Top Story with Tom Llamas - July 22 ｜ NBC News NOW

Breaking news tonight. Tropical storm Bertha makes landfall as life-threatening floods hit the east coast. Dangerous floods sweeping through a neighborhood. First responders rescuing trapped drivers. Torrential rains putting tens of millions on alert. Plus tropical storm Bertha moving inland. Storm surge and rain lashing the coast. We're tracking it all tonight. The independent autopsy results for Nolan Wells released. Why it can't rule out foul play. And we hear from one of Nolan's friends about the day he went missing. Also breaking police struggling to detain a man accused of stealing bicycles. Then they opened fire killing him. Police say he had a knife. President Trump paying respects to the four fallen U.S. service members killed in recent Iranian attacks. The Ryan Air passenger sucked out of a plane window speaking for the first time after his head and shoulders were pulled outside the jet. A helicopter crash landing directly on top of two people. Both of them somehow surviving. The real magical mystery tour. This tour bus suddenly surprised by the legend Paul McCartney on a FaceTime with Ringo Starr. Plus the disaster tracking app surging in popularity as wildfires and floods ravage communities. We speak with the co-founder about how it works and why he's doing it. Top story starts right now. Good evening. Right now tropical storm Bertha carving a path across the Gulf Coast packing heavy rains and intense winds. You can hear them whipping on this Mississippi beach and this was the scene on an Alabama island. Vehicles trapped in water and sand pushed on shore by the storm. Out of the Gulf just off the coast of Texas waves pounding this oil rig. The storm not as destructive as some had feared. Bill Karen's tracking where it's headed next and a separate system soaking the southeast rescue teams in Nashville braving knee-deep rushing water to save stranded drivers. Home security video captured this man and a child running for their lives. Moments later flood waters carry away a shed and other furniture. Murky water nearly submerging cars and taking over neighborhoods. The National Guard now deployed to help people there. We're following it all tonight and we begin our coverage with George Solis reporting from the Gulf Coast. Tonight tropical storm Bertha turning ashore east of New Orleans. Bertha packing heavy rain and stormy seas. This is the view this morning from a rig off the Texas coast as it moved through the Gulf. Storm surge encasing these vehicles in sand in Dolphin Island Alabama south of Mobile and submerging nearby streets with water bringing bands of rain across southeast Louisiana. We're currently on highway one enroute to Grand Isle where some of visibility has diminished as some of the rain and wind has started to pick up. WDSU's Alyssa Gomez is in New Orleans. Here in the Venetian Isles neighborhood of New Orleans we've quickly watched the water rise from our ankles to our calves. Now the main concern is will more rain and heavy winds push all of this water into these homes. In Venice near the mouth of the Mississippi River we met fisherman Chris Glass not taking any chances. Got to make sure your boat's tied up for sure because it can easily pop a line and float off. And overnight after torrential rain from a separate system in the east Nashville fire crews making multiple water rescues. In West Virginia a home security camera capturing flood water sweeping away this shed south of Clarksburg. Dozens of rescues in the state after as much as half a foot of rain fell there. More than 300 National Guard members now deployed to help residents. All right George Solis joins us tonight from Grand Isle Louisiana. George we can see some of those waves there behind you kicking up. The most intense impacts have been there along the coast. Yeah that's right Tom but residents grateful the impacts were not more severe. Even so at this hour Bertha is weakening but you can see those winds are still packing a punch. Officials urging everyone to not let their guard down. Of course to keep an eye on those roads as some of this water still continues to pool on residential streets. Making sure that everyone of course urges the warning from officials to stay safe. Again as we still feel the impacts of this storm here along the coast. Tom? All right George thank you. Let's get right to NBC meteorologist Bill Karens for more on Tropical Storm Bertha's path. So what are we talking about here Bill? Not such a big storm? No but a big inconvenience. You know we just had two days people on vacation down along the Gulf Coast. Beautiful beaches Panama City, Pensacola, Southern Alabama, Mississippi. We've had two days of very rough water rip currents, beach erosion, things like that. But the rain and the wind is not a damaging storm and that's good. We won't need those anyways. So the storm is as close as it's going to get to New Orleans right now. It's going to head through Louisiana and then pass back out south into Texas as we go throughout the next 24 hours. Here's the current wind gust and you know we just gusted to 29 offshore out the oil rigs. We got some serious gusts up to 45 miles per hour but none of that is going to be on land. So that's been the legacy of this storm. Storm surge as it goes past the storm surges on the back side of the storm as the winds are coming in off the water. Maybe a one to three foot water rise but you know this area deals with storms that have like eight to ten foot storm surges so that's not a problem. And here's that storm path so by this time tomorrow the storm will be very close to the Houston area. It'll also be weaker so we won't really talk about Bertha much more after tomorrow. As far as tonight goes I have my eyes closely glued from Raleigh, Virginia Beach, the Norfolk area. You're under a flood watch. We're expecting training thunderstorms throughout the overnight hours. About 14 million people are under flood watches from the mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina and then especially this area from Raleigh to Norfolk. Tom someone has a chance of getting up to five inches of rain tonight in the middle of the night which is always a little dangerous. All right Bill Cairns for us Bill. Thank you. Now to our other major headline tonight we're getting preliminary results from the autopsy of Nolan Wells. The report commissioned by his family's attorney concluding the cause of death could not be determined but that foul play could not be ruled out either. Aaron Gilchrist has the details. Tonight newly released autopsy results are raising more questions about how Nolan Wells died. An independent exam commissioned by his family's legal team classified the cause and manner of death for the 18 year old as undetermined pending investigation. He's saying based on the examination of the body he cannot rule out foul play. That is significant. The forensic pathologist wrote there were no fractures cuts or bruises on Nolan's body but noted red discoloration was found on the back of his head and needs more investigation. The autopsy was performed four days after his body was found. The pathologist also writing there were missing parts of the neck. Have you or he asked anyone for access to those things? Hopefully that the medical examiner will allow him to come and examine the throat. Also to talk about observations that they had and so they could share information. It is not unusual for a state medical examiner to keep parts for further evaluation. Former medical examiner Dr. Priya Banerjee reviewed the autopsy report. I think the best thing we can take away is that there's no identifiable trauma. The Jackson County Sheriff's Office is still investigating what happened after Nolan went to Horn Island in a boat with friends on July 4th. His body was found two days later washed ashore there. Today the family's attorney noted the doctor was unable to examine the airways and lungs for water to determine drowning. In a recent interview Warren Hudson says he'd been friends with Nolan since they were kids. Hudson said they frequently went boating and they went to Horn Island with a large group of friends on July 4th. Everybody's drinking you know I mean it's 4th of July everyone's just trying to enjoy themselves. All right Aaron Gilchrist joins us tonight from Chicago where that press conference took place. Aaron the autopsy did not include a toxicology report why is that? It didn't Tom and we're told by the the pathologist who did this independent autopsy by way of that report that he wrote that there are several things that are outstanding. Several pieces of information that he did not have that the state medical examiner in Mississippi would have because they did the first autopsy and so that information is something that he would like to have his hands on so he can finish his report but I will say Tom he's not likely to get that information. The doctor we spoke to who was a former medical examiner and the piece we just played here told me that when she worked for a municipality when she worked for a state as a medical examiner there were many times when she did not share information and could not and sometimes because of state laws with people who were not in her office or who were not state employees and so she didn't know if that was the case in this instance but she said it's not something that is typically done to her understanding that that sort of information would be shared with another entity. At the same time we know that Ben Crump has said he hopes that there will be some exchange of information. We have been told by the sheriff who is still doing his investigation that he likely is not to talk much about this case in terms of what they've been able to learn until after a grand jury has a chance to review the case file when the investigation is complete and Tom we also heard from the state medical examiner's office today and they said that when the investigation is complete it will share what information it can at that time. Tom? Aaron Gilchrist for us Aaron thank you. Ben Crump the civil rights attorney representing the family of Nolan Wells joins Top Story tonight. So Ben I know this must have been a very difficult day for the Wells family that news conference had to be difficult for them to hear. What was their reaction to the findings of this independent autopsy? Tom like most people they were alarmed to hear some of the findings the preliminary findings of this independent autopsy. The focal point of the red discoloration that was in the back of his head around the occipital bone region area and the fact that he was missing his throat they didn't really understand what all of that meant but they did understand that Dr. Mitchell said for these and other reasons right now the manner and cause of death was undetermined pending further investigations and we went through great lengths to explain those other things that we would want for him to make a better finding. We'll get back to what what that showed behind the head in a moment on the issue of the throat so our viewers understand this is something that that had to happen right that was removed in the initial autopsy done in Mississippi? Yes so the initial medical examiner with the state of Mississippi was able to get the body first and they did their autopsy where they removed organs and they you know examined them and cut into them and so we did not get the body to six days after July 4th. While that is significant Tom is the fact that we have to depend on their observations and their photographs to know if his body was waterlogged if he had water in his lungs if he had water in his airways so we talked about the limitations of a second autopsy. Yeah this brings me to my to my initial question here which and I want to be clear with our viewers right I want you to confirm this Nolan Wells knew how to swim correct? He did his mother his friends he was a college football athlete Tom he was in superb shape. Right the biggest question that you posed during this news conference is how did Nolan Wells enter the water right you know how he leaves the water he is deceased he was found there washed up face down but how did he get into the water why is that so important in this investigation? That's one of many questions but that is the crux of the matter as Dr. Mitchell opined in the preliminary findings you know what was the condition of Nolan Wells body when he entered the water was he conscious was he unconscious was he forced into the water was he unforced into the water all those things matter what was the gastric content in his stomach because was he in the water for two days or had he just been in the water for an hour or two all of that is relevant. Talk to me about the toxicology why is this so hard to figure out right now why is it taking so long? Well you know we don't control any of that unfortunately we're always at the mercy of the government officials when it comes to toxicology but what we do know is irrespective of the toxicology irrespective of how he got in the water his mother and father as many in the public continue to say Tom that how is it you had 300 400 people on horn island and their son if you go with this suggestion of an accidental drowning nobody's saying they don't know anything nobody saw nothing and that's why people are so outraged when they think of this nobody is coming forward I mean his cell phone is gone with them no 18 year old is going to just willingly park with their cell phone. There are no signs and I want to make sure I get this right from what your independent autopsy showed no signs of blunt force trauma but you said you cannot rule out foul play what does that mean? Well certainly we went through great lengths to explain that his body was severely decomposed when Dr. Mitchell got the body so we can't see if there was physical bruises or abrasions to his skin but we did find and Dr. Mitchell said this was significant that there was a focal area of red discoloration on the back of his head. So what do they think that is? The occipital region. And what do they think that is? What do they think it is though? So so let me explain Tom that is why Dr. Mitchell needs to be brought before the grand jury in Mississippi and they get to hear from him to give expert testimony. We have been very transparent. We're waiting for the state of Mississippi to be transparent. But what could it be? I mean could it be somebody who struck him? I'm not qualified to speculate. Dr. Mitchell said that that's why you need medical experts to come before the grand jury and talk about the causes why you could have this pooling of red discoloration in the back of his brain and I've seen the photograph. It leads to many questions. You said and I want to correct this because there's there's been some discrepancies. You said Wells was fully clothed when he was found that the United Cajun Navy had told you this but now they're disputing that saying that from the air they could see he was not wearing a shirt. So where is that disconnect coming from? I just want to make sure we're clear here. We don't want any misinformation out there. Certainly and we're only getting what that has been reported. They reported that a person said he was fully clothed and face down and you may have seen it all over the media all over People magazine and then we are trying to verify that we haven't gotten anything officially from the Mississippi law enforcement agencies. We are waiting just like you all to get information from them and that is what's so heartbreaking to the family. They come out and say well there's no uh suggestion of foul play almost as if just go on but the family refused just to let them sweep it under the rug. Yeah I yeah I think there's just so much confusion out there. We want to make sure we're clear with the little facts that we do know or the little reporting of evidence that we do know. Ben I got to ask you have you spoken to any friends or witnesses who have shared any information about Wells that day? I find it really unbelievable that almost 20 days later we have almost no new evidence than what we first learned when those those poor parents came out and they asked for the public's help. Have you learned anything new to put together a timeline? Does your team of lawyers have a timeline yet about Nolan Wells? Well our team of lawyers and investigators are talking to people daily. People are coming forward thanks to the Nolan Wells tip line at bencroft.com. People are calling the number. They are sharing videos with us. They're sharing photographs with us and they're sharing what they heard firsthand with us and so it's all important we're trying to put this puzzle together and so we are working on a timeline just like we wanted to make sure we doubted every eye and crossed every teeth with the preliminary findings of the autopsy. We're going to do the same with the timeline and we want to encourage people to continue to call and talk and you're right it is very troubling Tom. We think that if matters would have been reversed we wouldn't have to be fighting so hard for answers. What's your relationship like with the local police department that is investigating this with the county right now with Jackson County? I mean are you guys are they sharing information? Are they being forthcoming? We have mutually agreed that we will uh our experts and the experts will work to examine Nolan's uh cell phone but no we we asked are they examining their cell phones uh all the people who are were on the boat and Katie and we haven't been told anything about that so you know the family is a little frustrated with the uh response they're getting from law enforcement but we are convicted that we're going to stay the course and we are going to get answers Tom. We will find out we will find out why Nolan Wells is dead. I hope you do a lot of people across this country most of which the family of Nolan Wells would like to know. I want to put a photo up on the screen this is one of the first photos we saw of Nolan Wells. It was it was on that day July 4th when he was with his friends that were on that boat that he did not return with. Have all of those young men spoken with Nolan Wells's family? Have they explained to him explained to them to the mother and father what has happened? Have they talked to you in any capacity? I'm not aware that they've spoken uh to his family or not. I know they have lawyers and I'm not permitted to speak to them without their lawyers. Do you have a theory Ben last question here do you have a theory as to what happened his cell phone his wallet still on the boat but Nolan was not what do you think happened to Nolan Wells? You know Tom the regrettable answer for you is that we believe somebody know or saw what happened to Nolan Wells. We don't want to speculate but it's undeniable to us because of our lived experiences as black people in America had the roles been reversed and you had three young black men with a young white man and that young white man ended up dead. We think this investigation would have been much more zealous much more aggressive it wouldn't have been a question are they going to cooperate and let us see their cell phones. They probably would have been held until they answered every question and every cell phone had been downloaded and that's what we're fighting for. We want a fair and impartial investigation. We want the same investigation where it would have been had it been one of the law enforcement's children who had been left dead washed up on an island after a fourth of July weekend. Ben Crump we hope you get some answers soon we hope the family gets some answers soon because it is just so horrible what has happened to their son. We thank you for joining Top Story tonight. You're very welcome Tom. We also have some breaking news out of Wisconsin tonight police in Madison shooting and killing a man who they say pulled the switchblade on an officer the deadly confrontation caught on camera. NBC's Maggie Vespas following this one for us. Maggie this happened late today and the details are still coming in what what do we know? Well Tom we actually know quite a bit because this was actually caught on multiple cell phone cameras from multiple angles. I'll show you kind of the first one here it's a wide shot it kind of shows it from the beginning you see what appears to be a black police SUV pulling into that intersection in Madison Wisconsin earlier today officers jump out four of them appear to tackle a man on a bike a struggle ensues we part of it blurred and then you see that struggle there and then you hear three gunshots followed by people screaming. Now Madison police say the man was armed with a knife they released a photo of that knife again this is also graphic you just heard the gunshots there that's the switchblade they say they say the man pulled it when the struggle ensued wounded an officer who then fired they say that was the only officer who fired adding the others tried to use a taser before this encounter turned this violent. They say the encounter actually started because they got a call about a man stealing bikes and trying to break into cars. Now it's important to note at this time police are not naming the man who was killed they're also not naming the officers who were involved in this saying all of them right now have been put on administrative leave while the investigation into this shooting gets underway. Tom. Okay Maggie Vest for following that one for us Maggie thank you. President Trump today paying tributes to the four U.S. service members killed in the Iran war attending their dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware Courtney Kuby was there for it. One by one four fallen U.S. soldiers arrived back on U.S. soil today after making the ultimate sacrifice. President Trump saluting at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware where no audio recording was allowed for the dignified transfer of Army Captain Tyler James Feehan, Staff Sergeant Michael Emmanuel Swinton, Sergeant Angel S. Rampersad and Private First Class Isabella Gonzalez. All four killed in recent days three in Jordan one in Iraq as attacks from both the U.S. and Iran continue. The attack in Jordan so brutal that Sergeant Rampersad was initially listed as missing in action and now must be positively identified by a DNA test. U.S. ally Jordan increasingly a target of Iran. This video appearing to show warning sirens in the country where Iranian missiles struck an airbase with U.S. troops. Today on Capitol Hill Democrats blasting U.N. Ambassador Mike Waltz over the war. You don't even know how many U.S. troops were wounded and didn't end this Iran war. Shame on you for not even know the basic facts. You are the U.S. Ambassador and you don't even know how many U.S. troops were wounded in Iran war. You got that wrong. Overnight the U.S. launched the 11th straight night of attacks on Iran targeting aircraft hangars and drone storage facilities in an attempt to degrade Iran's ability to launch attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz. And with gas prices up another five cents today President Trump posted a threat that if Iran launches any new attack on a ship in the Strait the United States will bomb and destroy one bridge or power plant including those located next to or in the capital city of Tehran. I just left Dover Air Force Base. The president also speaking today in Georgia after flying Captain Tyler Feehan's family home on Air Force One and acknowledging their loss to the crowd. We will carry Tyler's memory in our hearts forever. Courtney Kuby joins us tonight from Dover Air Force Base and Courtney just moments ago we learned of new strikes against Iran. Yeah U.S. Central Command announcing more strikes against Iranian military targets tonight. Now much like last night and previous nights they are intended to degrade Iran's capability to threaten commercial shipping and any kind of shipping throughout the Strait of Hormuz. But notably tonight Tom they talk about protecting commercial shipping in regional waters as well. Now that is notable because some of the Iranian backed Houthi rebels are now threatening a blockade against Saudi Arabia in the nearby Red Sea. So it may be possible that the threat to the Strait of Hormuz in those regional waters could even be expanding. One of the UK monitoring agencies is reporting at least one ship that had some sort of a projectile fired at it off the coast of Saudi Arabia. Houthi rebels are saying that they have targeted at least two ships already tonight and we do have reports that others are turning around rather than going through that area Tom. Okay Courtney Kuby for us. Courtney thank you. When we come back tonight the airline passenger now speaking out after getting sucked out of a plane window. What are you saying about that horrifying moment? Plus the hunt for a suspected killer investigator searching for a woman warning she might be using different disguises and identities to stay on the run. And dramatic new video tonight of that arson attack outside a federal building here in New York. What it reveals ahead on top story. We're back now with Ryan air passenger speaking out for the first time after he was partially sucked out of a plane window. He and his wife crediting fellow passengers for saving his life. Our Tom Costello has the details. These are the images the blown out window and the dangling oxygen masks that still haunt Lubeza Karavich. The man who was violently sucked out of a plane up to his chest when a window blew out on a flight from Greece to Germany. Karavich tells The Guardian newspaper it's the noise before the chaos the noise that is always there when I close my eyes to sleep. With his head and shoulders hanging out of the plane his wife and fellow passengers pulled him back inside. His upper body was severely disfigured. His arm was badly injured and there was blood everywhere she says. The plane's right side engine appears to have ripped apart in flight possibly sending shrapnel into the window. Once back inside one passenger blocked the window with a suitcase and Karavich his wife says passed out three times. I thought I was losing him. His heart was beating so violently but she says flight attendants only came to help after the pilots had made an emergency landing in Greece. Ryan Air told The Guardian as soon as the aircraft descended to a safe altitude our cabin crew attended to and assisted Mr. Karavich. Now at home the 61 year old father of two says he doesn't remember much and his head and neck still hurt but he's alive. The U.S. NTSB is leading this investigation and says it has not ruled out aircraft age or service issues as a potential cause. The family is demanding accountability. Tom. Tom thank you. Still ahead tonight more Americans cutting ties with family members. Are therapists to blame? The new findings that may surprise you. Plus the new lettuce free deal from Taco Bell as the chain tries to win back some customers will tell you what you can get a buck for a buck. But first top stories top moment in the major surprise in the U.K. for a group of tourists on a Beatles magical mystery tour bus. While waiting at a traffic light fans got the shock of a lifetime when Sir Paul popped out of the window to say hi while FaceTiming with none other than Ringo Starr. Can you believe it? Now that's worth the ticket to ride definitely a tour to remember. Stay with us more top story on the way. We're back now with the manhunt for a suspected killer. Investigators in Florida say a woman wanted for murder has been on the run for almost a month possibly using multiple disguises to evade capture. Our Jesse Kirsch has more. Look closely at these photos. Investigators say they all show the same woman a cunning master manipulator named Isabelle Johnson who tonight is on the run and wanted for murder. I'm trying to get back to my house. The Walton County Sheriff's office releasing this video the 38 year old in Florida's panhandle saying this is what her voice may sound like. I'll put the address. Johnson is wanted in connection with the killing of Jason Colthart a 43 year old father who was found dead in a shallow grave last month. Authorities have spent weeks searching for Johnson arresting five people for accessory after the fact to a capital felony. Our focus right now and our mission right now is finding her so that way we can hold her accountable for the homicide. Investigators warning Johnson has multiple aliases may have changed her appearance and should be considered dangerous. Authorities say Johnson may even claim to be dealing with hardships like domestic violence so that strangers will give her a ride or money. All right good things to know there. Jesse joins us now live from Miami. Jesse there's an increase in the reward money as authorities ask the public for help. That's right Tom over the weeks this has unfolded we've seen reward money come out and now it is up to as much as $16,000 available for information leading to Johnson's arrest and again you see in those images there authorities really trying to get the word out about this individual who has been eluding them they say for weeks now Tom. Okay Jesse Curtis, Jesse thank you for that. Also tonight we have some new video revealing more about the arson attack outside of a federal building here in New York City this week. The footage appearing to show the suspect's preparations and how he was finally taken down. Jonathan Deans has this one. New video obtained by NBC News showing the arson attack outside a federal building in New York City Monday. The suspect identified as 43 year old Andrew Arabaca allegedly seen igniting fireworks setting off numerous flares. Some people in the distance take cover while two others seem to walk right by. Moments later you see the suspect pull out a pellet gun rifle and shoot it down the block at pedestrians. Next he is seen with what investigators say is a can of gasoline. This new video shows the large fire that set off. As the flames continue to burn the feds say Arabaca is seen returning to grab additional fireworks and hurls them to set off more explosions. The video shows a security guard grab the suspect who begins to struggle with him. Other police are seen running up the block to help as the fire continues to burn. I want to thank the work of our law enforcement partners whose rapid response led to the neutralization of the threat. The FBI says Arabaca admitted he wanted to target ICE. His defense lawyers say he's an army veteran and has a history of mental illness. For now he remains behind bars on the federal arson related charges. Jonathan Deans, NBC News, New York. All right we're going to turn now to the sudden death of a French modeling scout who was linked to Jeffrey Epstein. Questions are struggling around exactly how he died and the depth of his relationship to the disgraced financier. NBC's Hallie Jackson has this one. Modeling scout Daniel Sead found dead in his home outside Paris Monday night. Sead who was under investigation in France appears nearly 2,000 times in the DOJ's Jeffrey Epstein documents connecting the late convicted sex offender with women overseas. One example I had two girls from Sweden, a Slovakian, two French. Referencing good work for scouting and in multiple messages noting their ages. When Epstein asks responding in one email 26 but she looks 18. Epstein maintained a home in Paris visiting often. His correspondence about women with Sead coming after Epstein's controversial 2008 sweetheart plea deal on solicitation charges. Sead before his death denying wrongdoing saying he never knew about Epstein's abuses. He was such a powerful person and and and how can I not trust him? A lawyer for several Epstein survivors who say they were connected to him via Sead tells NBC News her clients are shocked and feel disillusioned calling it regrettable Sead died before he could be interviewed by investigators. Sead was never charged or arrested in the French trafficking inquiry which was opened after the U.S. Justice Department's document release. Years after the arrest of modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel the Epstein associate who died by suicide behind bars in 2022 awaiting trial on rape and sex trafficking charges. Sead's lawyer tells NBC News Sead always proclaimed his innocence wanting to see the truth come to life. Sead's lawyer suggests it's possible he died from a heart attack but there has been no official determination on cause of death. French prosecutors say there will be an autopsy. Tom. Okay Hallie thank you great to have you on the show. Now at Top Stories Newsfeed we start with a police takedown in Southern California that put a hospital on lockdown. You see a man wielding a machete. Authorities say it all started from a road rage incident. According to police they first deployed less lethal rounds as the man moved towards them before opening fire. Suspect is in critical condition tonight and a date is now set for the criminal trial of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. A judge said they ordered it to start on June 1st of next year. Maduro and his wife are facing drug trafficking charges. They've been held at a New York City jail ever since U.S. forces seized them from their Caracas home in that stunning nighttime raid in January. Both have pleaded not guilty. If convicted they could face life in prison and speculation still swirling about LeBron James and where he will be taking his talents next. The Miami Heat fueling the rumors posting a live stream link to YouTube titled LeBron James introductory news press conference. Fans jumped all over it but it turns out the whole thing was just a mistake. At least that's what they say. A team spokesperson telling ESPN they were preparing for the possibility of a reunion in South Beach when someone accidentally posted the link. And Taco Bell making a push to bring back customers after its business took a big hit when lettuce sold at the chain was linked to that stomach parasite outbreak. So now Taco Bell is rolling out a new deal. Enchiritos for just a dollar each. No lettuce at all. You better hurry though. They say the promotion ends at midnight and while supplies last. All right coming up on Top Story the terrifying crash caught on camera. A helicopter slamming into multiple people. Everyone somehow surviving. We'll show you that video. Plus the Louvre where thieves stole priceless jewels finally reopening months after that stunning heist. At least the room is. Stay with us. We're going to top stories global watch to check on what else is happening around the world. We're going to start with another major military shakeup in Ukraine. President Vladimir Zelensky firing his commander in chief replacing him with a new younger general. It comes as Zelensky has faced a wave of protest over the ousting of his 35 year old defense minister who helped develop Ukraine's drone technology that's given it an edge on the battlefield with Russia and disturbing new video to China capturing the moment a helicopter crashes and hits multiple people. This is wild. You see this. The three helicopters are flying there at once when one appears to lose control before spinning and slamming into the ground. Health officials telling local media two people were injured. Both are reportedly conscious which is incredible but one was badly hurt. And the Louvre's iconic Apollo gallery reopening to the public for the first time since more than 100 million dollars worth of jewels were stolen in that dramatic daytime heist. It happened nine months ago. Since then the Paris museum has ramped up security including installing new surveillance cameras but the precious crown jewels still remain missing. That piece had caught our attention in the Wall Street Journal. It asked the question are therapists to blame for the rise of adults cutting off their parents. It explores some of the reasons more and more Americans are cutting ties with family members. Research shows that 25 percent of people in the U.S. are either estranged or have cut off communication with a close relative and 10 percent are estranged from a parent or child. I want to bring in a licensed family marriage and family therapist Peter Anderson. He was featured in that report in the journal and completed some of the surveys of estranged parents and families. So Peter thanks for joining Top Story tonight. Explain to our viewers this idea that therapists are to blame for this and what is the theory there and what did you hear from the families you spoke to? Yeah hopefully you can hear me okay. I mean one of the things that I saw was about 75 different parents and the main thing that I saw was the cutoff was all of a sudden. It was sudden. It happened immediately and contrary to a lot of social media stuff that you see maybe online that you know parents are somehow trying to make this or excuse me just completely aware of why the cutoff happened. That's just not true. The other thing is that a lot of these parents were trying to reconcile with the kids but even though they tried they either got no responses or hostile responses and so that was really that was very interesting. We talk about yeah kids we're talking about adult children right and is there an age group that this is affecting more than others? Well the survey said basically it seemed about 22 to about I would say about 38. So yeah I would say early 20s to about late 30s that seems to be affecting the most. And then some experts also say social media could be partly to blame. How does that play a role in this? Well I think social media you know the algorithms cause us to be a lot more divisive toward other people. I mean it's ever since I would say even COVID. It teaches us with the emotion of disgust to look at the other side is absolutely evil and I think social media kind of feeds into that. I think we've got a lot of work like with Jonathan Haidt for example who's done a lot of work on that to see that you know social media can often feed that confirmation bias that if I could see somebody is wrong I could then you know cancel them. I want to read a quote from the Wall Street Journal report. A different therapist they spoke to had a different point of view on this. Here's what she told the journal. Why are we giving all this deference only to parents Goodman said? Why aren't we believing the kids? They are adults. Is there some merit to that? Well I guess my response would be compared to what? Like are we comparing this generation to World War II? Are we comparing this generation to Mao's China? Are we comparing this generation to maybe when parents came or dads came home from Vietnam with PTSD that was undiagnosed? Listen I mean parents have had stress in their relationships with their children since the book of Genesis right? And so I mean I don't think abuse is the answer on why this is happening. I think there's something else going on. You could call it coddling. You could call it the excessive amount. Coddling in what sense? Parents trying to get too much into the lives of their kids? Well yeah I mean I went to Whole Foods the other day and you saw three kids basically in the cart. You see a lot of kids I mean playgrounds are made of pillows. You know you could I see parents basically wanting to give literally everything to their children. I'm not convinced that somehow like abuse is the reason why this is happening. I just don't see the evidence for that. Yeah this report also gets into the long-term impacts of estrangement. Talk to us about that and what does that do to families? Well it's interesting because I mean I primarily got into this because I'm fascinated with the work of John Gottman who talks a lot about contempt and you could read the work on what contempt does to the human heart. You're less likely to live if you have contempt in your heart than even somebody that smokes a pack of cigarettes a day. So you know we haven't done tons of longitudinal studies because it's pretty sudden and that's what's concerning for me. Contempt we do know does some real damage. So what we can see is that if you're holding on to an excessive amount of contempt that's not good actually for your health. Yeah what advice would you have for people who may be estranged from their family members right now? Well I would encourage them to be more clear. I mean I'm a clinician and it's amazing to me that a lot of people spend a lot of time mind reading. Don't mind read ask. Also don't assume that other people know what you want or need. Tell them. One of the things that I often don't see is a lot of clarity of communication. In other words it's like describe what we're talking about. Why are you bringing something up from 12 years ago? What do you feel? And then what do you need? I rarely see communication done that way. One of the things about the survey again it's a preliminary survey we're working with a group Richard Blake and I Dr. Richard Blake we're working on making it more peer-reviewed. But one of the things that we're seeing about these surveys is like communication just seems to be very vague. So work on clarity of communication. What exactly do you really want to talk to your parent about? I think that would really help. We are back now with a disaster tracking app exploding in popularity as this summer sees a surge in extreme weather events. From recent deadly flash flooding in Texas to dangerous brush fires popping up in South Florida more people are turning to a centralized place to get those life-saving alerts. Watch Duty tracks everything from wildfires to flood threats in real time getting its data from a number of sources including government websites, forecasts, radio scanners, social media and even first responders. It's sort of like the ways of weather if you will. Joining me now is John Clark Mills he's CEO and co-founder of Watch Duty. John thanks so much for joining us. I'm actually going to bring up the app here on the screen and have you walk us through what we're looking at. So our director is going to take it. We're going to start in Florida you can see there's multiple fire icons right now looks like the state of Florida is on fire. It's not really as you zoom in you can get a better sense of where these fires are happening. Walk our viewers through exactly how you get this data in here and how it works. Thanks for having me appreciate your time here. We actually source this data most of it comes from first responder radio traffic as you've probably seen and they talk to each other on the radio and that is where you actually find the best source of information in real time. Yeah and then how many sources are you pulling from this at any given time? I mean is it hundreds of tips hundreds of pieces of data is it thousands or is it is it a dozen? I mean it can be hundreds of thousands. I mean the information really comes from the first responders themselves whether it's a public information officer putting out a brief on Facebook or it's radio traffic itself. It's very important for us to actually get the information from officials not from strangers who are seeing things and they can't describe out the window. So it's really important that it is expert sourced and not reminds me of um it reminds me a little bit of ways it reminds me of those crime alert apps as well when you want to know if there's crime in your neighborhood. You created this platform after getting caught in a wildfire from what I understand in California. Talk to us about that experience and why you decided to do this. Well unfortunately it was a couple of fires uh the first one I went through I was not alerted I heard helicopters up in my house and then I watched a tanker fly over and drop retardant on my neighbor's ranch and that was how I was alerted and then about six or seven months later there was another one and another one and they keep coming and I kept having the same problem. I couldn't find all the information I needed so I was staying up day and night trying to collect this information myself listening to radio scanners and then it was actually people on Facebook and Twitter who had done the same thing but then they were broadcasting it themselves so really the innovation was actually just banding together all these human beings who were doing this as volunteers and it became a very large organization because of their hard work. Yeah where do you get the funding for this? My producers told me because I was wondering you know who owned this if you owned the app and they told me it was a non-profit so so how exactly does the financial model work? It's an interesting model we have here so we are a 501c3 public non-profit organization and a lot of the donations actually come from individual contributors so in the app if you want to pay $25 a year you can get extra features inside the app it's similar to how NPR will give you a tote bag for becoming a donor instead we give you features and that actually is supporting about five million dollars a year in revenue which is great as a non-profit we can stand our own two feet but our budget is higher than that and so we have a lot of donors like google.org amazon other private philanthropists who are giving us money to fuel our growth. John I gotta ask you I mean when I when I was looking at this I thought it was a great idea and I'm sure a lot of tech companies out there think it's a great idea why didn't you want to capitalize on this and make a gazillion dollars off this great idea that could still help people? It's the right thing to do I've been through disaster and I know you have as well I've seen your reporting and after you go through what I've been through and much of my community has it changes you and sometimes we decide to do the right thing for the right reasons and this is my time to do that. We've seen government cuts recently to weather monitoring programs is that impacting your service at all is it playing to any of your decision making here? I mean I should say yes to no it is definitely a struggle especially because a lot of our information comes from public information officers themselves and so those folks are really important to the information infrastructure as well as things like doppler radar and weather sensors and all this stuff and so look it's still here today which is good news and I'm hoping that the work that we do shines the light on these government services which are important for us to predict and prevent this these catastrophes from happening. John Clark Mills we thank you for the work you're doing and we thank you for coming on Top Story tonight. Thanks so much for watching Top Story I'm Tom Yamas in New York stay right there more news on the way. We thank you for watching and remember stay updated on breaking news and top stories on the NBC News app or watch live on our YouTube channel.