Chase through Columbia County Wisconsin north of Madison authorities say that stranger 51 year old Kyle Wagner of New York drove and swerved at speeds up to 90 miles an hour I don't know he's driving like crazy you were hugely impressed by this victim yes I think other people might just jump jump out of the car while it's moving not thinking they just you want to flee that type of situation so instead of doing that she was able to call 9-1-1 she remained composed she engaged the offender per a criminal complaint Wagner told the woman he was a truck driver and there was a conspiracy that people wanted to kill them so he was saving her also in that complaint Wagner telling the woman if her husband was worried about her he would be calling but he's not calling because he's already dead Wagner later admitted to deputies having used meth and Fentanyl the heart-stopping ordeal only ending when a patrol car knocked Wagner off course a Chase tactic he then crashed into a guard rail the car as you'll see nearly flipping over the victim runs from the back seat sobbing who's this guy a narrow escape from a nightmare she never saw coming tonight Kyle Wagner is being held on forty thousand dollars Bond and faces a long list of charges including false imprisonment attempting to flee or elude an officer and possession of methamphetamine he has yet to enter a plea and authorities say the victim is doing well Aaron now we go to the growing tensions between taxis and Uber drivers in Cancun taxi drivers forming a blockade at the airport to protest the competing fares of Rideshare apps confused tourists left stranded there some even having to get a ride to the airport from police Morgan chesky has the latest tonight one of Mexico's hottest destinations in turmoil as Cancun's taxi drivers take on Uber in a bitter fight for business tensions boiled over this week leading to these dramatic scenes hundreds of taxis forming an airport blockade cutting off access and stranding tourists when I got outside there were mobs of people and everyone was confused the shuttle wasn't there the car was fair nobody from the agency was there and I had no information as to why my ride wasn't there well what was going on other terrorists even ditching the vehicles forced to reach the airport on foot or by police escort the Rideshare app didn't start operating in the coastal getaway until this month and that's when the clashes start the U.S
state Department issued a travel warning for the state of Quintana Roo this week saying using ride sharing apps like uber could land them in the middle of a tense dispute between drivers officials meanwhile trying to urge calm es confrontations tonight in response to the clashes Uber telling NBC this is relative only to Cancun due to widely publicized incidents instigated by Third parties in a very specific tourist destination regular travel advisories from the U.S state Department repeatedly refer to Uber as a safe alternative throughout the country for U.S Travelers the safety features that are used in the U.S are also available to Riders and drivers in Mexico officials in Cancun say they are not letting the tension shut down Uber there just yet joins us live now from Dallas Texas Morgan we saw some pretty tense moments there in the video you also have some reporting that a man was actually pulled out of his car yeah Aaron unfortunately that is true in fact the Mexican president confirmed that during a press conference the other day saying that it was an American Tourist pulled out of that vehicle just a stone's throw from the airport where we where we've seen video after video of those tourists having to get out of those vehicles and walk up to catch their flight on foot Aaron some scary stuff there any word on on what's being done about this the airport is trying to do anything to fix this problem yeah very good question we did reach out to Cancun airport we have yet to hear back from them we could potentially see a step that we've seen taken in American airports where Uber or Rideshare apps have specific areas to pull up to away from those main terminals or they could also take the attack of not allowing them at all while keeping them legal to operate in the city of Cancun plenty of things left to be decided here in Mexico Aaron Morgan chesky for us in Dallas tonight Morgan thank you when we come back dramatic video out of Colorado a truck scene smashing through the glass doors of a police department the driver now facing charges that's next back now with top stories news feed and a case that grips South Florida for decades has officially come to an end 63-year-old Robert Kohler was found guilty for the rape and stabbing of a woman in her Miami home in 1983. authorities say DNA evidence has linked him to at least 25 sexual assaults in Miami alone throughout the 80s he's facing a possible life sentence a Colorado man is facing attempted murder charges after he plowed into the lobby of a police department surveillance video capturing the moment that 45 year old man drove his pickup truck right into that building in Grand Junction authorities say it was intentional an officer then comes out with his gun drawn and orders the suspect to the ground no word on a motive here the FBI has cracked down on one of the most prolific ransomware groups in the world the doj saying agents infiltrated and disrupted the hacker group Hive seizing its sight on the dark web the Gang has received nearly a hundred million dollars in extortion payments from schools hospitals and critical infrastructure around the world the FBI did not announce any arrests and is still investigating and the asteroid projected for a close encounter with planet Earth tonight the asteroid called 2023 bu is the size of a moving truck apparently it's represented the by the red line you see here in these images from NASA that the agency says it will safely pass the pan the planet 2200 miles above South America tonight NASA calls it one of the closest approaches by a known near-earth object in recorded history turning now to Money Talks what consumers and investors need to know from the business world and Beyond tonight new evidence that the economy continues to show resilience despite higher interest rates the economy growing almost three percent at the end of last year NBC's Tom Costello now with more it's the economy that just keeps on kicking Americans were still spending heavily at the end of 2022 helping to drive an annual GDP rate of 2.9 percent better than expected and more good news lower than expected weekly jobless claims the unemployment rate remains at a 50-year low but the economy is slowing I think we're living in Two Worlds we're living in the world of the present which has pretty strong economic growth right now we're living in the future which is a future of a really lackluster lame forecast of a stalling economy in Virginia today President Biden was highlighting the good news and wages are up and they're growing faster than inflation but the solid Stats come even as the Federal Reserve has made borrowing more expensive hiking interest rates seven times to tame inflation while inflation is cooling IBM and DOW are among the latest companies to announce layoffs even as Walmart raises its minimum wage by two dollars to keep worker in Chicago Elaine Fry's left balloon party stores profits tripled during the pandemic but the future is looking more unpredictable I'm optimistic I I will say though that I didn't sign a five-year lease on our retail space to really understand what's happening I signed a one-year lease the concern from Main Street to Wall Street recession this is going to be a mild correction um as opposed to deep and dark If the Fed keeps hiking rates the economy could go negative I think that if you're pandemic proof you're going to figure out a way to be recession-proof and Tom joins us now from Washington Tom we're now less than a week away from the fed's next decision on interest rates right these aren't usually decisions that come as a surprise when the re when the FED is going to meet how do the experts expect this to play out well today's data showing really continued strength in Q4 that would suggest that the FED is probably going to raise rates another quarter point next week and some economists worry that future GDP numbers could go negative if the economy slips into recession that could happen sometime this year and it could happen more quickly If the Fed continues to hike rates rather aggressively Tom Costello for us in D.C tonight Tom
thank you still ahead unrest bubbling over in Haiti police officers in plain clothes storming the airport what those cops say they're protesting and how the U.N is planning to deal with the growing violence stay with us now to top story's Global watch and the deadly raid by Israeli forces in the West Bank new video showing tires burning in the streets there after that raid which left at least nine Palestinians dead another Palestinian later killed in a separate incident Palestinian leaders cutting security ties with Israel following this raid which could lead to more violence and in Haiti police protesting recent gang killings of fellow officers new video shows fire and smoke at the entrance of the country's main airport protesters in civilian clothing identifying themselves as police storming the airport and blocking roads the United Nations proposing a foreign Strike Force to confront the gangs after at least 11 officers were killed last week and archaeologists in Egypt make a big Discovery new video showing the major finds there including two ancient tombs statues and other ancient artifacts that date back as far as 2500 BC they were uncovered just outside Cairo during a year-long excavate Nation it's the latest in a string of discoveries out of Egypt this week including dozens of burial sites and when we come back a powerful look into the past with the technology of the future how one organization is using artificial intelligence to help families uncover long lost images of loved ones who died during the Holocaust at stories next finally tonight ahead of Holocaust Remembrance Day we want to bring you a story about history Heritage and Technology being used for good an organization is helping people discover images of relatives who suffered through or were lost in the Holocaust all by using facial recognition and Jesse Kirsch has that story every face has a story but in these photos from the 1940s only three people are officially identified so to most of the world these images are a vault this is I and this is Michelin but blanch fixler has the keys unlocking almost 80 years of history with a Melody she's remembering what her roughly 10 year old self saying at this French children's home and how she wound up there what do you think about when you look at that little girl that little girl went through hell she made it through she made it through I guess with the help of God only with the help of Blanche fixler survived the Holocaust with memories of Terror as the Nazis hunted her Jewish Family along with Millions more people but until last year she had no idea these photos even existed they show Blanche soon after the war a connection made thanks to from numbers to names an organization which says it uses artificial intelligence to identify people the AI takes photos people upload online and Compares them to established digital collections including from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and Israel's Yad vashem Museum from numbers to names ran this photo of a young Blanche through its facial recognition program the search turning up a pair of images appearing to show the same little girl but in these photos she's nameless then Blanche took a look I recognize myself right away immediately yeah suddenly a photo with just one name listed online has a longer caption a deeper history and here is Rabbi Mintz and here is my aunt and here is my cousin Ruth what was that like to realize he had found you well it was very emotional but you know what I never got over the fact of not having a mother never never till this day Thursday yeah replace that just have to say Blanche says her mother brother and sister were all murdered by the Nazis her father fled their native Poland and headed east so blanche's Aunt watched over her hiding the roughly six-year-old in a bed moving her to an orphanage helping her flee the country this technology has unlocked fresh details from the darkest of times for Hollywood star Josh Gad and his family too Gad now has a photo of his great grandmother who was killed in the Holocaust someone whose face he had never seen you've heard of Sarah Rosenberg but to see her what does that do uh I was um Elation sadness um a a feeling an overwhelming feeling of closure Gad says another track down image is a clearer version of a photo showing his grandmother having this big yellow star on her that that uh you could see with with such again Clarity that was equally painful that was equally uh emotional dad is sharing his family's story and interviews and across social media at a time when he says Holocaust Education is so important with anti-Semitism festering we tested the technology ourselves using my own family photo of my grandfather Jack Kirsch a jewish-american prisoner of war held by the Nazis these were the 10 most likely suggestions from the AI unfortunately none of them a match it wouldn't make sense for my grandfather to have been in these settings but from numbers to names expects there may be Millions more photos out there still unanalyzed The Innovation is opening up more memories that are emotional but also hard evidence that Holocaust deniers cannot brush aside a picture is a real thing it's not drawn by you know artist you know it's not out of the figment of the imagination it's a real thing and if something is real you cannot deny it Jesse Kirsch NBC News thank you for watching top story I'm Aaron Gilchrist in New York Tom yamas is traveling to Memphis and will have the latest on the death of Tyree Nichols tomorrow night I'll see you at 2 pm Eastern tomorrow for NBC News Daily stay right there more news is on the way thank you thanks for watching our YouTube channel follow today's top stories and breaking news by downloading the NBC News app
2023-01-28 15:43
