episodes, rewatch them. don't miss this sunday night at 10:00. there was a banner on the program that appeared on the bottom of the screen about the report of the navy s.e.a.l. who killed osama bin laden. it was an error and we apologize. "360" begins right now. >> thank you for joining us. tonight, a "360" exclusive. the former navy s.e.a.l. who says he killed osama bin laden. he talks about why he broke a vow of silence and possibly the law and about the mission that he expected would end in a pakistani prison or in death. the murdered family and the family friend who told us nobody had any reason to hurt that family. well, tonight, authorities say he had a reason and he killed them all. he's now in custody. plus, 43 students missing in mexico, thousands demanding answers and action. tonight, we do have some answers. horrifying answers about what happened to those kids and how police allegedly delivered the victims straight to the killers. we begin with perhaps the last person in the world you might

suspect a murder, much less of murdering an entire family. maybe you saw it all coming. in a moment, you'll have a chance to look in his eyes and decide for yourself. the man in question is named chase merit. you might already know him. he spoke with randi kaye earlier this year, just a few months after a pair of shallow graves were found in california's mojave desert. in those graves the remains of four people that he was very close to. joseph mcstay, his wife, and their two sons. by then, the mcstays had been missing nearly four years. their disappearance giving rise to any number of theories including some implicating mexican drug cartels. tonight, though, the man that is accused of capital murder is the same man who sat down with our own randi kaye. ra randi joins us now. you sat across from this guy, merit. what was he like? >> we were trying to get an interview with him, it had been almost four years. we sat about this far away, spent an hour together.

he was so calm, he was very friendly. he talked to our crew. he was very relaxed. he seemed almost -- he was warm, but he showed no emotion at all. >> we're going to show this interview in a moment. >> yeah. >> what was his motivation for talking? >> he said he wanted to set the record straight. i guess he had given a couple -- he had spoken to a couple of smaller newspapers and felt his quotes were taken out of context. he said to us, i'll sit down, i'll spend some time with you, and set the record straight and this is what he told us. >> let's take a look. >> you were the last person he saw. >> i'm definitely the last person he saw. >> chase merit in his only television interview talking about his final meeting with joseph mcstay. the day mcstay and his wife and two young sons suddenly vanished. the interview was january of this year. the mcstays had disappeared nearly four years earlier, on february 4th, 2010. merit was mcstay's business partner, and he says a close

family friend. the two met for lunch that day. and nobody ever heard from joseph mcstay again. did joey have any enemies you knew of? >> none. none. everybody loved joseph. >> any idea why someone would want to harm him and his family? >> no. there's nobody that i know of in his entire life that i'm aware of that would have any reason to hurt him. >> no one, say police, except chase merit himself. they say he murdered the entire mcstay family. merit may now face the death penalty. >> the cause of death was determined to be blunt force trauma. and based on the entire investigation and the evidence obtained, investigators believe these murders occurred at their residence in fall brook. >> the families' remains were found last november in two shallow graves in the mojave desert, now marked with giant

crosses. by then, nearly four years had passed. all the while loved ones were wondering what happened. and who could wipe out an entire family, including two small children. was it drug related? could it be the cartel? or did the killer know the mcstays? you took a polygraph test. what did it show? >> i don't know. >> you passed the polygraph. >> apparently. i haven't -- after i took the polygraph test, law enforcement has not contacted me at all since. so i kind of simply assumed, well, apparently that resolved any issues that they may be looking at with me. >> did detectives ask you if you killed joseph mcstay and his family? >> i don't recall them asking me that. >> nothing that direct? >> hmm? >> not that directly? >> no, i don't recall them being

that direct. >> early on, detectives in san diego, who first handled the case, began to believe the family had run away to mexico. they noticed someone had searched for information about passports and mexico on the family's home computer. and they also discovered this, surveillance video at the border showing a family of four crossing from california into mexico. family members weren't convinced it was them. another clue, the family may have gone to mexico, their trooper was found parked steps from the border at a strip mall. a neighbor surveillance camera had captured the suv leaving the mcstays' home the night they disappeared. the question still, nearly five years later, is why. we asked merit what he thought about the families' remains being discovered in the desert, in a spot not far from where he lives. were you surprised that the remains were found in this desert in victorville?

>> yeah, actually, because i live in asparia. >> nearby. >> yeah, probably 20 miles or so. >> is this ever -- would you ever expect this is how it would end, in the desert like that? >> in the desert, i had no clue. >> in your gut, what do you think happened? >> i have absolutely no clue. i think that if i were to guess just like anyone else, i would think it was probably random. because i don't -- i honestly don't believe that family had anything to do with it. >> and what is fascinating about watching that is either he's telling the truth or he's a psychopath and -- or complete pathological liar. >> it is incredible now. >> to now -- and, of course, now that you realize the bodies were found close to his house, that raises lots of red flags.

not only did he tell you he was the last one to see them alive, he told you he was the first one to go to the house after nobody had heard from them. >> right. he told us he and joseph mcstay would speak 12, 13 times a day. when he hadn't heard from him, he decided to check out the house. he didn't go inside, looked through the windows, but the dogs who the mcstays loved and treated like family were locked outside. he said he fed the dog and called susan, joseph mcstay's mom, and said something is going on, you might want to call the sheriff and do a welfare check. and he said he went back with michael mcstay, joseph's brother, and they went inside through an open window and the house was in disarray, he said he was in there for three minutes but never gave us any clue he knew what happened there. >> i want to bring in a former fbi profiler, mary ellen o'toole. the fact this guy had so the

down for an hour long interview, the idea that he's reinserting himself into this thing is incredible. >> it is incredible but consistent with someone who wants to control his own image. they're very conscious of being -- having a good image. they also are, you mentioned it earlier, they're pathological liars and people that do have traits of psychopathy, they're very arrogant. they think they're smarter than everybody else and they can get through it. and they think they're smarter than the interviewer. whether, you know, it is a journalist or fbi agent. i've been in interviews like this, i've had them blow right through the interview and say, i would never do something like that. >> when you're dealing with somebody like this, he's just been charged, hasn't been convicted, so, you know, he could be innocent, we'll have to wait and see how this plays out, but, i mean, you watch an interview like that, is there

any way -- are there signs you look for as a trained profiler, interviewer, signs you look for that somebody is lying? >> there are indicators. randi did a great job. you want him to be on center stage, you want him to do all the talking. you want him to manifest all the behavior. and if the video is played during the trial, you want the jury to see the differences in terms of how he answers questions. so, for example, he was iffy about the polygraph, iffy about why this would happen, but when randi said ask him about whether he was the last one to see the father, he said, i'm definitely the last person he saw. so i -- that really compared to the rest of his comments, i think, was really pretty interesting. so you do what randi did, you let him talk, you let him have center stage. the more you let someone like that talk, the more they'll put out there and they'll not guard it. and so that's what you want them

to do. it is hard to get them -- he's not going to turn around and say i'm the person that did it. >> yeah, randi, in hindsight, it is fascinating he insists he's the last person to see them alive, how would he know that? when -- have police given any sense of a motive? potential motive? >> they haven't. they talk.fa about the fact the were in business together. >> mr. mcstay had a company making waterfalls. >> custom waterfalls and chase merit worked with him as the welder. chase told us they had this $9 million deal on the table, over many years, but he stood to make a lot of money with joseph mcstay and they had just had a business lunch that day on february 4th, 20 10. he said business was booming, going great, they had this business lunch and he said they talked another dozen times or so after that and then that night, this is the creepy thing, he got a call from joseph mcstay's cell phone, he says, at 8:28 p.m., he says he was tired, watching a movie with his girlfriend, didn't answer the phone, joseph is a long talker, didn't want to

get involved in a big conversation so didn't pick up the phone. but we wonder, did joseph mcstay really call him or did he have joseph mcstay's phone or did somebody else have it? >> fascinating. unbelievable to watch. quick reminder before we move on, make sure you set your dvr, watch "360" whenever you want. up next, the navy s.e.a.l., the former navy s.e.a.l. saying he took the shot that killed osama bin laden. been all over the news the last couple of days. you're going to see it here, an interview ahead of the documentary he's doing on another network. later, the question, who killed the students on all the posters, nearly four dozen of them. tonight, breaking news, the story emerging of mass murder in mexico. implicating the police and even the town mayor who allegedly ordered the killings. i got this. [thinking] is it that time? the son picks up the check? [thinking] i'm still working. he's retired.

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the interview you'll only see and hear here. the former navy s.e.a.l. who says he was the one that fired the shot that killed osama bin laden. you'll hear directly from him. and these days rob o'neill, is a motivational speaker. he lives in washington, d.c. where he's getting plenty of heat from the pentagon and shortly from the justice department as well. s.e.a.l.s are not supposed to talk about their classified missions, much less reach for the credit. there is controversy as well because his account of what happened in the raid on bin laden's compound in pakistan is not the only one, not the only version of events. just the only one that has him firing the shot that actually killed bin laden.

his story first came out in esquire magazine back in february 2013, in a piece referring to him only as the shooter. then three days ago, special forces website revealed his identity a week before he was expected to go public in a tv documentary. for more than a year, this former s.e.a.l. team 6 member has been talking to freelance war reporter alex quaid who joins us now. good to have you on the program. these are excerpts from multiple conversations you had with rob o'neill over the past year and a half. how did you get access to them? >> thank you, anderson. let me just say that i think people like rob and his fellow special operators, the s.e.a.l. community, they are out there right now taking care of business, going after bad guys in very dangerous locations. and i think they are heroes. so when i first met rob and it is so strange for me to call him rob because i had always said i would never call him anything other than the shooter, when i first met him, we were in a

location, an intimate environment, with other special operators who had just retired and wounded warriors and other combat veterans. it was a small -- very small group, a small gathering, and he decided in that safe environment that he would share a little bit of the same stuff that he had talked about in the esquire article. and after that, it was such a water shed moment for many of these combat veteran, his fellow special operators who had retired, who had been going through post traumatic stress, who were wounded, it was such a watershed moment for so many of them to hear about what had happened to bring everything basically into a full circle from 9/11 on. and to give them a sense of closure. after that, he and i talked about maybe discussing a little bit more about transition, about post traumatic stress. we agreed we would never cover the same -- the exact same

ground that phil braunstein had recovered. we would not release any techniques, tactics or procedures but would have ongoing discussions over the course of this year, year and a half, and this was many discussions, very casual, very candid, very friendly, but also it was about -- it was about being able to have some sort of a platform in the future, working on a story or something that would help bring some closure to the families of 9/11, to the victims and to combat veterans overseas. >> i want to play the comments from him. and these are excerpts of interviews you did with him over the past year and a half. we edited some of them together. let's listen. >> how do you feel about 9/11 today? >> i feel good on 9/11. i woke up early, which was 8:00 eastern time. so the first plane hit at 8:50? 8:48? 8:47? the other one 9:03.

yeah, i woke up before and i was able to see the start reading the names. on the helicopter ride in, for the bin laden raid, when we we knew we were going to die, we didn't do it for us. we did it for the people that didn't want to die, but they chose to, you know. we were given the green light. the two and a half days, we talked about it. and we knew we were going to die. we knew we weren't coming back. let's put it that way. maybe not die right away. but die soon after. we talked about that. it was a group of guys that knew their time on earth was up. we all accepted it and nobody was afraid. it was really cool. >> mindfully you all talked about 9/11 and stuff? >> no, we talked about -- the way we put it was the single mom who went to work on a tuesday

morning and later -- a few minutes later decided to jump instead of burning to death at her last gesture of human dignity with straightening out her skirt and then she jumped. that's why we went, for her. and, you know, for the -- all the people at canter fitzgerald, for the scott brady on a golf trip and his entire office was lost, his brother was killed. >> was all of this mindfully talked about. >> yeah. you have to pump yourself up to go die. we would talk about this. >> to get your guys ahead in the right place. >> we just wanted to the rejustification, this is it. we're going to die, but we're going to die when the house blows up, but knowing that -- >> meaning -- >> anyway, well, going around -- 9/11 is very significant. it was the whole reason we were

there. >> you sound like a happy person. >> very happy. >> why are you so happy? is it the time in your life? >> little things from shooting osama bin laden, three weeks later, getting passed over for promotion, just getting black balled for doing something that everyone is so close to doing. and even now there are guys saying i'm [ bleep ]. but, you know, you only know what you're told unless you're in the room. and unfortunately there was two people in the room and one of them is dead. >> getting back to your role with helping vets and public with closure. it's a cliche term. >> i think the people need closure. i'll be honest, quote me on this [ bleep ]. every time that i'm not speaking, i need to be careful how i say this, until i'm outed, when i'm not speaking, i never mention the bin laden mission,

anytime anyone says my brother died at cantor fitzgerald or my mom, or whatever, one thing i tell them is, all right, osama bin laden died like a [ bleep ]. that's all i'm telling you. he died afraid and he knew we killed him. that's closure. vets don't need closure. vets need to sack up. we will bash each other for no [ bleep ] reason. every marine that gets up, every ranger that gets up, every army guy that writes a book, they're lauded as heroes. you do it as a s.e.a.l. and you're a [ bleep ] villain. >> well, you're -- >> no, we're not. why do they send s.e.a.l. team 6. >> i'll call that the interservice rivalry. >> why do they send s.e.a.l. team 6? they wanted him dead. they captured bin laden. great job. we killed him. in their defense, i will say

this, if delta was given the mission, they would do exactly what we did. we're better, but they're really good. most important thing i learned in the last two years is to me it doesn't matter anymore if i'm the shooter, and the team got him. successful mission. regardless of the negativity, i don't give a [ bleep ]. we got him. we brought him out and we lived. and obviously -- i don't care if i'm the shooter. and people think i'm not. whatever. >> alex, i want to bring in jonathan gillom, with me here and peter bergen, one of the few people who interviewed osama bin laden who wrote the book about his takedown. it is interesting, jonathan, to hear him say he doesn't care if he's shooter. it seems not to gibe with what he's going to be talking about in the documentary and has been according to peter and folks i talked to, talking about in bars for quite a while now. >> you know what that sounded

like to me, the fear that you ever have that you butt dial somebody and talk bad about that person? and then it gets out. and they're listening. that's what that reminds me of. because, you know, he may have said some great things in there about 9/11, about the victims, but i think that clearly defined the person he is, what we just heard. and that's somebody who has a rock star complex, has a me, me, me complex, you know, not telling a story full of conviction and pride. he was telling a story full of bravado. he's making it sound like he's the guy who did it for 9/11, but what i'm hearing there is a team guy that is not quiet, professional, touched by what he did. i'm hearing a guy using a lot of f bombs and a lot of bravado to describe something that he was fortunate to be a part of, to go on there. and it could have been any s.e.a.l.s. it could have been delta. it just happened to be a rotation that those guy were

over there. >> the fact he says that the only two people in that room were basically him and bin laden, that -- does that gibe with your understanding of how the raid played out? >> not really. i think there were two other people in the room by all accounts. in fact, four other people in the room, two were bin laden's wife and daughter. but two of them were two other s.e.a.l.s. and, you know, the debate which is never going be to be settled on this program or ever because the forensic evidence is gone, and, you know, people's memories of this event -- very confusing event, but there was the point man and matt bissonnette, also in the room, roughly at the same time. matt bissonnette's account differs. the point man is not public and he apparently will never go public. but the community in general has a slightly different view of what happened that night. i don't know if it is the truth. but they are skeptical of the

claim that this is the guy who shot bin laden. at the end of the day, we will never know. >> and from -- from the sources you talked to in the s.e.a.l. community, does what you heard gibe with what they say about him, about mr. o'neill? >> in what sense? >> well, i mean, folks i talked to have said he likes to talk, he likes to brag, talking about it in bars, things like that. >> he was thrown off the squadron that did the bin laden raid. he was thrown off the squadron apparently on this issue about going around and talking about it. and he refers to that in this very interesting tape recordings, that alex made. he says, you know, he was passed over for promotion relatively soon after the bin laden raid. so, you know, the question is why? if he was such a great hero, in his own mind and yet passed over promotion, usually there is a pretty good reason for that. >> alex, he does sort of indicate -- he says, you know, we're not quiet, other people talk about it, other people

write books, marines write books, essentially saying why can't we? there is another clip i want to play where you asked him about the sensitivity of the information he was disclosing and whether he would face repercussions. let's listen. >> was this correct what i had here? >> yeah, three to the head. >> have you been told not to or still under -- >> i was told by people i can't even say i'm a navy s.e.a.l. i don't give a [ bleep ] what they think. >> no threat with legal action? >> not at all. >> the time you talked to him, he seemed to indicate he didn't think he would face legal trouble. that certainly has been ruled out now by the government. >> i think one of the concerns is that the shooter, rob, over this whole year and a half since the esquire magazine came out, not only has he faced his family, and his -- his security, every day there is a target on

his back. and so i know that there have been many concerns and you got to think that somebody like this having to watch over their shoulder all the time and to be worried that they are going to be outed as he put it, outed by somebody else, or outed on a website, there is worries, i'm sure, for him on many levels. and not only that, just the stress of having dealt with his s.e.a.l. brothers being killed on other missions. i think for somebody like rob to come forward, after the word and being afraid that his name was going to get out there, i think that the chance that we have to actually hear from him is very important. >> there is a lot of s.e.a.l.s who disagree with you on that. and peter talked to a number. i talked to a couple as well. jonathan, are you surprised the way this played out, differing accounts, different perceptions? it is rare that you hear from s.e.a.l.s being critical of

other s.e.a.l.s. it is a brotherhood, a bond like anybody who has ever served can possibly imagine, even for those who served. are you surprised at how this is playing out? >> well, i'm surprised that it is actually happening. but the way it is playing out, i'm not surprised. anybody that is, you know, has been an fbi agent, anybody in law enforcement can tell you, especially street cops, you can take somebody who is a heroin addict, two heroin addicts and put them on both sides of town, never met each other. within a week, those people will find each other. that's just the way birds of a feather flock together. it is not a coincidence that bissonnette and o'neill are friends. i think that this is playing out because they're so similar in personalities, it is playing out the way it is. one thing i definitely hear in some of the things he's saying is he's trying to justify what he's doing, and he's trying to minimize what he's doing. and that's what criminals do. and i think that when somebody is breaking a law, knowingly,

they'll say things like, well, as long as somebody else said it, it is not classified. >> he's saying higher ups talked about this, therefore i can talk about it. >> he can still be charged under the ucmj. >> you believe he should be. >> i believe he should be. it is time to start setting an example. the guy is my brother, my s.e.a.l. brother, but he has gone far beyond a point where i have to support my brother. and he's tarnished a little bit of the reputation of what we have and that's where the anger is coming from, because these are professional people. one thing he did get right in that is that these guys go out and they put their life on the line. they don't even think twice about it. >> yeah. no doubt about it. good to have you on the program again. thank you very much. peter bergen as well and alex, thank you very much. fascinating discussion. you can find a whole lot more on this story and others at cnn.com. just ahead, another polar vortex bearing down on the u.s. what does that even mean?

we'll put into plain english for you. was why was last year the first time we're hearing about a polar vortex? it has been quite a while. breaking news, authorities, incredible story out of mexico, authorities say they believe they have recovered the remains of 43 missing college students turned over apparently by local law enforcement in mexico to drug gangs who then burned them to death. details ahead. how could switchgrass in argentina, change engineering in dubai, aluminum production in south africa, and the aerospace industry in the u.s.? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy.

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breaking news in a missing persons case. 43 missing people to be precise, college students, on their way to a protest when their bus was ambushed. mexico's attorney general says three men have confessed to killing them and the details are frankly horrific. students were allegedly killed, bodies burned, remains dumped into a river. just as horrifying is who allegedly orchestrated the crime and helped carry it out. rosa flores joins me now. what are you learning tonight? what is the latest? >> well, anderson, there are so many twists and turns to this

story. hear this, federal authorities here say that the mayor of a town, his wife, the police chief, and the cartels are allegedly all involved. now, about the latest twist, here is what we learned from authorities, they say they have arrested three cartel members who allegedly confessed to killing the students, burning their bodies, putting their remains in body bags and tossing them into the river. take a look at your screen. we have video of this river, shot last week by cnn photojournalist chris turner. you'll see that federal authorities are combing through that river. we can't verify that this is actually the federal authorities finding these body bags. but let me tell you something, the amount of military that was in this particular town is definitely out of the ordinary. >> let's get this straight, the mayor is allegedly behind these killings. showed a picture of the mayor and his wife, earlier video of them. why would a mayor want 43 students murdered?

do they know? >> you know, this story is so bizarre. the attorney general says that the mayor and his wife are actually the alleged masterminds behind the disappearance of these students. here is how they say that all of this went down. all of this is according to federal authorities. they say that the students were headed to the city, where this man is mayor, and the students are known to protest against the government. so the mayor found out, he told the police chief that he needed to stop these demonstrators, the police chief allegedly sent the police to block the street, a shootout happened, the police started shooting at these students. we do know this from authorities. six people died including three students, 25 others wounded and the 43 student survivors are these 43 students who are missing and according to federal authorities the police handed them over to the cartels. >> so after shooting some of them, killing and wounding some of them, they in another

incident they arrest, take 43 of them and the police according to authorities hand them over to a drug gang and it is this drug gang which is allegedly burned them and dumped them in the rivers, right? >> yeah. it is really a sad story. i was able to talk to the spokesperson of these parents. they talk very little because they're very emotional. some of them say they can't sleep, they can't eat. about this particular twist, they said, look, we heard this from federal authorities before. because federal authorities have come to them in two prior instances and saying, people have confessed, we have found bodies and they have found some remains in mass graves, anderson. so what the parents are saying is we need dna evidence. until we find dna evidence, until federal authorities can hand over dna evidence saying these are our children, they

think that their children are alive. >> rosa flores, appreciate that. we'll continue to follow it. to washington, the white house, president obama met with the presumed leaders of the newly elected republican controlled congress. they all played nice for the cameras. in front of the cameras. that may be what americans want to see at this point. but when the cameras left, it was apparently a different story. whether the new congress will actually get any work done, that, of course, remains to be seen. senior congressional dpo correspondent dana bash joins me now. what are your sources telling you that happened inside the white house today? >> it was about immigration and pretty intense. john boehner said right to the president's face what he said in public yesterday, which is he should not deal with the immigration problem by executive order without congress. not only will that, he said, make it impossible for congress to do immigration reform legislatively, but more important i'm told he warned the

president that it is kind of game over when it comes to the last two years in office for the president because his much bigger, measure conservative house caucus will be so enraged, they'll make it hard for the president to do anything and the president responded saying, you know what, it is my job, it is my authority, and i'm going to do it. >> so it sounds like they're in a standoff. >> it does feel like they're in a standoff. and it is not -- possible to see how they get out of it if the president is so dug in, and, you know, the argument he made, i'm told, by republican sources, behind closed doors in this lunch is that he's waited for six years because it was -- remember, the president's promise when he came into office to do immigration reform, but more importantly, he waited for a year and a half for the house to bring up a bipartisan bill that did pass the senate and they never did. they never dealt with it. and he just doesn't trust it is going to happen in the next two years. and much more importantly, he told the speaker and other people at this meeting, he's

concerned that there are people truly hurting. this isn't just politics, this is about human beings, who are going to potentially be deported because of the law of the land, and it deserved to stay in the united states. >> there is some people who thought maybe the president was using this as a negotiation tactic, have a hard line and see what could be negotiated. it doesn't sound like that's the case. when might the president take this executive action? >> well, right now the president told them this meeting and the white house sources are telling us by the end of the year. so within the next two months. the president is going to do this. now, certainly he could be surprising all of us, this could be just hard ball negotiating as you said, but if it is, it is pretty intense. and it is being done in a way he's never done before. it really sounds like he is planning on doing this. >> all right, we'll see. dana bash, fascinating stuff. >> thanks, anderson. >> up next, the dreaded polar vortex that is going to strike much of the u.s. next week. millions of people will feel the

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get your warm coats, a polar vortex is going to blast 200 million americans next week. the last night i was wondering out loud on the program what is with all the vortices lately. they're not anything new. they were described as early as

1853. and they're always there in the atmosphere, i'm not going to get all scientific on you, but here is cnn meteorologist jennifer gray to break it down for us. >> remember this? winter of 2013-2014 is one many want to forget. reporters standing in the frozen tund tundra, while much of the nation was bundled up and digging out for months. coping with one of the coldest winters in roughly 20 years. it was also the season of new hash tags. snow jam 2014 in atlanta, sn snowpocalypse and snowmageddon. and the polar vortex. we heard it over and over last winter, as if it was something new. now that we had a chance to thaw out a bit, let's set the record straight on what it is, and what it isn't. it is not a storm.

it is not a hurricane of cold air. it is not even something that can come and get you. the only way to be in the polar vortex is to be in an airplane. it exists in the upper levels of the atmosphere and is always there. it is an area of low pressure around the arctic circle that is locked in place and houses some very cold air. sometimes different weather patterns can influence the polar vortex and cause it to become distorted. as this happens, a large dip in the jet stream allows very cold air to spill into the u.s. that's the cold air you feel. the air that lives beneath the polar vortex, air so cold it can feel something like out of this world. you may want to dig out your winter gear next week. because the polar air is coming back. one of the strongest nontropical storms ever is churning off the coast of alaska, which will have a domino effect across the country. it will cause a huge dip in the jet stream, allowing temperatures to plummet. much of the country will experience the coldest

temperatures of the season with highs only in the 20s and 30s for the midwest by early next week. jennifer gray, cnn, atlanta. >> now we know. a lot more happening tonight. susan hendricks has a "360" bulletin. >> president obama is sending up to 1500 additional u.s. troops to iraq. nearly doubling the amount there to 2900. they will train iraqi and kurdish forces to fight isis. and three days after the election, virginia republican senate candidate ed gillespie on the left of your screen has conceded defeat in an unexpected late close race. democrat mark warner will keep his seat. and loretta lynch, the u.s. attorney in brooklyn is president obama's pick for attorney general. the president will make the announcement tomorrow at the white house. cnn's evan perez broke the news this afternoon. if approved by the senate, lynch will replace eric holder who announced his resignation in september as you know. anderson? >> susan, thanks very much. just ahead, the hero whose first instinct was to protect his fellow soldiers when the

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on veterans day, the nation will honor the men and women who serve the country. sometimes the call of duty doesn't come during a deployment in a far off place. in tonight's american journey, an act of valor in the middle of a deadly shooting rampage at a u.s. military base. here is poppy harlow. >> how are you feeling today? >> i'm feeling a lot better than i was a few months ago. >> a few months ago, new york native army major patrick miller and his wife ashley were living in texas after being assigned to ft. hood, following two previous deployments to iraq. but on wednesday, april 2nd, his life instantly changed. >> sitting in the office and all of a sudden you just hear bang, bang, bang, bang, six, seven gunshots. and right away, you know what it is, but you can't believe it. >> also hard to believe because just a few years earlier, ft.

hood experienced one of the worst military base shootings in history. leaving 13 dead. on this day, what patrick heard was an army specialist on a shooting spree. never one to run away from trouble, patrick ran towards it. >> after the gunshots, i just immediately got up and started yelling, telling everybody to get down, hide, lock the doors, and i went out in the hallway, just peeked down the hallway and there was this specialist walking down the hall towards me. i looked at him and i was, like, what are you doing? get out of the hallway. >> you didn't think that was the shooter. >> didn't know. when you see somebody in same uniform as you, the same american flag on the right shoulder, you know, my thought is, protect them. >> you are trying to protect the man that would then shoot you. >> correct. yeah. how ironic. but so he started running towards me. this is all within a three or four second span. and as he's running, i remember vividly thinking, he's going to

come in my office, he wants to come in my office for protection. he literally ran right up closer than you and i are and shot me point blank with a .45 in the stomach. >> patrick was shot just two inches below his heart. >> he shot me, he's trying to reload, i just push hip as hard as i could, shut the door, locked it, and then i just grabbed my phone and started calling 911 in one hand, putting pressure on it with the other. >> as you're shot, you're trying to save all these people. >> and calling 911. >> yes, ma'am. adrenaline is a heck of a thing. honestly, i didn't know how much -- i didn't know how long i was going to live. >> you thought you might die? >> i absolutely did. >> patrick knew his chances of survival diminished ex moment he waited for help to come to him. instead, he went to it. by climbing out of his office window. when was that moment when you first got to see each other after this? >> he had just gotten back from

surgery. he was intubated. he had an open wound. >> he underwent two surgeries in the next 24 hours. and recently had a third. but through it all, he never lost his will to fight. people call you a hero. how does that make you feel? >> i say this before, but in my eyes, i've always felt this, the true heroes are the ones who never made it home. daniel ferguson, carlos luzaney and timothy owens all perished on april 2nd are heros in my eyes. >> what has this taught you? >> appreciate every day, every minute of every day, and everything and everyone. and then that sounds so cliche, but it is so true. just don't sweat the small stuff. and live your life to the fullest. and do everything you can to make a difference. >> poppy harlow, cnn, reporting. >> they are all heroes in our eyes.

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that's it for us. thanks for watching. "this is life with lisa ling" starts right now. ♪ it's the weekend, and five women hit the road. like more than 10 million americans, we travel for our jobs. we're independent. we're providers. >> nothing is ever handed to you. i don't rely on any man to take care of me. >> wherever we go, we learn things. meet new people and hear their stories. >> i've met doctors and lawyers who want to tell me all their secrets. >> we get the job done. but only one of us keeps our clothes on while doing it.