inevitable. >> maverick. >> your kind is headed for extinction. >> maybe so, sir. but not today talk to me, goose. >> thanks for watching. anderson cooper 360. starts now i went to the danger zone. >> i'll take you right tonight on 360. >> murder in the first. why? authorities decided to seek that rare for new york charge against the alleged killer. and what they will need to do to make it stick. also tonight, the search for what motivated a 15 year old girl to open fire at her school, killing a classmate and teacher and wounding many more. plus, keeping >> to be doing more tonight. luigi mangione. the man accused

of murdering health insurance ceo brian thompson. execution style, on a midtown manhattan sidewalk faces the toughest charge new york state has in its penal code, akin to a terror charge. first degree murder, which, if a jury convicts, could get him life in prison without parole this was a frightening, well-planned, targeted murder that was intended to cause shock and attention and intimidation. that was manhattan district attorney alvin bragg explaining why he took the wray of making first degree murder one of the 11 charges against mangione he brought before a grand jury under new york's code, this would brand the killing a political act in mangione if convicted. something, as we said, akin to a terrorist. and as new york's police commissioner warned in no uncertain terms, not the folk hero. some have tried to make him there is no heroism in what mangione did. >> this was a senseless act of

violence. it was a cold and calculated crime that stole a life and put new yorkers at risk. we don't celebrate murders and we don't lionize the killing of anyone and any attempt to rationalize this is a vile, reckless, and offensive to our deeply held principles of justice. >> nypd chief of detectives joseph kenny weighed in as well, with a previously undisclosed piece of information about mangione mother, who in mid-november had reported her son missing to police in san francisco. several days after the thompson killing. a new york police sergeant on the joint nypd, fbi task force saw a photo of the suspect, connected it with the missing person report and asked mrs. mangione about it it was one of four tips that they had received that day, and they were vetting it. >> part of that vetting process was that they reached out to mangione mother in san francisco very late on the seventh. they had a

conversation where she didn't indicate that it was her son in the photograph, but she said it might be something that she could see him doing. >> all right. a tantalizing new detail there. and that is not all we are learning tonight. cnn shimon prokupecz joins us from outside the manhattan da's office with the latest. shimon, what more can you tell us about these new charges yeah. >> you know, john, as you said, this is the most severe possible charge. the district attorney could have brought against mangione mangione. it certainly caught some by surprise. this enhancement, the terror charge, which essentially means he is now facing life in prison without without the chance of parole. you have murder in the first degree in order to get to murder in the first degree, they needed that terrorism enhancement, and that changes the ballgame completely. he's also charged with counts of murder in the second degree. there is also an act of terrorism associated with that charge. there is the gun charge

for the ghost gun that police found on him. and there are other charges as well. but they are far minor and will really not have any role. but this is certainly a significant step here by the district attorney making a very clear message to what we're seeing out there on social media. and also just the gravity of this, the level of what investigators moved in this case. and now the d.a. bringing this rare charge and a terrorism enhancement tells you how seriously the district attorney feels about this case and really just what's going on in the country and just what has happened here to the ceo, brian thompson. >> you could hear it in all their voices today when they were speaking. when can we expect mangione back in court? back in new york? i should i should say well, it could happen thursday, john. >> he's expected to be in court in pennsylvania. that's where he is. the altoona, pennsylvania. that's where the police found him. that's where he was arrested. being held on

that gun charge. we're told he's no longer fighting his extradition. so that means things will be sped up. things will move much quicker. he will appear there on thursday. it is likely that the nypd detectives, the same detectives that have been working on this investigation nonstop, will be there in altoona, pennsylvania, to put their handcuffs on him and then drive him here to new york city. and then on thursday, he could be back here in manhattan at some point after that, will face a judge here for the charges of murder one and murder two. >> john, a lot of activity in the next few days. shimon prokupecz great to have you with us, for sure. with us here tonight, criminal defense attorney and former manhattan prosecutor jeremy saland, former federal prosecutor jessica roth. she's currently on the faculty at new york's cardozo school of law. also, cnn chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst john miller. and john, let me just start with you. what do you think was behind the da's decision to charge the case in this way? >> i think the facts of the case, it's a unique case in

that, you know, we have seen mob hits on the street. but, you know, i can't remember another case where we saw a lone gunman allegedly involved in extensive planning walk up behind somebody. the father of two, for the specific purpose of executing him because of his position as the head of the largest health care insurer in the united states. and that, according to the district attorney, is an attempt to coerce or influence the public or citizenry or an industry towards change, which is included in the terrorism charge. >> jeremy, inside the courtroom, what will prosecutors what will the da's office have to prove planning to kill. >> but that objective and goal in the penal law 490 of the penal law subsection oh five defines sort of three categories related to terrorism i may be objectively or subjectively believe this is a bit of a stretch. if i'm somebody, you kill a police

officer. that's one thing. if you kill a witness to a crime, that's something else to that would rise to this first degree homicide or murder. but this is, i think, if i'm someone who's brother or sister or sibling was murdered on the street, why should a ceo's murder be treated differently than my loved one? i think it's trying to send a message, but i think it's going to also potentially cause them problems. and that's why they kept also that regular, if you will, murder two. >> but even with the motivation, the idea of a political motivation in the writing, jeremy, that that may be true, but the argument on the flip of that is whether it rises to the level of insanity and that mental defect, that is something you're going to argue. >> but is this something that luigi had been planning and had railed against for years or decades, or is it something that recently, in his mind, and he has a mental health issue, came to this place? that's the difference between really terrorism. when i think of terrorism, you know, someone overseas or even a lone actor. and this particular case, we'll circle back to insanity in just a moment. >> but i do think also the nature of these charges deals with the idea of possible nullification of a jury that

might be influenced by politics. jessica. and before karen friedman agnifilo was hired as the attorney, she was on ac360, and she was saying she'd be worried about jury nullification. were she prosecuting the case, noting the, quote, outpouring of support and sympathy for mr. mangione. so talk to me about how, if you would be concerned about that and how these charges may be play there. >> well, i think one reason why this charge was brought is because it does sort of up the stakes in terms of the penalty that he's facing. he'd be facing mandatory life imprisonment on this terrorism first degree murder charge or second degree murder charge with the terrorism enhancement. and so by including that, the district attorney is setting up the conditions for a plea to a lesser charge, where he actually has the possibility of at some point getting out of prison. and so it could be a plea to that sort of regular second degree murder charge that doesn't have the terrorism enhancement. if there isn't a plea, it's also setting up the conditions for a jury compromise on that lesser charge. and so if there are people in the jury room who either are not satisfied that the the standard for terrorism

is actually satisfied or in some way are sympathetic to the defendant, they might be willing to convict him on a lesser charge. yeah. >> they're going to hear a lot in that courtroom about terror. now, since you both were speaking about the insanity thing, let me play a little bit more about what agnifilo again said here on ac360 about that possible defense. this was before she was on board with the defendant. listen there might be a not guilty by reason of insanity defense that they're going to be thinking about because the evidence is going to be so overwhelming that he did what he did. >> and i hear what you're saying about being radicalized. i hear what you guys are saying. but as a former prosecutor in that office, i would be concerned that you have someone who is a valid valedictorian of his class. he was brilliant his whole life. he comes from this great family. i mean, something changed, right? significantly. something changed. and and they're going to, i think, potentially have a not guilty by reason of insanity potential defense.

>> all right. so how compelling is that defense. and again where do the charges that we learned today play into that. >> well so i think again this goes to jeremy's point about the level of planning and detail. it's hard to sort of reconcile both an insanity defense, which is a really high standard under new york law, requires essentially showing the person didn't know the nature and quality of their actions, or whether they knew what they were doing was wrong. and somebody who engages in this kind of very careful planning and execution, literally of of that kind of plan. and so i think that, legally speaking, he's facing an uphill battle in making out an insanity defense. on the other hand, it may be that the defense strategy is just to get it to the jury for consideration in the hopes that it will essentially find some basis for the jury to acquit him. >> i generally agree with that. i think one of the angles that karen very well may take is that you can still plan, you can still not be fully aware. the law doesn't require that you are completely aware of the consequences of what you were doing, but that even with that planning, he was still ill. and i would add also that there may be the approach that even if it doesn't reach that legal bar, it will be used to mitigate the

conduct, to say, hey, let's pull it back down, even if it doesn't find its way into a courtroom. >> i always get nervous when john miller is checking his devices, because it means there's some new information coming in. you are getting some new information about what's going on inside prison with mangione. >> so our own danny freeman, who's covering philadelphia and this case, said, you know, since he's been there, he's gotten 33 pieces of mail, six messages. um, let me just make sure i didn't get that wrong. but 33 emails, eight pieces of mail. so it's part of the sign that you have both shown cognizance of that there is developing more than the profile of a suspect. there is developing the cult of personality, where before he's even really been arraigned on a murder charge, he's already getting. what i'm going to suggest is likely fan mail as a bounce from what we're seeing on the internet. >> what does that mean for both the prosecution and defense here? because this is a reality. i mean, we hear from

the law enforcement how upset they are that this guy is being lionized here, but it's happening. so what does that mean for the prosecution? >> and i want to circle back to the earlier point, which is he walked up behind a man who, whatever business he's in and however reviled that business may be, he shot in the back who was the father of two, who was a human being. and that seems to be skipped over in the lionizing of him to use the police commissioner's word. >> so the lionizing of him is incredibly disturbing. and i think it goes back to why the district attorney and he said in, in the press conference that was part of why they were bringing such serious charges to is to express their incredible the the seriousness of this case. but going back to the problem that the lionizing poses, i think the jury selection process is going to be really challenging, and there may be people there who actually are trying to get onto the jury because they are sympathetic to him. and so i think that that process of voir dire is going to be even more

important than it is in a different kind of case. >> and i also think we'll be watching every step of the way, every time he walks into public. what will he say? will he chose to speak out or act out and continue to play to the crowd here? >> and and in addition, 157 deposits into his prison account from outside people. >> all right, friends, thank you very much, john. do not go far. i want to get your assessment of the new developments tonight in the case in wisconsin, the school shooting in madison and all. we are learning about what motivated the 15 year old girl responsible. plus, the latest on those suspected drones over parts of the east coast with intelligence officials briefing some lawmakers and plenty more in congress speaking out about what they think is out there. we're going to speak with one who knows her way around the skies, congresswoman and former navy chopper pilot mikie sherrill joins us they say things take time and effort, but it's worth the

wait. >> i can tell some stories. i'm so excited. >> i believe twitter brought the world together and the world was not ready to see itself. >> you read the comments? yeah, i might recommend that. you don't. yeah, that's how i get. >> i've never backed away. he never stepped down oh, that's how i get back. >> i feel at home here lord, that's how i get by patients who have sensitive teeth but also want whiter teeth. >> they have to make a choice one versus the other. new sensodyne clinical white. it provides two shades whiter teeth, as well as providing 24 over seven sensitivity protection. patients are going to love to see sensodyne on the shelf mhm. >> kind of needs to be more. squiggly. perfect. so now do you have a driver's license? >> oh what did you get us with a click of a pen you can get a new volkswagen at the sign then

drive event lease a 2024 taos for zero down zero deposit, zero first month's payment and zero due at signing. >> limited inventory available. >> come to me. he is coming. >> he is coming. >> he is coming to us. >> he is coming. >> who is coming to my child? >> nosferatu but it are only in theaters. >> christmas day. special engagements in dolby and imax. >> everybody's looking for a hero chris wanted to change the world. >> people are literally walking

because of him. >> i wouldn't have missed this for the world. superman. >> the christopher reeve story streaming exclusively on max. >> what a great idea for a holiday gift. give hands free sketcher slip ins, footwear you just step into and they're on. there's no bending down and no touching your shoes. plus, hands free sketcher slip ins are perfect for everybody, from kids to grandparents. give your loved ones hands free sketcher slip ins. >> it's a lot to be a caregiver and a daughter, because you kind of have to take a step back. getting some help would be a great relief. >> from companions to helpers to caregivers, find all the senior care you need at care.com. >> i won't let my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis symptoms define me. >> emerge as you with clearer skin with tremfya. most people saw 100% clear skin that stayed clear even at five years. >> serious allergic reactions and increased risk of infections may occur before treatment. your doctor should check you for infections and tb. tell your doctor if you

have an infection, flu-like symptoms, or if you need a vaccine. >> emerge with clear skin. z's bakery is looking to add a pizza oven, arissa's hair salon wants to expand their space, and steve's t-shirt shop wants to bring on more help. with the comcast business 5-year price lock guarantee, they can think more about possibilities for their business and not the cost of their internet. it's five years of gig-speeds and advanced security. all from the company with 99.9% network reliability. get the 5-year price lock guarantee, now back for a limited time. powering five years of savings. powering possibilities™.

that's not me this is cnn, the world's news network all right. >> this is video from just moments ago, a vigil outside the wisconsin state capitol in madison, not far from the abundant life christian school, where a 15 year old girl armed with a nine millimeter pistol shot and killed a classmate, a teacher, and wounded six others before taking her own life. in addition to the vigil, community members have also begun setting up a memorial outside the school and try even just a little to comfort one another. as trauma gives way to grieving and the search for answers begins. more on that part from cnn's whitney wild in madison. >> we were brought together by a tragedy. >> madison, police chief shon barnes, solemnly addressing the shooting monday, where a 15 year old female student opened fire inside abundant life christian school. finding a

motive remains a top priority for law enforcement. so far, it appears to be a combination of factors. >> we are looking into her online activity. we're asking anyone who knew her or who may have insights into her feelings leading up to yesterday to please contact the madison area crime stoppers. >> chief barnes, also addressing reports that the shooter may have left writings that some on the internet have called an online manifesto. >> we have detectives working today to determine where this document originated and who actually shared it online. >> the tragedy unfolded when a second grade teacher, not a second grade student as police originally reported, called 911 at 10:57 a.m. abundant life christian church, 4901 for engine five and five for a shooter. officers arrived within minutes. at 1105. they reported that the shooter was down and a gun was recovered. >> mpd is saying everybody can come in, all ems can come in, shooters down.

>> madison police say the shooter opened fire inside a study hall with students from mixed grades using a handgun, killing a teacher, a student and wounding six others before turning the gun on herself. law enforcement are working to determine how she obtained the weapon. officers searched the shooter's home monday afternoon and are looking into her online activity. chief barnes says her parents are cooperating and they don't expect to charge them at this time. >> we also want to look at if the parents may have been negligent, and that's a question that we'll have to answer with our district attorney's office. >> also tonight, monday's tragedy has traumatized this small religious school. >> some students describing the terror they felt after hearing gunshots waited until the police came. >> and then they escorted us out. >> and a heartbreaking account from this second grader who says she could hear cries from a teacher wounded in the leg and she was screaming like, ah, my leg! >> help! help! >> do you know that teacher? >> well, what was it like to hear that? were you scared?

>> i was really scared and i was really sad. >> understandable. whitney wild joins us now from the wisconsin capitol. whitney, what did you see tonight at the vigil there john? >> we saw an outpouring of community support. we saw people hugging. we saw tears. we saw prayers. and what i think is so striking about the vigil tonight was that these were people from well beyond the abundant life christian school community coming together to try to show their support for people who are deeply grieving tonight. john. >> all right. whitney wild, you've been there since the beginning. thank you so much for your reporting on this. john miller is back with us. also joining us, former fbi deputy director andrew mccabe. john, we heard from the madison police chief. i talked to him this morning. he said that he's trying to determine the motive here. what they're trying to do is determine the motive. and they called him maybe a little bit of caution toward the idea of this so-called manifesto. what's your reporting there? >> well, the question that they're grappling with is a is it real? and the second

question they're grappling with is, so if it is real, and it was posted just before or after the shooting, who posted it? it appears, according to the chief, that another person may have posted it, which means if that person saw it and it is a legitimate document, why didn't they come forward to say something that could have stopped it? then there's the final and larger question, which is if police determine that's the manifesto, what do we do with it? and i think the the lesson that we've learned after all these shootings is you don't want to release that. you don't want to share it with the public. you don't want it posted on the internet, because that becomes a template for the next shooter. >> again, everyone is so focused on motive here, but we may never learn these details because it may do more harm than good in the future. important note there, john, and we got some new information i want to read just to make sure that i get it right. we just learned that the shooter's father posted a photo on facebook of his daughter at a shooting range. i think with

him in august. and in that photo, which we're not going to show here, she's wearing a shirt with the name of a band whose lyrics were cited by the student gunman who carried out the 1999 columbine massacre. so talk to us about what the significance is at a shooting range with the father. and then the t shirt, which may or may not harken back to one of the worst school shootings in u.s. history sure. >> so, john, actually, the t shirt is the is the piece of this new reporting that really grabs my attention because it just seems highly unlikely that there would be a coincidence that she happened to, you know, listen to or follow this band and not be aware of the connection to columbine. and i say that because columbine really reigns supreme in the minds of many of these shooters. and honestly, many

young people who follow the history of the columbine shooters and the experience at columbine and people who visit it annually. it's it's it is a highly symbolic event, and particularly for young people who are disillusioned and dissatisfied and maybe struggling in some ways, and they start to kind of look up to these guys in a very, very destructive way. so i feel like that the t shirt is a really significant piece of information. as for the fathers, um, you know, teaching his daughter how to shoot, taking her to the range, you know, it's hard to know without more detail how much significance to put on that. that is certainly something that hundreds of thousands of americans do every year with their kids. my father did it with me and my brother when we were kids, and i don't think in and of itself, it's an indicator of anything that may be influenced. where she ended up in the decisions she made this week. but again, we need to know more about that.

really, the most important detail in that scenario is how did she get possession and control of this nine millimeter handgun? um, you know, that's and if they were going shooting a lot and she had free access to those guns, that's something that will inform us and will maybe shed some light as to whether or not her parents will be held accountable for this in some way. >> well, i asked the police chief this morning flat out, you know, was this the parents gun? and he he wouldn't answer me. he would say, we're still looking into that. but what's the likelihood that they still don't know the answer to that question? wouldn't that be one of the easiest things to determine most quickly? >> you know, my my experience tells me that, um, you know, the atf has probably gotten back to them with a pretty thorough trace in terms of the purchase and ownership history of that weapon. if they've been talking to the family productively and cooperatively over the last 24 hours, it's impossible to think that they haven't asked those questions and gotten some answer to it. so yeah, i would expect they know a lot more about that than we do at this point. we haven't heard from the prosecutor yet, and that will

really be the indicator as to whether or not, um, the town and the state is thinking of, of pursuing some sort of charge against the parents. >> so, john, do the question of the t shirt. you said to me as we were coming back from break, it all goes back, as andrew said, there it all goes back to columbine. >> and i mean, when you look at these shooters and you do these search warrants and you're involved in these cases and you peel back, you learn those two things. we talked about this yesterday for a minute. they don't snap. these things aren't studied. these things aren't sudden. they're studied. and you know, they all research by and large, the vast majority start their research with the columbine killers and look at others. and what are they comparing. they're comparing body counts. they're comparing. some of them have actually worn the t shirts that the columbine shooters wore in their actions. and everybody knows those names. this is one of these things where rather than focusing on the motive, rather than focusing on the gun, um, we need to kind of

reprogram people in and around schools to focus on what are the behavioral indicators that someone is in crisis like this, and how do you interrupt it before the planning stage is complete? >> you know, and to that end, andrew, the investigation into the parents, as the police chief said to me and has been saying all day, look, they are still looking into that. they haven't ruled anything in or out yet. i imagine one of the questions will be, did the parents know about the t-shirt? and if they even knew about the existence of the t shirt, did they know about the connection? then? what did they know about the guns and how were they locking up the guns? how do they go about that part of the investigation? >> so, john, you hit on a great point. the relevance of the whether or not the parents, if this shooter was focused on or really, you know, really following the columbine, the history of the columbine shooters and the t-shirt is evidence of that. if the parents knew about that, that interest in the columbine shooting, then that makes their um and if they also allowed

the, the student to have like free uncontrolled access to firearms, that makes that decision look more reckless and would then make it. i would i would say more likely that they would get charged for something. so as we saw with the crumbley case in michigan, it's a very complicated mixture of facts. it's not just that the student did the shooting. it's not just that the parents ultimately purchased and provided the gun to him, but also that the parents knew that he was struggling, knew that he needed mental health, but didn't get him that sort of help, knew that he was carrying the gun, you know, so it's the layering on of those facts that raises the specter of accountability or seeking accountability from the parents. >> and we just don't have any visibility yet. what the police think or investigators think about that, or whether the parents had any idea at all, because police have been very careful of what they've released publicly there, because clearly it's an ongoing investigation. andrew mccabe, john miller, thank you so much for helping us understand all this new information. just coming in

next. there is still no definitive explanation for the possible suspicious drone >> patients are going to love to see if since the dined on the shelf with decks com g7, managing your diabetes just got easier. >> so what's your number right now?

>> good thing you don't need a finger stick. >> how's all that food affect your glucose? oh, the answers on your phone. what if you're hitting low at night wow. it can alert you and you can even track your goals. manage your diabetes with confidence. with dexcom g7, the most accurate cgm. learn more at dexcom.com. >> heartburn makes you queasy. get fast relief with new tums plus upset stomach and nausea support and love food bank. >> dum dum dum dum dum finish ultimate engineered for the toughest conditions. >> dry. burnt on stains. old dishwashers, very hard water finish. ultimate with cycle sync. technology helps deliver the ultimate clean for more than a decade, fast has been trusted again and again and again.

>> ask your doctor about vaazhga advil liquid gels are faster and stronger than tylenol rapid release gels, also from advil. >> advil. targeted relief the only topical with four powerful pain fighting ingredients that start working on contact and lasts up to eight hours. >> i wish my tv provider let me choose what i pay for. >> sling lets you do that. hey, where are you going? >> i wish my tv provider let me choose what i pay for and let me pause my subscription when i want. >> sling lets you do that too. sling. >> i wish my tv provider let me choose what i pay for and let me pause my subscription when i want and have hundreds of free channels. >> sling let you do that too. mr. fish choosing customize your channel lineup or watch for free. >> sling lets you do that. >> now's the time to go back in time and shine a light on the family journey that led to you. detailed dna results

inspiring family history. memberships. now's the time to save at ancestry from dress the bird. >> to deck the halls so many ways to save life.month.

>> call 1-877-538-3882 or visit homeserve. com. >> closed captioning brought to you by aarp. join and get instant access to member benefits. >> join aarp for $12 for one year and get instant access to member benefits and social programs. join and get an insulated trunk organizer free. plus, aarp, the magazine, the federal government is under increasing pressure to share more information with the public about possible suspicious drone activity over new jersey and parts of the east coast. >> videos of what appear to be unidentified aircraft began going viral last month. the house intelligence committee had a classified briefing about this all today. this is what ranking member congressman jim hines told jake tapper just

after. >> i asked, probably in 12 different ways. is any of this federal government operations? you know, there's a lot of rumor out there that this is radiation sniffing or chemical sniffing. this is not a federal government operation. we're very, very confident of that. most of them turn out to be regular aircraft. yes. some drones, recreational, commercial people are seeing stars. you know, there's there's again, no indication that there's any illegal activity or any particular danger or malign activity. >> all right. i'm joined now by new jersey congresswoman mikie sherrill. the congresswoman is a former navy helicopter commander and out with her own five part plan of action to improve communication with the public about drone activity. congresswoman, you heard your tri-state colleague, congressman himes, say not nefarious, not a government operation. do you share his confidence on those two points? >> so i spoke to himes after his briefing. i also had a briefing from the white house today. and i think what we know

today is that this was going on for really a month until it seemed as if we started to get some responses. there still doesn't appear to be the coordination i would like to see between all of the government agencies, even at the white house briefing, you know, myself and pat ryan, two military veterans, were just sort of asking questions. and i don't think either one of us felt like even the white house briefer had the information that we had from being on the ground and speaking to our military bases. but it does appear as if sensitive equipment is finally on the ground after, as i said, almost a month to get it there. we are better tracking the drones. the information that the fbi has received. they are now tracking carefully all of the reports and tracking those reports. they have not identified any threats at this time. but again, we have still quite a bit of work to do as we are behind the the power curve

here. so that's what we know at this point. and i think we can feel very good about that to date. but i think what we don't feel good about, what i don't feel good about is a sense that this took too long, that communication still, and i'm still hearing this on the ground from law enforcement communications are still not flowing appropriately to everyone who needs to understand where the investigations are leading, and then get information to the public about what is being found. and then we need a plan going forward. we really need to have a better operation going forward. what we've seen here at this time is we have like 1980s era policies to combat a current threat, and that's not acceptable. >> well, but there is a difference. you agree between bad communications and then bad stuff in the sky. correct. and you're more confident it's bad communications right now than there's bad stuff in the sky. >> well, i think i feel better about that right now. i feel

like we are moving towards that at this time. i'm still, though, not convinced that because it's not just bad communications with people on the ground, it's not just bad communications with the people of new jersey. i worry that our government organizations are not communicating well with each other, which is why going forward, we need a better plan of how we are going to address this. who is going to be in charge? which agency? who is going to lead the other agencies, and then how are they going to get the equipment we need very nimbly, very quickly on the ground so that the fbi can track this. and at this point, i do feel better about that. i feel like we have the equipment on the ground. we are tracking it. we are not finding the threats that that people are worried about. yet i still feel as if we still have to have more information. i would like more confidence in what is being communicated to me. is all of the information that the agencies have that they are collating it all together and

an understanding of, if anything remains outstanding that we're concerned about. >> and this is all part of the plan that you proposed. yes, exactly. >> that is correct. this going forward has to work better. we can't it can't take a month for people to get the equipment on the ground we need. it can't take a month for people in government to start accepting that people are seeing things in the air and responding to just that. >> you've seen a lot of stuff in the air. it was part of your job for a long time. so when you look up, are you willing to accept what john kirby has told us, what others have told us that a lot of what people are seeing are planes and helicopters. not all, but a lot of what people are seeing. >> sure, i think that's true. i think most people in new jersey think that's true. a lot of what is being said, we we have a very heavily trafficked state. we have major international airports, we have smaller airports, we have helicopters going overhead. look, i think we are all

willing to accept that the majority of air traffic over the skies in new jersey at night are actual commercial air, you know, is actually commercial air traffic. and then i also think that we know there are a lot of hobby drones. you know, my kids have received drones for christmas a couple of years ago. but we want to know those larger scale drones. is there any evidence of that? is it simply law enforcement now patrolling the skies, which they are doing with their own equipment, or is there something else out there? and i think at this point, with the equipment that we now finally have on the ground in new jersey, we are starting to track what's going on in the sky. and we are we are not seeing any threats. we are not seeing any signs of any threats. i feel very good about where we are headed. i still want to see better communication and be assured that all of the government agencies have come together, have responded to this and and understand what's going on and

understand what's been happening in our skies over the past month. >> and i assume you were not pointing the finger at your own kids here, even though they, like so many others, now have drones that they're flying at all hours. >> they have been grounded right now as we are going through this and trying to determine this, my kids drones have been grounded. >> congresswoman mikie sherrill, we appreciate your time. thanks so much for being with us tonight. thanks. so we sent cnn aviation correspondent pete muntean to do his own investigation into what's happening in the skies over new jersey. pete is a pilot with extensive expertise in identifying aircraft. this is what he found. >> we are on the lookout for drones with drones, where fears first took off. new jersey ocean county sheriff's sergeant kevin fennessy is one of about a dozen drone officers responding to calls and now tracking flights from inside this major crimes command center, now turned into a drone war room. >> it's wild the amount of air traffic over new jersey, and

especially over ocean county, the sergeant says. >> sure, many of the calls the department gets are actually airplanes, helicopters, medevacs planets, even stars. but they have seen things they just cannot explain. a sheriff's lookout drone tethered to the ground captured this video. >> we had something coming at us, and as it's coming at us, it stops. you know, just like a 180 in the air and then drives away and then comes back and does like a giant ew around us. so that's that's not normal for aircraft. >> so this is really happening. >> we think so. you know, it's definitely something that whatever we're seeing we can't figure out what it is. >> the federal government reiterated tuesday that the vast majority of purported drone sightings are, in fact, airplanes or drones flying legally with no threat to public safety. but don't say that to the folks on the seaside heights boardwalk who were not shy to tell me about what they have seen. >> i think it's drones. too many people have seen them to

it not be real. >> i haven't seen it. i do think it's legitimate, but i don't believe that nobody knows where they're coming from. >> i haven't seen any legitimate drone sightings in this current flap around new jersey. >> science writer and conspiracy expert mick west investigates possible drone sightings and says that you can, too, if you get the details, the date, the time and the location, you can actually look up what was in the sky at that point and look at what direction they were looking in. >> and you can see that it was actually just a plane. >> we're on the boardwalk, the sun is set and the sky has really come alive. you can see almost why folks are reporting so many drone sightings off in the distance over the atlantic ocean. there i can see several planes. i'm corroborating here with the same app that they use over in the command center. this is called ads-b exchange, showing within about a 20 mile view, planes broadcasting their position live, there's an atlas air cargo flight that just left not too far away from here, going out over the atlantic ocean. there's a delta flight that's coming in

over the atlantic, turning north to go into jfk, and then another really bright light above those two that is jupiter. but it's the things that cannot be explained so easily that have folks here really concerned deputies like kevin fennessy hope the truth is still out there. >> we're not drone hunters, we're just trying to see if we can figure out what's going on, where they're coming from, and try to put this to bed the pentagon is deploying drone systems to two military bases here in new jersey, naval weapons station earle is the closest, only about 25 miles away from where i'm standing. >> the goal is to detect and identify drones, not shoot them down. is to jam the signal between the controller and the drone itself in hopes that the drone will essentially land on its own. >> john pete muntean that was one of the coolest stand ups show and tells i've ever seen. thank you so much for that. appreciate it. one quick note before we go to break last thursday and friday nights, we

aired a video posted on social media of what was claimed to be a drone in the skies over new jersey. we have since learned it was created digitally. we regret that error and we are no longer airing that. coming up, a key russian general is assassinated in moscow. we will tell you who is claiming responsibility. we've got a report from right inside russia next this holiday season, find the perfect gift at cnn. >> underscored from the latest fashion to expert approved tech to the best beauty finds. discover it all at underscore. com. >> patients who have sensitive teeth but also want whiter teeth. they have to make a choice one versus the other. new sensodyne clinical white it provides two shades whiter teeth as well as providing 24 over seven sensitivity protection. patients are going to love to see sensodyne on the shelf. >> my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis held me back. now with skyrizi, i'm all in with clear skin. things are getting

clearer yeah, i feel free to bare my skin. >> yeah, that's on me nothing is everything. whoa. >> with skyrizi. three out of four people achieved 90% clearer skin at four months. and most people were clearer. even at five years. skyrizi is just four doses a year after two starter doses. don't use if allergic. serious allergic reactions, increased infections, or lower ability to fight them may occur. before treatment, get checked for infections and tb. tell your doctor about any flu like symptoms or vaccines. nothing and me go hand in hand. >> nothing on my skin. that's my new. plan. nothing is everything. >> now's the time. ask your doctor about skyrizi. the number one dermatologist prescribed biologic in psoriasis. learn how abbvie could help you save. >> we realize some home maintenance jobs aren't worth the risk. >> that's what we call leaf filter to protect our gutters. leaf filters patented filter

technology keeps debris out of your gutters for good. >> guaranteed. call 833. leaf filter or visit leaf filter.com. >> advil liquid gels are faster and stronger than tylenol rapid release gels, also from advil. advil. targeted relief the only topical with four powerful pain fighting ingredients that start working on contact and lasts up to eight hours. >> does someone need a hug? sing to the world. >> bah, humbug. >> somewhere inside every lost grown up is the kid they once were. seems to me they need us now more than ever. >> i'm enchanted. to the world. >> joy to the. people. wow. >> joy to you and me. >> for more than a decade, fauci has been trusted again and again and again. fauci,

god. ask your doctor about pozega. >> this is the sound of the season's favorite gift. for a limited time. omaha steaks is offering the favorite gift package that includes our famous bacon wrapped filet mignon, our delicious air chilled chicken breast burgers, franks, sides and desserts, all for just 89.99. that's 64% off. order now to include for more burgers free, and we'll deliver in time for christmas. this exclusive offer ends soon in quantities are limited. don't miss out. order today at omaha steaks dot com slash tv. >> i love this what if you could tackle your dog's itching, soft stools and low energy? >> millions of pet parents are raving about doctor marty nature's blend. >> such a huge difference in her health, more energy, more playful. no more pooping issues. >> i'm doctor marty. i've been a veterinarian for more than 50 years. the dangerous ingredients added to many pet foods could be impacting your dog's lifespan. that's why i formulated nature's blend. >> now you can feed your dog

wholesome cuts of real meat, vegetables and fruit with no artificial preservatives or fillers. try doctor marty risk free. go to doctor marty pets.com slash tv bent finger appointment in 30 minutes. >> you got this one. >> remember, i don't want surgery for my dupuytren's contracture. two i don't want to wait for my contracture to get worse. three i want a treatment with minimal downtime. four i want a nonsurgical treatment and five. >> and if nonsurgical treatment isn't offered, i'll get a second opinion. >> let's go take charge of your treatment. if you can't lay your hand flat, visit. find a hand specialist.com to get started. cnn news central tomorrow at 7:00 eastern. >> a stunning assassination in moscow today. a key russian general was killed in an explosion outside an apartment building just a few miles from the kremlin. russian officials say a bomb was planted in an electric scooter. a source with knowledge of the attack tells cnn that ukraine's security service of ukraine was

responsible. lieutenant general igor kirillov was the highest ranking russian military official that ukraine is believed to have killed since the war began. russia has classified the killing as a terrorist act. cnn senior international correspondent frederik pleitgen is in moscow tonight with the details. >> one of russia's top generals and an aide just seconds before the fatal blast. we're not showing the moment of the explosion. in this video obtained by cnn, russian investigators say the bomb, with about 300g of tnt, was hidden in an electric scooter parked just outside the entrance of that building. as the general and an aide walked out. it blew up, killing them both. russian investigators say the device was detonated remotely. the blast so powerful it shattered windows several floors up in buildings across the street at first, we thought that cement might have been unloaded or something similar. this resident says, but the blast was so loud it did not

seem like construction work. it was very scary optum lieutenant general igor kirillov was the head of russia's nuclear, chemical and biological defense forces, often accusing kyiv of planning to use chemicals on the battlefield. the ukrainians, for their part, accused kirillov of overseeing the use of chemical substances against their forces and have claimed responsibility for assassinating him, calling the general, quote, an absolutely legitimate target and saying such an inglorious end awaits all those who kill ukrainians. the general is not the first, but the highest ranking russian military official. the ukrainians claim to have assassinated moscow furious, launching both a terrorism and a criminal investigation. investigative actions and operational search activities are being carried out aimed at establishing all the circumstances of the crime committed, the spokesperson

said asymmetric warfare like this brazen drone attack inside russia two days ago, is how the ukrainian forces are trying to level the battlefield as vladimir putin's army has been making significant gains on nearly all front lines. but the lieutenant generals assassination comes just hours after putin met with his top military brass ripping into the biden administration for its support of ukraine in an effort to weaken our country and impose a strategic defeat on us, the united states continues to pump the virtually illegitimate ruling regime in kyiv, full of weapons and money, sends mercenaries and military advisers and thereby encourages further escalation of the conflict, putin said. and russian politicians have vowed revenge for the generals killing. while acknowledging his death is a major loss. >> and fred blinken joins us now from moscow. fred, what are u.s. officials saying about this attack?

>> hi there. john. well, the u.s. is definitely trying to distance itself from all of this, as both the pentagon and the and the secretary of state are saying that the u.s. had no role in this, has no further information on all of this, and had no prior knowledge of this either. so the u.s. definitely saying that america was not involved in any way, shape or form in all of this, and that probably is also quite important because the russians are actually trying to pin the blame not only on the ukrainians, but on the west as well. there were several top level russian politicians who are saying that they believe that there is a link to the west, and there was one senior russian senator, john, who came out and said that he believes that all of this shows the desperation not just of the ukrainians, but of their western backers as well, and went so far to say that he believes that all of this could complicate any sort of talks between moscow and washington. once the trump administration comes into office. john. >> fred pleitgen, you were right in the middle of it all day long. thank you so much for being with us tonight and coming up, what a dirty

dancing. the social network in the original texas chainsaw massacre have in common. we'll explain next on nightline andy anderson, take a seat. >> look at this. you're wet. disheveled. there's debris hitting you. why do you have that on your phone? i watch it all the time. hey, listen, we need to be ready for new year's eve. there could be an ice storm or a hurricane. and obviously, confetti. maybe you are ready. >> new year's eve, live with anderson and andy. live coverage starts at eight on cnn and streaming live on max. >> i'm kind of needs to be more squiggly. perfect. so now, do you have a driver's license? >> oh, what did you get us with a click of a pen? >> you can get a new volkswagen

at the sign, then drive event, lease a 2024 tiguan for zero down zero. deposit, zero first month's payment and zero due at signing. limited inventory available. >> the virus that causes shingles is sleeping in 99% of people over 50. it's lying dormant, waiting and could reactivate. shingles strikes is a painful, blistering rash that can last for weeks. and it could wake at any time. think you are not at risk for shingles? it's time to wake up because shingles could wake up in you. if you're over 50. talk to your doctor or pharmacist about shingles prevention. >> like a relentless weed. moderate to severe ulcerative colitis symptoms can keep coming back. start to break away from uc with tremfya with rapid relief at four weeks. tremfya blocks a key source of inflammation at one year, many people experienced remission

and some saw 100% visible healing of their intestinal lining. serious allergic reactions and increased risk of infections may occur. before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tb. tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu like symptoms, or if you need a vaccine. healing is possible with tremfya. ask your doctor about tremfya today it's the holidays at wayfair. >> y'all, it's a gift swap. look, it's our dream kitchen. >> totally brought that for themselves. >> okay, fine. just choose what you love. >> just my style. >> and i got a great deal. my turn. >> what the fudge. >> now that's a holiday classic. >> just like you. >> you got a place for that? >> i got something fine. wayfair. every style, every home. >> nosferatu is here his pull

to me is so powerful i felt him crawling like a serpent in my body. >> no. >> you could never please me as he could. >> nosferatu. rated r only in theaters christmas day. special engagements in dolby and imax. >> your loved ones are getting older and they need your support. care.com is here to help. it's an easy way to find background checked senior caregivers in your area, and some peace of mind.

things you don't need. take control of your money. download rocket money today. >> i'm doctor sanjay gupta in atlanta, and this is cnn nobody puts baby in a corner and i hope it that's right. >> nobody puts baby in a corner. but they now can see here in the national film registry, dirty dancing, along

with 24 other films or this year's additions to the film archives maintained by the library of congress. that includes relatively recent popular and critical favorites, including the social network and, of course, the franchise favorite performance by ricardo montalban of 1982, star trek the wrath of khan khan joining me now to discuss the ancient klingon proverb that revenge is a dish best served cold harry. anton, nice to see you. nice to see you. fantastic acting. all right, so how can i get a film on this list? >> you know, i was really hoping i submitted a name. you know, the public can submit some names. i submitted baby geniuses two. it didn't quite work out for me. but the bottom line is, it's just really, really rare. you know, this year we were talking well over 6500 films, i believe, that were sort of nominated to potentially be part of the film registry. and look at this. only 25 were added, only 25 out of more than 6700. and so what we're dealing with here is i think if you put it on a percentage points, it's like

0.4% or something along those lines. it's just incredibly, incredibly difficult. so the fact that these 25 were added is quite a testament to their popularity and also their cultural relevance. >> what stands out to you about the list? >> you know, what stands out to me about the list? it's just sort of the time span of this list. you know, you have to go all the way back to 1995. i want to get this name right. annabelle serpentine dance. in fact, i believe it was hand colored, you know, tinted. that's how long ago that film was. it was a short little film, and it spans all the way to 2010. and there it is right there. look at that. look at that. isn't that amazing? yes it is. it's a wonderful short film. and, you know, you look at that and then you sort of go to the newest film, which is, you know, the social network in 2010, which is about social media. so you have, you know, a hand colored, tinted film on the one hand and then a film about social media on the other. it truly spans the ages, just shows how classy you are that you're focused on annabelle, serpentine dance. >> well, i'm focused on up in smoke, cheech and chong from like from like 1978. i saw that on the list. and i'm like, is

that is that what i think it is? are we finally giving that film the recognition it deserves? >> absolutely right. that's what i love about this list. there's no film that's too high brow or too low brow for it. >> i'm not saying up in smoke is low brow at all. i think it's genius. do you have a favorite on the list? >> you know, i love dirty dancing, and part of the reason i love dirty dancing is, you know, it's about the catskill mountains. in fact, my nana esther ran a hotel up in the catskill mountains in the 1960s when dirty dancing took place. nana esther, i love you wherever you are right now. >> there's one thing i did learn from dirty dancing. it is that dancing can solve everything. >> we're going to find that out after the show. >> harry enten. thank you. the news continues right here on cnn. >> outfront next, the breaking news. putin vowing revenge as one of his top generals was blown up in the middle of moscow. how much of a blow is this for putin? we'll take you live to russia tonight. also breaking the alleged ceo assassin tonight. facing a major new charge. first degree murder as new details tonight are just coming into out front