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visit legacy box com today and get 60% off. >> welcome to times square that's not in my life. >> cheers i was so embarrassing. >> new year's eve live with anderson and andy. live coverage starts at eight on cnn. streaming live on max this is cnn breaking news you are in the cnn newsroom. >> i'm jessica dean in new york. and we begin this hour with breaking news out of syria. just moments ago, rebels announcing they entered the city of homs freeing over 3500 inmates from a military prison. and as they march toward damascus, it's not clear where president bashar al-assad actually is, with conflicting reports about whether he is in the capital. syrian rebels are now saying senior assad regime officials are preparing to

defect to them in damascus as they press on with their advance. for the latest in this, let's go to cnn's nic robertson who's joining us now from london. nic, this is moving pretty quickly. how did this war reignite and how are these rebels able to move so quickly across syria? right now? >> yeah, it really reignited because russia and iran and its proxies, hezbollah and lebanon and hezbollah in syria, who have been propping up bashar al-assad, looked weak because russia's fighting in ukraine and israel has dealt some deadly blows to hezbollah and to iranian interests inside of syria. that opened the way for the rebels. how were they able to do it? look, they've clearly gotten organized. they've clearly built their ranks. it appears that julani, the leader of the main rebel group, the umbrella rebel group, has reached out to other rebel groups. they've worked together it appears as if they've had significant training coming

from, you know, coming from military experts who are well equipped and well knowledged in, in, in fighting and warfare. and it's been effective. they've fought effectively. they've brought their forces to bear on all the different major cities from aleppo to hammer to homs. they say they now completely control fully control homs, not just liberating the prison, but taking control of it. and you can tell that they've been working methodically. they get to the outside, they go in. they don't claim that they've controlled the place. 24 hours later, they say they've controlled it. and this has gone on hour by hour through the day. and in fact, we woke up early today and the rebels movement had sprung up, reemerged, if you will reawakened itself in the south of the country. so by the end of where we are right now, at the end of the day in syria, you have rebel elements on the very northern outskirts of damascus you have rebel elements on the southern outskirts of damascus and

sources tell me that there are recon elements of of rebels inside of damascus itself. and this is why they're able to say that they think assad is no longer in his normal places in damascus. they don't know where he's gone. they do believe that he has left. but is he elsewhere in damascus is he somewhere else in the country or has he left the country a completely? it isn't clear at the moment, but it is, as you say, an absolutely rapidly moving picture there. yeah. >> and help us understand and kind of contextualize the size of the capital, damascus and how much ground the rebels have already covered well, if we think of homs, it's about a 6070 miles north of of damascus. >> and hama, about 50 miles north of that. and aleppo, another 70 miles north of that. and damascus itself is a really big city. i mean, it's one of those cities that sort of built on a mountainside, goes up into the mountains on one side. but

spreads out in these sprawling suburbs built along major highways that highways that go in one direction to lebanon in another direction to to, to the iraqi border in other directions. further north and east, inside of syria. it's a big country and a very big capital. but the rebels, from what we understand, your images that we're trying to verify are perhaps five miles from the center of damascus in one case, video appearing to indicate they were only one mile away from the very center of damascus, which is where you have the government buildings, the ancient citadel with with its winding, narrow streets and, of course, the sort of government buildings, the the main institutions, like the interior ministry pretty grim buildings to be taken into. and i've been taken off the streets by syrian government

government elements before and taken to some of these places. so these are the government buildings. but what the rebels are now saying is they are talking to senior officials who've been running those buildings and saying, look defect. and they say they're in conversations about these senior officials defecting. and certainly the way that assad has run his country the the brutal way that he, his father ran it and he ran it i don't think government officials under his regime would be on the verge of quitting. and jumping to the other side, unless they really thought that he had completely gone. and his machine of enforcing his control and rule was gone as well. people in syria have lived in fear of assad for generations now, and this appears to be coming to an end. although what it's replaced by that's a whole different question, right? >> that's the big question. all right nic robertson with the latest. thank you very much for that reporting. and for more on this civil war in syria, let's bring in former defense

secretary and cnn political commentator mark esper. secretary esper, good to see you. >> good afternoon jessica. >> so i want to pick up kind of where nic dropped off. walk us through what you think we're going to see in the next 24, 48 hours in syria. and do you expect the rebels to ultimately take damascus? >> yeah. nic gave a thorough rundown there. the fact is, as he said, the rebels are on the doorstep of damascus. if not inside. also, we know that there are many people in the suburbs of damascus have risen up, have protested. you have rebel groups associated with the druze and others forcing going north into damascus. so it looks like it could be end of days for bashar assad and more importantly, the regime that he and his father held grip over the syrian people for decades. and so i think at this point, the fight of the of the syrian army will depend on what they believe the status of bashar assad is. is he is he going to stay and fight like

volodymyr zelenskyy did when the russians invaded, or is he going to flee like the president of afghanistan did when the taliban came? and if he flees, i think the the army collapses. look, you already have reports of over a thousand syrian army personnel have fled to iraq. we know that the russians have redeployed elements of their air force back home. we know that the iranians have redeployed their military personnel and diplomatic personnel back to iran. so this looks like a could be a major collapse happening in the next few days that will reshape the middle east in extraordinary ways. and for years to come. >> so i want to dig into that for a second. let's start first with what it could potentially mean for the u.s. >> yeah, i think for the u.s. first, we look at russia. i think if russia if assad falls, russia gets evicted from the country. they will lose a warm water base at tartus in the eastern mediterranean, and they'll lose a strategic airfield just north of their latakia latakia. and that will

basically mean the end of that foothold they've had in the middle east now for ten plus years. that's significant. number two, what you'll see is an iranian retrenchment. further going beyond what happened with in the wake of the attacks by israel so if hezbollah was always the right fist of, of of iran's axis of resistance, the arm was syria. it was the means by which iran ferried people and munitions and weapons into the country, both by air and by land. and they will now presumably lose that conduit between iran and lebanon in terms of rearming hezbollah. so that's good for not just the united states. that's, of course, good for israel. so that's important there. so i think these factors are when you couple that with with the decimation of hezbollah, the decimation of hamas you see a very big, probably the most important impact being borne by the iranians. and then being further isolated in the region. >> yeah. and president-elect trump today called very explicitly for the u.s. to stay

out of this conflict. do you agree with that assessment you know, with all the time i spent with donald trump, president trump, he was he was clear and consistent in terms of not getting involved in wars and ending wars. >> so i understand the sentiment from what he's saying that. but i would not i would not say that in those terms at this moment. clearly, we don't want u.s. troops in the fight but we do have interests there. and i just outlined, you know, two or 3 or 4 of them. it's russia, it's iran, it's israel it's the fate of the proxy militias, hezbollah and others. so i think we have interests there. the question is, how do we shape this because the other unknown out there beyond the the the whereabouts of bashar assad right now is what happens when he comes in and seizes control of the capital what will they be? they were formerly aligned with al qaeda. they have jihadist uh pedigree with them. will they rule? will they rule like the taliban rules afghanistan, or will they try and set up some type of government, maybe a theocracy?

who knows? i think that's the the big unknown. and i think it's in our interests. the united states interests, to try and shape that in a positive way, not just for us, but for our allies, israel and others in the region. >> yeah. so that was the other part that i wanted to ask you about, which is what does it mean for the middle east writ large for for america's ally of israel and others? i mean, obviously, you've outlined what it means for iran, and it just sounds like they are continue continuing to be weakened. >> well, again, it cuts off a, you know, a pretty brutal regime to the north that saw it. although he's been focused on this civil war for many years nonetheless, it was always a thorn in the israeli side for decades, which is why israel went in and captured the golan heights and has been holding power there, holding that ground there for many years. that's first. i mean second, and again, most importantly, is the impact it has on iran and its ability to resupply and support hezbollah again, the ability to traverse munitions and weapons all the way through iraq and syria and into lebanon. keep in mind that's why we have about 900

troops in southeast syria right now. they were there originally of course, as base to to help defeat the isis caliphate that rose up in the 2014 or so and eventually defeated by the united states, our kurdish allies and others. but we're also there to watch the iranians, to keep tabs on them. and understand what they're doing in the region particularly as it extends into lebanon. and how it might affect the israelis. and i figure at this point in time, the israelis are watching very carefully about what happens how it impacts not just iran, but what it means for lebanon, hezbollah and lebanon and the future of the lebanese state. >> yeah, and i also want to ask you about president trump president-elect trump meeting with ukrainian president zelenskyy today, being back on the world stage. what did you make of their meeting zelenskyy saying it was it was essentially good and productive well, you know, first and foremost, if you if you had emerged from a cave after sleeping for ten years and watched tv, the last few weeks, you would think donald trump is

the president because he is he is taking calls from world leaders, visits from others like prime minister trudeau of canada and here he is in paris. >> being greeted by president macron and and joe biden has been off the stage. so he's looking very presidential, looking like he's in charge um, it was important that he had that meeting with zelenskyy, although they came out and the body language looked grim, it just there were no smiles. they looked a little awkward so, uh, but needless to say that zelenskyy and macron and all the europeans are very concerned about the decisions that donald trump will make when he comes into office on january 20th. with regard, first and foremost to ukraine will the united states continue to support ukraine with with weapons and munitions? uh, will they push for or will they negotiate a cease fire that that does not benefit zelenskyy at all. so these are all important questions that the europeans and others, of course, around the world are concerned about. and donald trump president trump is the one that will make that decision in a few weeks. >> right. and today december

7th, of course, the anniversary of pearl harbor and the pearl harbor attack and it was decades and decades ago, it may feel long ago and far away, but i can't help but think now as i'm just looking at these these these images. zelenskyy fighting for democracy against russia uh, trump being in france, of course, rebuilt after world war two. that world order that was set up with the with the united states being the superpower that we have, we have all grown up in is now really being tested that world order. do you think we are approaching another inflection point in history oh absolutely. >> you know, when i came into office, we were working off the premise that we were now in a new era of great power competition, that the the interwar period between 91 and, you know pick your date, let's say 2017, 2018, when we introduced our new strategy that was just a period of peace in between these great power struggles, the first being against the cold war, against the ussr, and now a new alignment of the democracies

against the autocracies of the world led by china and of course, we were caught off guard. we weren't prepared for world war ii in the pacific and not in europe either but it brought us into the war. and i think, number one, we need to and we've learned that lesson that we have to remain strong and capable. and i think there's a whole lot more we should be doing these days to remain capable and effective. but we also know that we went to war with our allies and our allies need to be prepared as well. they need to increase defense spending, both in europe and in asia, because china is a far different adversary than russia was far more capable complex, uh bigger, more technologically advanced and and, of course, the second largest economy in the world. so this is going to be the struggle of this century between the the democratic order led by the united states and the autocrats led by beijing and china and the communist party. and we're not yet prepared for that, that we're not making a sense of urgency out of it, that we should and in my view, the this fight between russia and ukraine is the first hot conflict of this new era. and we should wake up and realize that what happens

in ukraine is going to have global reverberations mhm. >> all right. secretary mark esper thank you so much. we really appreciate it and we have breaking news tonight as we learn crucial new details about the nypd's urgent search for the person who fatally shot a health care ceo in midtown manhattan. you're in the cnn newsroom you can feel myself. >> it was the most exciting time in the world his life has truly joyful moments and some really difficult moments. >> you only come across an artist like luther vandross once in a lifetime luther. >> never too much new year's day on long after guests leave, viruses and bacteria linger. >> air fresheners add a scent, but only lysol air sanitizer helps erase the trace eliminating odor and killing 99.9% of viruses and bacteria in the air. scent can't sanitize lysol, can i know how hard this is? >> hard versus duty. have you

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breaking news tonight the manhunt for the suspect in the shooting of a health care ceo on a new york street is now in its fourth day. >> detectives from the nypd are in atlanta tonight. as part of that investigation. now, since the shooting there has been an incredible outpouring of rage directed not at the shooter but at the health insurance industry. thousands of messages online that are rallying behind the killer. one message online reading quote prior authorization is required for thoughts and prayers. claim denied. cnn's jason carroll has more on why this murder is striking. a nerve across the country soon after the shooting of unitedhealthcare ceo brian thompson came the somewhat unexpected a flood of social media posts like these. >> i vividly remember being on the phone with unitedhealthcare for days and days nine months pregnant, about to give birth alone. >> it was a terrible, stressful, mad scramble.

>> we appealed, of course, to united health care and they denied the appeal within one day. >> if you're wondering i'm just saying my thoughts and prayers were also denied. i don't get thompson's death has not only opened the door for people to share their pain about how they say they were unfairly treated by unitedhealthcare, it is also unleashed a torrent of vitriol against the entire health care industry ex posts like this are some of the tamer versions of what's out there. >> today we mourn the death of unitedhealthcare ceo brian thompson. gunned down. wait i'm sorry. today we mourn the deaths of the 68,000 americans who needlessly die each year so that insurance company execs like brian thompson can become multimillionaires. then there's unitedhealthcare group's facebook posts about thompson, who was a husband and father of two. it reads, in part we are deeply saddened and

shocked at the passing of our dear friend and colleague brian thompson. brian was a highly respected colleague and friend to all who worked with him so far, that statement has received more than 90,000 laugh emojis no laughing matter to security experts like philip klein. >> there's now a widow and two orphaned children out there. >> they don't have a father now, and we all need to remember that. >> klein provided security to thompson in the early 2000, and he has grave concerns about what he's seeing now. >> this has sent a ripple through the corporate executive world about security and the security of their employees. >> i am surprised of the backlash, just because it's such a um, really sad situation that has occurred. >> erin bradshaw has some insight into the current climate among patients and insurance carriers she's an executive vice president at the

patient advocate foundation a nonprofit dedicated to improving health care access. >> it's an exhausting process. you know, and on top of already being sick injured or disabled when they are running into a challenge with getting access to prescribed care through their insurer, it just it complicates it and creates multiple layers of frustration. >> unforlyhy requires a prior authorization, and i have to deny that request. >> as frustrations simmer online with dark comments such as may the shooter never be found, my thoughts and deductibles go to the family. a new gallup poll found just 44% of adults say the quality of u.s. health care is excellent or good. the smallest share since gallup's tracking started in 2001. so some shocking comments there. also, comments from people who are clearly frustrated. the security expert that you heard from in the piece just wanted to emphasize that much of this backlash, many of these

comments are insensitive and downright irresponsible. we did reach out to unitedhealthcare to get more of their perspective on this particular issue. they did not get back to us, but cnn has learned that unitedhealthcare has increased its security measures at facilities around the country. jason carroll cnn, new york jason, thank you. >> and joining us now to discuss further, cnn national security analyst juliette kayyem and cnn media analyst sara fisher sara and juliette, i know you both just listened to that piece. sara, i want to start with you first. i maybe i'm naive but this was kind of surprising to see how vast this vitriol is. this hurt. i mean, clearly, there are a lot of people really angry at the health care industry, but it is being aimed at this this now dead ceo and and it is really something to see play out. >> it's fascinating because if you were following the campaign, jessica, this was not

a huge issue. >> health care wasn't the big issue of the 2024 campaign. however, if you take a look at the social media influencers that donald trump adopted when rfk dropped out and moved to him, you can start to see a pattern that was forming. >> this frustration with the health care industry. it has been there. and what you're seeing now is that this was the catalyst for it to come out even further and even more publicly i think this is the start of a larger conversation around the health care system. now, what's unfortunate is that the killer seems to be getting celebrated online. i mean, that's not obviously the path we want to go down but i think it's representative of a much larger issue in america that we all now have to face head on. >> yeah. and juliette, a couple of things. one, we don't know the killer's motivation yet there are theories about that. we do know what was written down on those bullets about delay, depose what i'm thinking about, though, is sara is talking to is the undercurrent though, of just americans deep frustration and feeling like they're not seen

or heard by what they consider to be the establishment, the people in charge of things, that it is hard for them to live their life. >> that's exactly right. so that sentiment, which is accurate and felt by many anyone who's been involved with the health care insurance industry certainly has their frustrations, and some of them are even tragedies has now been triggered and reflected in an assassin who has not been caught continues to evade police. and that's the nypd which a lot of an organization also that a lot of people have problems with so you have this sort of mythology being created by the very fact that he got away. he seems to come, you know, in from nowhere and leave without a trace and that is amplifying this this sort of, this ideology around him. look, we've seen this before. ted kaczynski had his followers, the anti-technology ones but i think sara is right that that that the the anger towards the

health care insurance industry has now found its focus and it's the death of a ceo and that is that is not that's not great. even if the the the public policy challenge about how these insurance companies treat people is, is legitimately criticized. >> and sara you know, typically we'll see the internet just just become sleuths. they'll track people down they'll figure out where they work. they can kind of do anything. and yet we really haven't seen we really haven't seen that happen. this time, even though we have a very clear picture of this, this suspect typically, if you go on tiktok during any sort of mass murder or unsolved mystery, you're going to have true crime believers trying leveraging their followers to figure it out you're hearing influencers with millions of followers saying, we're not going to even look into this we're not trying to help law enforcement solve this crime. >> we don't necessarily want

this guy to get caught. we understand the power of our followings, and we're going to leverage that to make a message around what's happening here. it's fascinating, though, jessica, because in the era of social media and in the era of ubiquitous smartphones, it's actually critical that the everyday person is helping to report a missing person is helping to ensure that the police can get this done. you're not seeing that at all. and i think the message from these influencers is to their followers, don't help out that police. i mean, that's a problem what do you make of that juliette? >> yeah. go ahead. >> no, i just wanted to pick up on what sara said. because, you know, from the media and social media side and the safety and security side, this goes to an element of how this assassin and the killer was able to evade capture. he he seemed to understand the surveillance state. he seemed to understand where cameras are where noise was picked up how to evade, you know with credit cards, with with cash only busses where you don't need ids and e-bike,

which is, you know, faster than a car, but, you know, it's hard to stop them. if he was in a chase he understood the city, right? and he understood a city that had cameras everywhere. and even with the picture of of his face, which he seems to understand that he wants to sort of cover the chin, even when he takes his mask off from, for our knowledge there has been no match yet. and that is that is a remarkable and suggests his sophistication. >> yeah, no doubt about it. all right. juliette kayyem and sara fischer, thank you to both of you. thank you. thank you. president-elect trump still weeks away from taking office. but that's not stopping him from making his presence felt on the world stage. as he prepares to wade into several critical international conflicts. more on this. here in the cnn newsroom cnn heroes, an all star tribute. >> meet and celebrate the honorees. then find out who will be hero of the year. plus, a special tribute to michael j.

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boulos. >> com if you or a loved one have mesothelioma, we'll send you a free book to answer questions you may have call now and we'll come to you. >> 808 two one 4000 president-elect trump back on the world stage, making his first overseas trip since winning the election. >> trump once again reuniting with the presidents of france and ukraine in a meeting ahead of a ceremony for the reopening of the notre dame cathedral. he also got a chance to meet with prince william at the uk ambassador's residence in paris calling him a, quote, good man and praising his quote nice grip. after shaking hands. cnn's alayna treene is live with more details now and elena, i know you're reporting is that trump was quite keen on being there for this event. he also received quite a welcome. what more can you tell us? >> he did. it was a lot of pageantry, a lot of pomp around that. you know arrival today when he went to the elysee, the elysee palace, to meet with president macron and then later with volodymyr zelenskyy. you had, you know all of the flags

out there, all of the cameras, they had that warm. they shared that warm hug and handshake. it was kind of reminiscent of when they would meet in donald trump's first term, and everyone had described it as somewhat of a bromance. their relationship before things kind of became tense throughout the years. but look, this was the type of welcome that donald trump wanted. and it's what i've been hearing from my conversations with with those working on the transition and those working on trump's team since then, that this is you know, what donald trump wanted for his return to the world stage. i think one key question, though, of course is what is his relationship with many of these leaders going to look like moving forward as you mentioned, he is still president elect he is not the president. he has another month or so until he is sworn in to office. but really, this was kind of a taste of what maybe we will begin to see over the next four years. and i remind you as well that donald trump loves to meet face to face with world leaders. he actually doesn't love traveling on foreign trips. at least that was the case. i remember when i covered his first white house, his first term in that

administration but he does like to meet in person. he likes to, you know play off each other. he likes to have negotiations in person. he often says he goes with his gut. i think that's a lot of kind of what we saw with these different meetings today. but one key question, of course, that i know a lot of people are asking is what is his foreign policy going to look like moving forward? and i think that was, of course, a key conversation that came up in his meetings with volodymyr zelenskyy and macron especially as it relates to what he's going to do about u.s. aid to ukraine amid the ongoing war with russia. but also, you know, any ideas for his promises, what he made repeatedly throughout his time on the campaign trail to end that war very swiftly. we haven't really heard much from donald trump about what that would look like, how he could do that so curious to see whether or not that came up today. i am told that we're going to get some sort of broader readout from that meeting between him macron and zelenskyy so i'm going to you know, i think a lot of eyes will be on on what exactly he

revealed during that. but again, he's still president elect. so only so much he can say and promise at this point. >> all right. alayna treene with the latest reporting. thank you very much. still ahead why the far right qanon community is excited about president-elect trump's choice to lead the fbi and how he could lead the agency. you're in the cnn newsroom welcome to times square that's not of my life cheers i was so embarrassing. >> new year's eve live with anderson and andy. live coverage starts at eight on cnn. streaming live on max. >> do your dry eyes still feel gritty rough or tired with my bow eyes can feel my bow bow. yeah my bow is the only prescription dry eye drop that forms a protective layer for the number one cause of dry eye. too much tear evaporation for relief that's my bow.

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reacting with glee to president elect trump's pick of kash patel as the next fbi director, in part because of a years old clue from so-called q. >> cnn's donie o'sullivan takes us inside one of the epicenters of deep state conspiracies we are here in beautiful sunny florida, right by mar-a-lago. >> we're on our way to meet a qanon influencer what? >> you know, you can't explain. >> for years jeffrey peterson, a former i.t. guy, has been running the matrix group show. >> welcome back to the g show, where the truth is learned. it's never told. it's a show devoted to all things qanon. >> if you think qanon is bad, you're believing the mainstream news. >> deciphering the cryptic codes from q and trying to figure out the deep state and the cabal and everything else. >> this is q post 1828. this is the the spy op.

>> and the reason we're here is because he has had as a guest on his show kash patel, who might become the next fbi director. >> cash is on the show today. let's bring him in right now. >> you guys are the best. >> i love being on your program. >> patel has dipped his toe into this qanon world a bit over the years. >> has flirted with it on truth social. >> there's a q account um, whether or not it's the real q, i'm not going to get into. >> are you a q or like so no so like everything else, you have to have fun with it. >> the q thing is a movement a lot of people attach themselves to it. i disagree with a lot of what that movement says, but i agree with what a lot of that movement says. >> the qanon movement has long been associated with radicalization and hate and qanon iconography was seen throughout the january six mob. >> is that donie o'sullivan? >> q has posted how many times? 4967 times. q posted about kash patel. >> yes twice and says kashyap kash patel a name to remember. >> q has been so right on so

many things. i'll get off that subject. >> no, he has and i and i agree with you. he has he has and you got to take a you got to harness that following that that q has garnered and just sort of tweak it a little bit. that's all i'm saying. he should get credit for all the things he has accomplished because it's hard to establish a movement. >> who is q? i don't know. >> q says it's ten people, three nonmilitary, less than ten. >> we don't know. i see people trying to say that cash is cute. you can't prove that. >> i can't prove that for a lot of people. >> kash patel engaging in the world of q and qanon at all. they'll say well, that's disqualifying, but what you're going to find out is that we have a mandate in america and we want the fbi cleaned. >> you know, 99% of the fbi is good you know, but there's a 1% that is not good. the anonymous q persona hasn't posted in a few years, but the world of qanon is still very real for people like jeffrey. >> news unlocks with the q posts are like, you know, like,

for example kashyap kash patel a name to remember. >> kash patel has just been nominated as the fbi director, right? >> that's a q proof, what we call couldn't i just say, well, q is posted 5000 times. >> he just posted a name like, yeah, you can absolutely say that. >> and uh, but what about all the other names? in our interview jeffrey made it very clear that he condemns violence. he's not a fan of the proud boys oath keepers or other groups that conspired to cause violence on january 6th. >> i always say, you know, we're not going to make fun of liberals because we're going to be here for them when they wake up. >> but there is a lot of portrayal of democrats of people on the left of being evil. yeah. do you think they're evil? >> not all of them no. do i think there are some yes. >> like hillary clinton maybe. >> i don't know. >> as for kash patel, jeffrey and other qanon influencers welcome him as the country's top law enforcement officer. >> i think the american people will be happy that kash patel is going to straighten out what

they've done to president donald j. >> trump and the fbi and i think america should be happy as well. >> and jess, a spokesperson for the trump transition team, described our story as a pathetic attempt at guilt by association and dismissed any links between kash patel and qanon. jess. >> donie o'sullivan, great reporting. thank you. still to come, a california community is working to heal after a school shooting in northern california left two young children badly injured. what we learned about the gunman and a possible motive. you're in the cnn newsroom luther. >> never too much new year's day at eight on cnn. there he is. >> wherever i go, they always ask, where's waldo? >> you found me. >> who's waldo? sometimes it takes someone who really knows you to make you feel seen. >> gifts that say i get you. etsy has it. >> if you're living with moderate to severe plaque

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should be spreading sisterhood above all doom. >> prophecy streaming exclusively on max a town in northern california is rallying behind two kindergarten boys shot while they were at school. >> this week. the town held a vigil last night for the boys, who are both now in the hospital in critical condition cnn's camila bernal joins us. what more can you tell us about this awful story camilla. >> hey, jess. yeah, a really emotional weekend in oroville and in butte county as this community came together, you saw the images there. people were crying. they were hugging each other. they were praying together and of course, praying for the two boys, but also praying for everyone impacted by this, which is really a lot of people in this community. we're talking about a church, a school, the teachers the students, the parents everyone really just reeling after all of this and in shock after what happened at the school and the aunt of one of the survivors.

but one of the victims in this shooting saying that they very much still need those prayers, and saying that her nephew, five year old elias wolford just in need of those prayers but also saying that his life has completely changed that his childhood was essentially robbed from him. take a listen to what she said he did. >> wake up a little bit and was able to communicate with his dad um, and he was he was making the sign of like a gun and trying to tap his dad's arm like i got shot um, so it's it's just really, really devastating for kids to go through this. it's no wonder he's alive and it's a miracle. >> you know, a five year old should not have to go through that that five year old is in stable but critical condition as is the other victim, six year old roman mendez and the sheriff there saying that both of these boys have a long road to recovery, saying they need a

number of surgeries. so really, a very difficult time for these two families on the other hand, we do know that the shooter was found dead at the scene this from an apparent gunshot wound. and the fbi is now investigating authorities just trying to figure out why he specifically targeted this christian school. they're trying to piece together exactly what happened. we were also told that as they investigated they found that the shooter was homeless, was a convicted felon, had a long criminal history, and also had records of mental health illnesses. we also know that this shooter went to the school saying that he wanted to enroll a family member in that school authorities later saying that they believe that that was a lie and really just a way to gain access to the school. he began shooting as the children were were on their noon break. they were coming back into the classrooms. and that's when he began shooting. unfortunately authorities got there just two minutes, which is actually a good thing. but unfortunately, these two

children were already shot and in critical condition. authorities, of course, immediately tried to help these two boys and got all of the other students into busses and brought them to a nearby church to be reunited with those parents. that was of course, very traumatic for all of these people unfortunately, jess, this is not uncommon. it is now about 78 school shootings. this year in the u.s., and this is just another one. >> that's right. and those two little kindergarten boys have to pay the price. um, hopefully they are recovered very soon. camila bernal thank you for that reporting. we appreciate it. new york police are bringing out their divers as they search a lake in central park for the weapon used to shoot and kill a health insurance ceo on the streets of manhattan. the latest on that search still ahead in the cnn newsroom cnn heroes, an all star tribute. >> meet and celebrate the honorees, then find out who will be hero of the year, plus a special tribute to michael j. fox cnn heroes, an all star

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cnn, the world's news network this is cnn breaking news you are in the cnn newsroom. >> i'm jessica dean in new york, and we start tonight with breaking news out of syria, where rebels have cleared a path to the capital. they say they're marching to the gates of damascus. the big question is, where is president bashar al-assad? there are conflicting details about his exact whereabouts. and just moments ago white house national security advisor jake sullivan at the reagan national defense forum making america's position