together. a bay area bookstore employee is getting a nice holiday surprise from a bestselling novelist. erin messer of san francisco city lights books is getting a $500 holiday bonus from author james patterson. 600 employees of independent bookstores across the country are getting similar bonuses. it's something patterson has been doing since 2015. messer, who also writes, was nominated for the prize by coworkers and customers. congratulations. thanks for joining us for abc seven news at three. world news tonight with david muir starts now. and i'll see you bac tonight, chilling new details in the murder of unitedhealthcare's ceo. exploding wildfires triggering evacuations in southern california. and the break-in at an nfl star's home during "monday night football." first, murder suspect luigi mangione yelling at cameras as

he's taken into court. an officer grabbing him by the back of the neck, leading him inside. the suspect now fighting his return to new york for the murder of ceo brian thompson. a source telling abc news police believe mangione's alleged cold blooded killing was a, quote, symbolic takedown, and he made have been inspired by the unabomber. his mother filing a missing persons report before the shooting. aaron katersky in pennsylvania. also tonight, a massive wildfire tearing across southern california. homes destroyed, thousands forced to evacuate. minds gusting up to 90 miles per hour. students at pepperdine university told to shelter in place. trevor ault in the fire zone. tracking a new storm threat moving into the northeast. heavy rain, possible flash flooding and dangerous winds from washington, d.c. to philadelphia, new york to boston. overseas tonight, following the fall of the assad regime, israel waging a series of attacks, destroying its naval need. the idf determined to keep

chemical weapons from falling into the hands of rebel forces. new video showing assad's abandoned fleet of luxury cars. our team went inside one of the presidential palancepalaces, an notorious prison, where the regime is accused of torturing and executing inmates. ja james longman in syria. tonight, the new break-in during "monday night football." police called to the home of joe burrow. thieves in his house while he was on the field against the cowboys. growing concern about mystery drone sightings over new jersey. 11 confirmed reports near an army base. and for the first time, jamie foxx taking the stage, breaking his silence about his mystery health scare, and the 20 days he doesn't remember. good evening, thank you for joining us on this tuesday

night. i'm whit johnson, in for david. and we begin with the breaking news. the suspect, luigi mangione, appearing before a judge in pennsylvania, fighting extradition to new york, where he faces a second degree murder charge and four other charges. dramatic video of mangione arriving at the courthouse, shouting, quote, this is clearly an injustice. officers rushing him inside. and new images of the suspect at the mcdonald's where he was arrested, taking his mask down while eating. in his backpack, police say they found a three-page handwritten document taking responsibility for the murder, blasting u.s. health care companies. and now, the hunt for clues to explain how mangione's life of privilege and accomplishment from high school valedictorian to the ivy league, allegedly turned to deadly rage. tonight, we've learned his own mother filed a missing person report in san francisco last month. abc's aaron katersky leads us off from pennsylvania. >> reporter: a chaotic scene

outside this pennsylvania courthouse, as luigi mangione arrived for his extradition hearing and erupted. >> it's completely out of touch with the intelligence of the american people. >> reporter: a team of deputies forgie i forcing him inside. he's facing murder charges in the killing of brian thompson. >> if you believe in american criminal justice system, you have to presume him to be innocent, and none of us would want anything other than that if that were us in his shoes. >> reporter: we're now seeing images of mangione inside the mcdonald's, taking down his mask to eat a hash brown, just moments before a worker called police. fellow customers doing a double take. >> my one friend made the comment, he thought -- he goes, don't that look like the shooter from new york? we pretty much laughed about it. >> reporter: when police arrived and asked mangione if he had

recently visited new york city, he became quiet. >> he became visibly nervous, kwind of kind of shaking at that question. >> reporter: a confidential nypd assessment obtained by abc news says mangione considered the targeted killing of thompson to be a symbolic takedown of united health care over perceived corruption. he likely views himself as a hero of sorts. abc news obtained a copy of the alleged killer's handwritten screed. it says these parasites simply had it coming. >> he states how we are the number one most expensive health care system in the world, yet the life expectancy of an american is ranked 42 in the world. so, he was writing a lot about his distan for corporate america and in particular the health care industry. >> reporter: even as police dig into a motive, there are still quells about how a young man from a prominent family, the valedictorian as his elite prep school and ivy league graduate, could be transformed into an

accused killer. we asked his former roommate in hawaii, who said mangione struggled with a back injury. >> he did let me know that the severity of his back issue was such that it was very difficult to have physical rerelationships with women, that it made things painful. >> reporter: on social media, police see he posted an spray of a spine and wrote about back pain and brain fog, saying, "it's absolutely brutal to have such a life-halting issue." he had been out of touch with his family, and sources say his mother filed a missing person report in san francisco two weeks before brian thompson's murder. mangione's case has become a cause, with admirers posting vid yoefls like this on instagram. ♪ i'm in love with a criminal ♪ >> reporter: the social media profile gained hundreds of thousands of followers after his arrest, and the police department that arrested mangione has been threatened.

pennsylvania governor josh th shapiro is disgusted. >> i understand people have real frustration with our health care system. this killer is being hailed as a hero. here me on this -- he is no hero. >> whit: let's get right to aaron katersky in pennsylvania. so, aaron, how could long it take before the suspect is sent back to new york city? >> reporter: it could take weeks, whit, for the legal process to play out, but the manhattan d.a.'s office tonight is adamant mangione will return to new york to face the murder charge. his attorney told us tonight he would plead not guilty to everything he's charged with. i was in court here with the suspect, after that outburst, and he appeared calm inside. his lawyer's office has been inundated with calls from people offering to pay his legal bills. whit? >> whit: just another layer in this extraordinary case. aaron, thank you. now, to the exploding wildfire in malibu, california. the franklin fire roaring to

life less than 24 hours ago, fumed by santa ana winds. 18,000 people in the evacuation zone. part of the pacific coast highway shut down. students at pepperdine university told to shelter in place. some, you see here, watching the flames out of the library windows. and homes have already burned. abc's trevor ault on the scene tonight. >> reporter: tonight, an explosive wildfire in malibu, california, destroying homes and forcing thousands to evacuate. tr the fire breaking out around 11:00. santa ana winds gusting to 80 miles an hour, fanning the flames, sending embers flying across thousands of acres. fire jumping the pacific coast highway. this fire erupted overnight in the hillside here in malibu. it's absolutely blanketed in flames like this. and look at it, all over the hillside. we're standing in the parking lot of malibu city hall right now. even in the distance, you see

another patch there. and then up over the hillside, the glow of the flames. >> oh, my god. >> reporter: the bright orange of those flames eerily visible through the windows of the library at nearby pepperdine university. students sheltering in place in the school's fire resistant buildings. daylight revealing destruction. homes burned to the ground. alex used a high powered hose pumping water from backyard pools to try to save his neighborhood. >> there was so much fire in here, it was insane. >> reporter: he says he was able to save at least five of his neighbors' homes. and whit, we can still see the flames burning behind me. they are in no way out of the woods here. the humidity will remain low with more gusting wind. and red flag warnings are still in effect for most of southern california. whit? >> whit: quite a scene behind you. trevor, thank you. let's bring in lee goldberg of wabc. and lee, you're tracking that extreme fire danger in the west, but also, a flood threat heading to the northeast?

>> reporter: indeed, whit. the santa anas still screaming today. gusts in the mountains over 90 miles an hour. thankfully, the winds though gusty tonight will subside. in the east, the flood threat in the south, that's climbing up the coast. we have wind alerts and flood alerts all the way from florida to maine. as we go through the day tomorrow, there may be a squall line that forms along the coast, bringing gusts over 60 miles per hour and up to four inches of rain, from d.c. to philly, right into new york city. at night, that heavy rain's moving into parts of new england and behind it, it's all about the arctic air pouring in. a 30-degree drop and another lake effect snow event. whit? >> whit: lee, thank you. overseas now, and syria tonight. new shock waves after the fall of the assad regime. israel conducting air strikes on military facilities to keep them from falling into what they consider the wrong hands. and tonight, an up-close look at what most syrians were never allowed to see. assad's abandoned palace and his most brutal prison. abc's chief international

correspondent james longman takes us inside. >> reporter: israel tonight unleashing a wave of devastating air strikes across syria, destroying its military bases and naval fleet. officials say they want to prevent the fallen assad regime's chemical weapons from falling into the handles of the syrian rebels. today, we visited assad's abandoned palace. the vast marbled estate ransacked and burned. this is what was a ballroom, clearly, ravaged by fire now. you can see all the chandeliers smashed and burned. new video showing the world asad's life of luxury. a garage filled with rare ferraris and maseratis. while assad stole his country's wealth, his people suffered extraordinary pain to keep him in power. we went inside assad's killing machine, the notorious prison, where thousands were sent and few ever emerged. families trying to find out what happened to their loved ones. they want to show us, they want to show the world proof of assad's brutality.

the ropes that hanged probably hundreds, maybe thousands. this man confronts me, "my son was 15 when they took him, where is he? we want to know," he cries. his boy was taken 11 years ago. everyone here is missing someone. inside, we see syrians pouring over lists of the detained. the first clues they've ever had to their loved ones' fate. and underground -- this is solitary confinement. tiny rooms behind huge metal doors where people would languish for years. no light. no one would know they were here. and in another room, a printing press. these families convinced bodies were crushed here for easier disposal. there's also an urgent search tonight for american journalist austin tice, kidnapped near damascus 12 years ago. a senior official tells abc news the u.s. is now trying to check all of syria's prisons and safehouses, hoping to find him alive. whit, those israeli air strikes were huge. nearly crippling syria's

defenses. now, the united states says they're not going to stand in their way, but for a country already in crisis, they were terrified. whit? >> whit: james longman, thank you. meantime, back here in the u.s., police in cincinnati say thieves robbed the home of bengals quarterback joe burrow while he was on the field for "monday night football." it's just the latest in a string of break-ins targeting the homes of professional athletes. here's abc's erielle reshef. >> burrow. sideline. >> reporter: while star cincinnati bengals quarterback joe burrow was throwing touchdowns and leading his team to victory in dallas monday night -- authorities now say thieves were breaking into his sprawling multimillion dollar home in cincinnati. >> we do have a shattered window into the bedroom. the bedroom has been ransacked. >> reporter: the first 911 call placed by the frightened mother of burr roowburrow's employee. >> this is joe burrow's house. my daughter is staying there.

>> reporter: just moments after kickoff, burrow's employee herself making an emergency call. >> someone broke into my house. it's, like, completely messed up. >> reporter: just last month, the nfl issued a security alert after the recent burglaries at the mansions of chiefs quarterback travis mahomes and tight end travis kelce. so far, the sheriff in ohio saying the burglary at burrow's home does not appear to be connected to a rash of recent crimes targeting sports stars, but the nba, nfl, and nhl warning of a south american crime syndicate. whit, police tell abc news that an off-duty officer was at burrow's home that night pro providing security. hurt thes whit? >> whit: erielle, thank you. turning now to the trump transition. some of his most controversial picks making their cases on capitol hill. pete hegseth still facing

republican skeptics, as well as fbi director nominee kash patel, who has vowed to go after trump's political opponents. here's abc's chief white house correspondent mary bruce. >> reporter: after a bruising few weeks, tonight, president-elect donald trump's controversial pick to lead the pentagon seems to be gaining some momentum. >> he's much better off this week than he was last week. >> reporter: pete hegseth, the former fox news host and veteran, fighting to win over republican skeptics has he faces allegations of sexual misconduct. all of which he has denied. >> what are you expecting with your meeting from senator murkowski today? >> great conversation. >> reporter: alaska's lisa murkowski tight lipped after the meeting. did you learn anything that swayed you at all? >> i had a good exchange with mr. hegseth. >> reporter: also on the hill today, trump's pick for fbi director, a hard core loyalist, kash patel has vowed to go after trump's political opponents. today, i asked him if that's still his plan.

donald trump says he's going to leave political prosecutions up to you. will you go after january 6th committee members? tonight, donald trump is looking to jump-start investment in the u.s., promising to sweep aside permits and regulations, including environmental ones, for companies that invest at least a billion dollars in the u.s. whit? >> whit: mary bruce, thank you. when we come back here, president biden now briefed about those mystery drone siktings in the northeast, including 11 confirmed reports over an army base. for the first time, jamie foxx speaks out about his mystery health scare. coming in.. big orders! mystery health scare. what we didn't know.orders starting a business iser easy, but starting it eight months pregnant.. that's a different story. i couldn't slow down. we were starting a business from the ground up. people were showing up left and right. and so did our business needs. the chase ink card made it easy. when you go for something big like this, your kids see that. and they believe they can do the same.

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so you can keep doing you. tonight, the white house says president biden has now been briefed on those mystery drone sightings in the northeast. large drones spotted at night over parts of new jersey, and the philadelphia area, staten island, and new york, as well. 11 confirmed drones seen over an army facility in morris county, new jersey. they've also been spotted over president trump's bedminster golf course. two mayors are set to meet with authorities tomorrow. when we come back, the supermarket merger set to be the largest in u.s. history. what a judge just decided. and jamie foxx on the health care that skept kept him hospit for weeks.

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finally tonight, for the first time, months after his mystery health scare, actor jamie foxx revealing just what happened. tonight, for the first time, oscar winner jamie foxx opening up about the mysterious illness he said nearly took his life. >> wow, man, please lord, let me get through this. >> you got it! you got it! >> whit: emotional as he takes the stage for a new netflix special, describing what led to his hospitalization last year. >> april 11th, i was having a bad headache. and i asked my boy for an aspirin. before i could -- i went out. i don't -- i don't remember 20 days. >> whit: saying his sister drove him to a hospital in atlanta and then the doctor would give the devastating news. >> he said, he's having a brain

bleed. that's led to a stroke. damn. me. me, man, me. wow. >> whit: crediting his amazing recovery to his family, his medical team, and never losing his sense of humor. >> i couldn't walk, but look at me now. i didn't let go of my funny, i said, if i can stay funny, i can stay alive. if i can stay funny, i can stay alive, so, i was always cracking jokes to the point where the nurses thought i was really losing my mind. and i was never myself. never myself. i -- because it's a wellness check, they ask you who you are, for five days, i was denzel washington. i was denzel, all right, okay. all right, sure, that's what you're telling me, okay, all right. yeah. my nurses.

my nurses. >> whit: and still with that sense of humor. so great to see him back. thank you for watching tonight, i'm whit johnson in new york. for david and all of us here, good night. right now. >> this is the work that i came in office to do. this is the work that i wanted to see happen. and this is why today is so significant. >> that was the major announcement from san francisco leaders, the city reporting the fewest number of homicides in more than 60 years. good afternoon. thanks for being here. i'm julian glover and i'm kristen sze. >> the latest crime data shows there have been 33 homicides in san francisco this year. a

number city leaders say is not by accident. >> abc seven news reporter monica madden joining us live now. monica, the crime numbers are positive, showing a decrease, but the city is still struggling with this perception problem. >> you're absolutely right, julian. san francisco's image and reputation was deeply hurt by all of the videos that went viral during the pandemic. of those smash and grabs, or more recently, the non-fatal shooting of 40 niners player ricky pearsall. it's why city leaders say it is critical to pay attention to the data, but they acknowledge it will take time for the public's perception to shift. >> this wasn't an accident. this was very strategic. >> san francisco city leaders announcing tuesday crime in all major categories is down, particularly with homicides, which are down year to date 34% from 2023, a number not seen since the 1960s. >> that is the work that we're doing here in san francisco. that is how we are changing our city for the better, attributing it to new technology like drones, public