. good to be you, i'm katy tur. it is a business hour of news. the manhattan d.a. has an update

on the case into luigi mangione, it should start around 3:30, as soon as that press conference begins. wisconsin police just offered more details on the school shooting at abundant life christian which left one student and one teacher and the 15-year-old female suspect dead. >> we know a document has been widely shared on social media. at this time we cannot verify its authenticity. we have detectives working today to determine where this document originated and who actually shared it online. identifying a motive is our top priority. but at this time it appears that the motive was a combination of factors. again, we could not share that information at this time. because we do not want to jeopardize the investigation and those who are currently cooperating with us. all patient status remain

unchanged. on the question of bullying, we're talking to students to understand where the bullying was one of the multiple factors that i mentioned earlier. some have asked if people were specifically targeted. everyone was targeted in this incident. >> joining us now from madison is nbc news correspondent kathy parks. so we talked about the other victims, the ones who were injured. he said they're status remains the same. as of yesterday, two of them were in critical condition, life-threatening injuries. what else could you tell us about the -- about the investigation? what is the latest? >> reporter: yeah, you heard from the police chief at madison there just a few moments ago and he didn't take any questions compared to yesterday. this press conference was relatively short. he did top off the press conference, wanted to clarify detail that was shared yesterday. originally it was reported that

a second grade student called in the active shooter, calling 911. but in fact it was a second grade teach who are but we heard the chief talking about the investigation, how it is pressing ahead. he said that people have questions about the motive but there are multiple factors they are reviewing at this time. but he did not disclose what exactly because he doesn't want to jeopardize the investigation u. heard him there talking about the possibility of bullying. they're questioning students, seeing if that was an issue. also there is a widely shared document online that is circulating and that currently is being reviewed but they can't authenticate it at this time. meanwhile, there was a large social media presence with this student. and right now those details have not been released. and you heard there that the chief said everyone was targeted in this incident. and that was kind of tough to

hear, especially since there are still so many questions surrounding this -- this tragedy and this community as you could imagine, they're still shaken up. a lot of resources are being poured into this school community. there is a vigil plans later on this evening at 6:00. but we know counselors, law enforcement, attorneys, they're making themselves available to help those who were affected. meanwhile, you mentioned the victims. we got a brief update on those individuals. we know that the patient status has not changed from yesterday. six people were injured. two were released overnight. but two remain in critical condition. and the death toll still stands at two, one teacher and a teenage student was killed. >> still a lot of pain there. kathy park, thank you very much. the at top of the show we mentioned that the manhattan d.a. will be making an announcement or giving an update regarding luigi mangione and the killing of the united health

care ceo. and there is another case out of the manhattan d.a. office, against donald trump. judge juan mer chan is refusing to toss out the election interference case brought by d.a. alvin bragg. rejecting the claim of presidential immunity and denying that he has new protection now that donald trump is the president-elect. joining us now, legal correspondent lisa ruben. so explain this ruling by the judge. >> there were a number ever motions on the table so i'm glad you're giving me the opportunity to explain the ruling because it addressed one but not all of the things that he wants from judge merchan. he asked for the judge to set aside the jury's verdict on the grounds of presidential immunity decision. not because he was immune from the charges themselves, but rather because the jury's verdict was premised on evidence for which he had immunity.

specifically evidence that came from his first term as president. whether it was conversations for example with his then communication director hope hicks or tweets that he had issued about michael cohen at the time of his presidency. the argument was the jury relied on so much evidence that came from trump's official conduct that they couldn't have reached a guilty verdict without it. judge merchan in that opinion disagreeing and saying there was substantial enough evidence that it is not clear that donald trump would have been exonerated on those 34 counts. >> so does this sentencing go dormant for four years. >> not clear. because the d.a. office in a separate set of briefs or filings has argued that judge merchan has a number of options. co he could stay the sentencing and have it go dormant or sentence him to time served and one they put on the table and merchan found interesting is the concept of abatement which several states use. after a conviction, but before a

sentencing, a defendant either dies or flees. it is like putting an asterisk on a conviction. the conviction isn't vacated. it stays there, but the defendant is never sentenced. and the d.a. office said this is something for you to consider as well. there are many jurisdictions who do that. alabama is the leading one. let's follow the alabama rule and see if we could do that. >> so it will remain on his permanent record. this just dropped six minutes agos with you were walking in. former and president-elect say that a juror has reached out to them and in a heavily relacted letter todd blanche said there was been a grave juror misconduct during the trial that resulted in those 34 guilty counts. blanche said what happened was a violation of trump's rights under the constitution and new york law. and as a result, the court must vacate the verdicts. he said this behavior is completely unacceptable and it

demonstrates without question that the verdicts in this case are as unreliable as d.a. bragg's promise to protect manhattanites from violent crime. >> i've seen those. >> what is he talking about. >> todd blanche made an allegation that justified vacating the verdict. the let verizon been made public but they're so heavily redacted we don't understand what the allegation is much less who it is made about. what judge merchan said yesterday is that although he would demand that the letters be made public, they do not constitute a motion to vacate the verdict. if trump wants to move to vacate the verdict on the basis of juror misconduct, he'll have to formally put in a motion, including evidence and maybe even a declaration like a sworn statement by someone who could attest to that juror misconduct. trump would have to make himself available for a proceeding about that motion. something that it seems like he

has not been willing to do thus far. so we'll stay tuned to see whether todd blanche files such a motion. >> let's put the d.a. case and this guilty ruling to the side for a moment. whatever happens with that and the sentencing. and let's talk about another lawsuit that donald trump is bringing. he brought one against cbs and abc and now against ann selzer of the des moines register poll. she released a poll, according to her data that, iowa was swinging wildly to the left. that suddenly kamala harris was very much in the lead. and that women were breaking for her. women and people who were older. that didn't turn out to be the case. poll was -- it did not end up being accurate. how does donald trump have any grounds to sue her over a poll? >> i don't think that this is going to prove to be a meritorious suit -- >> it means that -- >> that it will succeed. but i don't think -- i think it

is worth distinguishing the case from the abc case which is a straightforward defamation claim. in a defamation, you have to prove that someone made a false statement of fact about you and that you were injured by it. that is not the claim that donald trump is making here. he's making the claim under iowa consumer fraud statute. and saying that essentially ann selzer, aided by the des moines register which published the results of the poll and the newspaper which owns the register, defrauded or made representations to people reading that newspaper on which they relied and which damaged donald trump. and on both of those counts, it is unclear to me how donald trump is going to show that there was reliance by an audience of viewers on that poll after all he did not only win the election, he won all six of iowa's electoral votes. >> does it make people a little hesitant to put out a poll if he's bringing lawsuits against a poll that wasn't accurate. >> one of the first term was

cruelty -- and when it comes to the lawsuits, the uncertainty is the point. causing people to think twice before they have conversations even the one we're having right now is the entire point. whether that lawsuit succeeds may not be as important to donald trump and his lawyers as it is to instill fear in, for example, the owner of big swaths of newspaper companies like. >> or big media organizations. lisa rubin. thank you very much. and coming up, it is illegal for a new york doctor to prescribe abortion pills to a texas woman. and plus ukraine is taking credit for assassinating a russian general on a moscow street. what they say he did to make him fair game. but what is real and what is hysteria regarding drones. the white house is trying to calm people down. so why aren't local and state

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say christmas. christmas! when you want gifts to express a lifetime of love - we've spent a lifetime crafting them. harry & david, 90 years and still sharing. the house intelligence committee tried to get answers in a classified briefing on the drone spotting across the northeast. we're still waiting to hear back from lawmakers who were in attendance. and the white house is still trying to cool things off. as john kirby of the national security counsel made the rounds

on morning tv. >> we are being as open and as transparent with the american people as we can be. what we won't do is speculate or hypothesize about what -- something that we don't know. now we know that there is no national security threat or public safety threat. >> nbc news senior correspondent tom costello has the latest. >> reporter: good day. the vast majority of these sightings are appearing to be planes and helicopters and some other drone operators. but the nypd said there are typically 2,000 drone flights every week. just here in new york city. and a lot of these reports over the last few weeks are really just business as usual. with the christmas travel rush just days away. overnight the government released a rare joint statement from multiple agencies about those drone sightings. saying we have not identified figure anomalous and did not assess the activity to present the national security or public safety risk over the civilian

air space in new jersey or other states in the northeast. though, the push continues for answers about thousands of sightings. >> we want to make sure our skies are protected and we don't want anyone using drones that is going to be harmful. >> reporter: phil murphy is pushing for legislation to give states more authority to deal with drones. >> it is extraordinary to me that a nation as great as ours and as powerful as ours has the deficiencies what we have now seen in living color as it related to drone incursions. >> the nypd said many of the tips they've investigated are actually planes, helicopters, and even planets. president-elect trump is suggesting without offering evidence that the government or military knows more about the drones that they're saying. >> our military knows and our president knows. and for some reason they want to keep people in suspense. >> reporter: adding that he canceled a weekend trip to his

new jersey club because of the sightings. they're very close to bedminster. i think i won't spend the weekend in bed menster. >> some lawmakers are frustrated with the federal response. >> won't let the federal governmentin salt the american people and claim they aren't seeing things that they're seeing with their own two eyes. >> a company specializing in drone radar, robin radar, is working with the new jersey state place. >> how can your technology help the new jersey state troopers? >> they will be able to detective an object in the sky and also provide some data analysis of what, in fact, that object is. where it is going and possibly its origins. >> reporter: there are a million registered drones nationwide. the faa points out that they are legal in daylight and night. the faa requires that they remain under 400 feet. they must stay at least five miles from airports and restricted areas an be in the line of sight of the drone operator and have a license for

larger drones and any commercial activity. back to you. >> thank you very much. and joining us now, ed day. thank you for joining us. tell me more about what you're concerned about at this moment, given what the white house is saying? >> well, first of all, what the white house is saying that a dollar short and a penny late. the reason -- the first thing that i said when this came to my attention from my constituents was remain calm. we'll get some answers, et cetera. we called for calm and so did many of my colleagues. the ridiculous lacking response by the federal government is the cause for the concern people have expressed. they don't trust the government. i don't blame them at this point. it is something that there was a lackadaisical attitude. could you imagine if we had a airport shut down in 1960. what would kennedy say? would he say hide or come out and lead and have calm in the country.

that is what is necessary. i'm a former police commander. i get that. i understand the way it is supposed to work. but until government does something tangible now, they've made it more difficult for themselves. and out here in rockland county, orange county, their airport was shut down for a hour, because of drone activity. there was report that a military helicopter had to go down because of drone activity. these things have never happened before. this is a unique situation. this is never happened before. in those kind of situations, the presence of the leaders is demanded. there is no other way of putting it. >> but what is the solution here? is it to outlaw drones? >> no. >> are you certained because there are so many sightings and people have been talking about, we're having a lot of lobbyists throw up drones in the air to try to continue this conversation and the issue is probably being potentially being compounded by people who are just enjoying the spectacle of it. >> i don't agree with banning drones. i don't agree with saying you can't have them.

the issue here is not drone itself. the issue here is the fact that they're out there and only until now, from three days over the weekend, four days since the weekend, are we getting any kind of seemingly cohesive response in federal government. when you tell me that we don't know what it is but it is not a threat, that is dismissive. that is not -- >> so what is the better answer? what is the better answer? >> a reasonable answer is to establish a sense of calm with the people in the country. first of all. let them know they're doing something. which is now being done. but now they -- i think what the federal government should be doing is open up the books. let people know exactly what they did. i see a lot of information is coming out, it is very vague. it is double speak. there is nothing specific being done that is telling us what -- what this exactly going on. and i recognize there may be some things that they can't talk about and that is presented in a calm, direct authoritative manner, people will be fine.

but the way things have been done so far is beyond short. >> what do you think these are? >> i think some of them are drones. some of them maybe are not. i think that the concerns are legitimate. i'm not going to say to my neighbors who are giving me details of what is going on are wrong all of the time. but at the end of the day, what it comes down to is that we have a situation here that demands attention. the federal government was slow to get on its feet and do that and we have not seen anybody in elected office, such as the president or the vice president try to take control of the situation or calm things down. that is what is necessary at the stage of the game. >> how do you get drones out of the air? do you think there should be authority for local governments to take them down? >> i think it -- i think the one thing that might be helpful at this point, if there was a moratorium put out for 24, 48 hours except for businesses because they have to register with the faa. something that will calm the

folks down out there and minimize the amount of sightings that we're getting. we're getting sightings here in rockland county and we're just one county of 62 in the new york state. our sheriff's department is segmenting calls, we're sending uniformed officers to locations to try to get a better read on what is going on out there. but that should not be left to us as local law enforcement. it shouldn't be. >> ed day, thank you very much for joining us. appreciate it. and we hope get some answers to whatever the heck is going on out there. ed day, thank you. and we just got the indictment from d.a. alvin bragg against luigi mangione. i'm going to go through it a little bit. the d.a. of new york, along with the new york city police commissioner, jessica tish, announced the indictment for the murder of 50-year-old united health care ceo brian thompson outside of the hilton in midtown. he's charged in a new york state supreme court indictment with

one count of murder in the first-degree. and in furtherance of terrorism. so they're calling it a terrorism charge. two counts of murder in the second-degree. one of which is charged as killing of an act of terrorism. two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second-degree. four counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree. one count of criminal possession if the fourth degree. and one count of criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second degree. and there is a little bit of color from attorney alvin brag. we allege that he carried out the fate aol shooting of brian thompson in midtown manhattan. this type ever premeditated targeted gun violence cannot and will be be tolerated and my office has been working day in and day out to bring the defendant to justice. i want to extend my heartfelt prayers to mr. thompson's loved ones as they continue to grieve. lisa ruben is back with us and

we're getting movement that the police are alleging on that day. but i want to start with murder in the first, a class 1 felony, and what do they need to prove to link there to terrorism. >> they'll have to prove that he had an intent to essentially scare the public by targeting brian thompson here. that this was not an accidental killing. this was a premeditated murder. and that by killing brian thompson, luigi mangione had the intent of letting the public know that it was because ever hi involvement in the delivery of health care services and in health insurance, they're alleging here that that itself was an act of terrorism and i'm reading from the indictment right now, intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, influence the policies of a unit of government by intimidation or coercion and affect the conduct of a unit of government by murder assassination or kidnapping. they're saying he was trying to

influence public policy by targeting brian thompson for this premeditated act. >> and that conversation about the policy toward health care has been ongoing since this happened. a conversation that this country really has not had in full since, i mean, i think you could go back to obamacare an the discussion around whether there should be a version of socialized medicine in this country or a public platform for medicine. so, that has been happening. he's still in pennsylvania. has not yet been extradited. he's fighting the extradition. do we know the status? >> so far he has fought the extradition. he has two hearings on thursday in pennsylvania. the first of those hearings regards the charges against him in pennsylvania itself, and then there will be an extradition hearing in pennsylvania which likely will result in his being extradited to new york. with or without a waiver on his attorney's part, particularly now that we have this indictment. one of the other things that they're going to need, if he's still fighting it, is a warrant

from the governor of new york, kathy hochul, who said she would take all steps to make that happen. i want to point something out to you and our viewers about the indictment. you said that this will help bring about a conversation about health care in our country and it has. but the other conversation that i think this case will likely bring about has to do with guns in our country because so many of the charges here have to do with how luigi mangione allegedly killed brian thompson. because there is a charge here for the possession of an assault weapon. there is a charge here with the possession of what the indictment called a large capacity ammunition feeding device meaning a glock for another large capacity, a mag pull magazine and it talks about the fact that despite the fact that he was not licensed as gun smith or a dealer, and knowing that it was a ghost gun, he possessed a ghost gun and he possessed a silencer, all of these charges are different charges having to do with what

was in luigi mangione's possession when he accomplished this murder. >> so potentially a conversation about ghost guns and how to regulate them or to stop them. >> which are illegal in the state of new york but not part of the federal ban which expired many years ago at this point. >> let's bring in a retired nypd detective and director of the black alliance mark clackston. we have the indictment, first-degree murder here. which is a terrorism charge in new york city. but lisa just brought up what i think is an interesting point and this is a secondary conversation. there is a health care conversation that we've been having. there is the can you ever justify assassinating someone which everyone would say no, and then, three, the conversation about how guns come into possession. there is always a bad black market for guns. there is all sorts of loopholes on the legal market for guns and now we're dealing with the

ability to 3d print a gun. potentially an automatic weapon inside of your home. >> yeah. i think what is interesting is just based on the charge in the indictment, quite clearly there is the -- the investigators have some determination in regards to a -- a probable motive and that would come really as a result of extensive interviews during the course of the investigation and other evidence that may pop up that would lead them to firmly believe that the motivation for this crime was related to the health care, his position on health care, not just generally speaking, big business or corporate america itself. and as far as guns are concerned, there continues to be this pervasive issue in the nation about these ghost guns and 3d printable guns. but people should be mindful that it is not just a matter of

being able to print -- basically create these untraceable weapons, using a 3d printer, but there are actually kits that they have for sale across the nation that makes it really quite simple for people to kind of frankenstein a firearm together that could be untraceable. not have a serial number, that would make it even more difficult to -- to really get to the origins of where the weapon was generated. and when you're talking about crimes such as this, this horrific incident, there are crimes occurring throughout the nation on a daily basis where people are using these frankenstein ghost guns if you will. so it is something that really needs to be further addressed by law enforcement and just put into the public purview so people understand about some of the dangers that are out there. >> yeah, seven gun charges total in this indictment. and they say that when luigi

mangione was arrested, that he had on and that is what police were saying, a 9 millimeter handgun and a 3d printer and multiple live cartridges, a home made silencer and the fake new jersey i.d.s. i'll give you more. they retraced luigi mangione's alleged steps on the morning of the murder and they say he left the hostile at 5:34 and traveled to midtown using an e bike and between 5:52, he walked around the hilton hotel. at approximately 6:15 he purchased a water bottle and granola bar at the starbucks on 6th avenue. between 6:38 and 6:44, he stood against a wall on the north side of the west 54th street across from the hilton. fully masked, with his hood up. at 6:45, he crossed the street to the hilton hotel and armed

with a 9 millimeter 3d printed ghost gun equipped with a silencer and he approached mr. thompson from behind and shot him once in the back and once in the leg. and then he took an e-bike up town and got into a taxi and was dropped off at west 138th street and amsterdam avenue and then he fled the state. it tells us, mark, that they probably had a lot more of the surveillance video than we've been able to see so far that has been released publicly? >> yeah. no doubt. that domain awareness system that the nypd has in place, this network of surveillance cameras throughout the city, which kind of incorporates not only the public cameras, the nypd city owned cameras, but an cooperating agreement they have with different corporations to have access to their video feeds as well.

that could provide a lot of valuable information as appears to be the case here. you have a situation where they're really getting down to five minute intervaled about movement and that really, i'm sure, is largely based on the video evidence that they've been able to obtain and now here is the other challenge that once you obtain this video evidence, you now have to kind of retrace every step and see if there is some other possible evidence that may need to be analyzed or processed, if there are items that maybe will have fingerprints or dna evidence that you have to then submit for analysis and verify and validate that which the video has provided to you. so there are multiple steps in this type of complex investigation. but it is very useful and very helpful to have that overall domain awareness system that they have utilized. >> once again, we're watching the d.a. office right now where

we expect manhattan d.a. alvin bragg to come out and officially announce this indictment that was handed up by a grand jury. that should begin any moment. we're going to go there live. lisa, lisa. >> i'm glad you were just talking about is the sort of two variance of evidence here that link luigi mangione to the alleged crime. one being the electronic surveillance and two being dna evidence or fingerprint or physical evidence. there are people in the popular culture right now that are saying some of the pictures that we've seen of luigi mangione in new york don't resemble the pikes that we've seen of him as he was at that mcdonald's in pennsylvania when he was app rehended by authorities. and to them, one of the things that i would say, i'm curious to see what jessica tish, the nypd commissioner and alvin bragg say about the d.a. evidence because we know from prior reporting that there were fingerprints that match a kind bar wrapper found on the scene and as you talked about his movement in the

purchase of the granola bar, the shell casings here also match the gun which was found on his person when he was apprehended. so i'll be interesting to hear them talk about the physical evidence because of that electronic evidence on one hand is really strong and yet in the popular imagination right now, one of the ways that it has been discussed is this isn't the same person. i've heard that conversationally about this case time and time again. and if you're hearing it, among people who are watching our air, you could hear it from a jury as well. so how they're going to show up that electronic evidence is important to the disposition of this case. >> each of the guns, tell me if i'm wrong, leaves a signature on the bullet, the casing and the bull itself as it is fired out of the gun. you could trace back which gunshot which bullet. am i wrong about that? >> you're correct about that. they will do some forensic examination of the firearms and test fire and compare the markings left on the bullets.

so, yeah, they have that campus toyota -- that capacity to do that. and some could be done expeditiously and other things could take time. fingerprints and the handgun testing, those kind of things could be done in short order. the dna tends to take a little while longer for the results themselves. but all of it is vitally important in putting together this kind of case for the prosecution. i've had to remind people that the objective of the investigation at this stage is to check and analyze and examine all available evidence and conduct all interviews to kind of create this kind of linear fact pattern that gives people a clear opportunity to determine guilt in this particular case. so the investigation at this point is really about giving as much evidence and support to a

successful prosecution as is possible. >> antonio hilton is down there in pennsylvania where luigi mangione is being held and is fighting extradition. what could you tell us about the latest down there and out of curiosity, has there been any spottings of anybody within luigi mangione's family. i'm going to to put you on hold. because we're seeing the d.a. bragg at the podium now. he's going through this indictment in detail. so let us go into this room and listen in. good afternoon. i'm alvin bragg, manhattan district attorney. i'm honor and privileged to be joined by police commissioner

jessica tish. first and foremost, i want to extend my deepest condolences to mr. thompson's loved ones and colleagues. his family deserves our respect, as they continue to grieve. our work will never be able to undo the fact that a life was lost. we are here to announce that luigi mangione, the defendant, is charged with one count of murder in the first-degree, and two counts of murder in the second-degree. including one count of murder in the second-degree as an act of terrorism. for the brazen, targeted and premeditated shooting of brian thompson. who, as you know, was the ceo of united health care. this case was made possible by the collaborate efforts of the phenomenal public servants you see before you today. and so many others who are not

here. i'm honored to lead the manhattan district attorney's office and privileged to serve alongside assistant district attorneys joel sideman, kristin bailey and zammary caplan who were working from the outset, hand in hand with the greatest police department in the world. chief of our trial division, and the deputy chief provided over sight and direction and i want to acknowledge our high technology analysts and analysis unit. there was a lot to be processed here. steve moran, who heads that and marco poppic. we are privileged here at the d.a. office to work every day with the phenomenal public servants at the nypd. it is been a distinct pleasure to work besides commissioner tish and an exemplary partner and chief of detectives joseph kinney, almost every day we're in touch and his leadership is

second to none. and deputy commissioner rebecca winer, who is, as i tell her, there is a lot of challenging things happen in the world and i sleep better at night knowing sha she is the deputy commissioner in charge of terrorism. the detectives on this out doing the courageous front line work, detective oscar diaz, detective cursio, exemplary, the finest. it wasn't just those of us here in new york, i want to acknowledge the great work of our partners in altoona, the altoona police department. the blair county district attorney's office. the governors of new york and pennsylvania. the fbi and, of course, the brave members of public. who answered the call when our great commissioner put out the call for their assistance. this was a frightening, well-planned, targeted murder. that was intended to cause

shock, and attention, and intimidation. it incurred in one of the most bustling parts of our city. threatening the safety of local residents and tourist as like. commuters and business people, just starting out on their day. the charges include one count of murder in the first-degree. as a killing in furtherance of terrorism. two counts of murder in the second-degree. one charge of the killing that was done as an t of terrorism and second, that the killing was intentional. the maximum penalty possible for murder if the first-degree and murder in the second-degree is life without parole. and the maximum penalty for murder in the second-degree is 25 years to life. there are additional counts as well. a number of criminal possession of weapon charges. two counts in the second-degree,

four counts in the third-degree and one count in the fourth-degree and a count of criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second-degree. let me tell you a bit about the facts. on november 24th, we alleged that the defendant arrived in new york city to murder brian thompson. after the defendant arrived in new york city on a bus at port authority, he checked into the hostel in the upper west side using name mark rosario with a fake new jersey i.d. on the morning of december 4th, the defendant left the hostel, excuse me, just after 5:30 a.m. and travelled to midtown. for nearly an hour, we allege that the defendant waited in the area near the hilton hotel, waiting for mr. thompson to appear. from 6:38 to 6:44 a.m., the defendant stood across from the entrance of the hotel. when he saw mr. thompson, he crossed the street and approached him from behind. we allege that he then took out

a 9 millimeter 3d printed ghost gun, equipped with a 3d printed suppressor and shot him once in the back and once in the leg. defendant then fled northeast on 54th street and took an e-bike up town before getting into a taxi that took him to west 178th street and amsterdam avenue. on december 9th, the defendant was spotted at mcdonald's in altoona, pennsylvania. the local police were notified. he was arrested and found with a 9 millimeter handgun, a suppressor, two ammunition magazines and the same fake new jersey i.d. he used at the hostel. i want to say a word about ghost guns. these weapons are increasingly proliferating throughout new york city and the entire country involving technology, that will only make this problem worse. last year over 80 ghost guns and ghost gun parts were recovered

in manhattan alone. the nypd and the manhattan d.a. office have been leading in the interdiction of these ghost guns and one thing i want to make clear, they are unserialized and could be printed out but as this case tragically makes clear, they are just as deadly as traditional firearms. this will remain a priority for us here in manhattan. finally, i know there have been questions about the extradition process. the latest that i could offer you is that the defendant is currently scheduled to appear in court in pennsylvania on thursday morning. first, for a preliminary hearing, on his pennsylvania charges, immediately to follow that will be an extradition hearing. we have indications that the defendant may waive that hearing. in which case he would be brought to new york forthwith. we've been preparing on parallel

paths and before the hearing we'll send to the governor and the state of new york, the paperwork necessary if he does not waive during that hearing. i now want to turn it over to our great commissioner and when i do so, i want to thank her for her partnership on this matter but on everything we do every day together. thank you. >> good afternoon, everyone. the unsealing of today's indictment brings us one step closer to securing just for brian thompson and hi family and affirming the privacy of the rule of law in the city of new york. nypd detectives worked tirelessly to piece this case together. and along the way, the manhattan d.a.'s office made sure that we had every legal tool available to us. whether quickly providing subpoenas to assist with our evidence collection, or

traveling with us altoona, pennsylvania, after the apprehension. our partnership made this a successful investigation. so i would like to thank bragg and his team for their work in bringing there case forward. part of that work includes the relentless collection and analysis of surveillance video by our detectives which ultimately produced a clear image of our suspect. that image was shared far and wide through the media and thanks to an observant mcdonald's customer and the employee who alerted the police, mr. mangione was quickly brought into custody. this outcome is why we always emphasize the critical role of the public in our public safety mission. so, again, i want to thank everyone who saw something, said something, and did something. that is why we have a suspect in custody today. as d.a. bragg said, luigi mangione is now formally charged and indicted for murder.

and let me be perfectly clear. in the nearly two weeks since mr. thompson's killing, we have seen a shocking and appalling celebration of cold blooded murder. social media has erupted with praise for this cowardly attack. people goalishly plastered posters threatening the other ceo's with an x offer mr. thompson's picture as though he was a sick trophy. and yesterday, sorry, yesterday the new york post reported that some extreme activists were circulating a deck of cards with other most wanted ceo's to be targeted for assassination. these are threats of a lawless violent mob who could trade in their own vigilanteism for the rule of law that protects us all. let me say this plainly. 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 onize this. and this is a vile reckless and offensive to our deeply held principles of justice. now as we await the extradition process in pennsylvania to compete, we continue our public safety work here at home. that includes our focus on the growing threat of ghost guns, one of which was used in there attack. the nypd remains to removing the untraceable weapons from our streets and we will do that work hand in hand with district attorney bragg here in manhattan and in every other borough, to show that those that use these weapons are held fully accountable. finally, i want to again thank

every member of the nypd uniform and civilian working on this case. led, of course, but our great chief kenny. whether in midtown north squad, homicide, crime scene unit, intelligence bureau, and everywhere else. all of you contributed to today's indictment and you've brought the thompson family one step closer to justice in this case. thank you. >> [ inaudible question ]. >> sure. so, in its most basic terms, this was a killing that is intended to invoke terror. and we've seen that reaction. you know, the statutory elements that we could go into, but in

its most basic term, that is what this is. this was not an ordinary killing. not to suggest that any killing is ordinary. but, this was extraordinary and the new york state legislature has set out, you know, both the paths that we talked about, both the murder one and murder two. in this, we allege, this is certainly with squarely within those statutes which talk about intending to do exactly what we saw happen here. >> maybe chief kenny to talk to this. but i'm wondering the time line between december 6th when the fbi was -- and the san francisco police about this missing person that was called in from -- the time that they contacted you about it. were you aware of this and was

he arrested or was this something still being processed at the time? >> so, the original missing report took place back in november 18th, in san francisco. the sergeant that was involved in this case reached out to the san francisco field office and said, hey, basically, i'm working on a missing case and i saw the photograph distributed by the nypd and that bears a resemblance. that was forwarded to us close to 45 hours after the incident took place. they showed up to a tfo, which is a task force officer. we have nypd officers embedded with the fbi and they received that tip. it was one of four tips received that day and they were vetting it. and they reached out to mangione's mother in san francisco very late on the 7th. 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.

so that information was going to be pass add long to the detectives the next morning but we apprehended him before we could act on that. >> the commissioner talked about how defendant has been lionized and celebrated. i'm worrying about how you are about a potential jury knowing that someone on that juror would lie onnize and celebrate that. >> i want to eck ho the commissioner's words an concerns which i think were put forth beautifully. we see a lot in these jobs. i meet with the families of homicide victims, and i just can't wrap my head around the notion that someone is celebrating this. to your specific question, we're at the beginning of a litigation now with our charge. we have a phenomenal trial team

in place. led by d.a. joel sideman who has been in this office for more than 40 years and handled some very challenging matters. we have process in place, faith in our jury system to select 12 people who could be fair and impartial. but we'll move forward and that is something well down the road but we'll be ready when that time comes. >> i want to explain more to you as to how you -- [ inaudible question ]. >> sure. and the statute talks about attempts to influence or coerce a civilian population. the statute talks about intending to influence a policy of government. and it talks about seeking to

put forth things similar to that by murder. so, the statute, the statute is clear, we've charged it and the grand jury has voted on it and we intend to go forward and prove it. but think it does help to take a step back and think about the proof in the case. some of the writings, i'm not going to get into too much of that. but the actual reaction. in the middle of midtown, the beginning of a busy day, tourists, commuters, business people. the intent was to sow terror. >> i'm wondering if services folks and your folks in your

office have been talking to them and if there is anything you could say about that. >> i'm not going to talk about communications with the family. other than to say that we have a robust survivor services staff here. that is second to none. but would you not talk about communications with any family. i don't think it would be appropriate. but i appreciate your concern. >> because like you're saying, you're so focused on suspect. you know. it is quite different -- >> i echo what the commissioner said and the sentiment of your question, my heart goes out to it. this is a significant piece of what we do here. it is we center the trauma of survivors and victims and their families. a significant piece of what i do is sit across the table and look people in the eye and when appropriate, to offer a hug and we have dedicated advocates and counselors and great staff that focuses on that.

so i agree completely with you. and i wish, i wish that that is where the public's focus was exclusively. that is where it should be. that is where it is here and it is the facts and the law in the case. but because of respect for your questions coming from, i'm not going to get into communications. >> [ inaudible question ]. >> yes. absolutely. and we've seen a real increase, sustained increase since december 4th. in concern, not just from ceos, but from corporations broadly and so going back to the d.a.'s point, the intent to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, which is of course at the root

of our state terrorism statute, it is very much bourne out in this reaction. and for good reason. we've had a torrent of online threats. we've had real world activity that the police commissioner flagged. which is abhorrent and it causes concerns. so we have done a lot to work with corporate security partners, with whom we partner on a daily basis in this city. at the city level, at the state level, trying to make sure that everybody has the best practices that they need. that they know where to flag, not just general ambient concerns but specific threats that they might be receiving. a few weeks ago, they might have written off as just noise in the online environment. but they now take seriously. so these are ongoing conversations that we have and thanks to all of the work that we do together every day, we're quite confident that concerns and threats are going to be appropriately directed our way.

>> all right. alvin brag there laying out the dime into luigi mangione. and i want to linger on the terrorism charge here for a second. because new york state is unique in the sense that you can't just get to first-degree murder by showing that it was premeditated. you have to attach terrorism to it. and the way that he's attaching terrorism to the charge against luigi mangione, i think bears a discretion, at least lisa ruin is still with me on that. how does he get to first-degree murder by attaching a terrorism charge here. >> in new york statute, the first-degree murder is just in furtherance of an act of terrorism, it requires a special factor. you murder a police officer or murder a witness of a crime and it goes down a long list of specifically people with different identifies in our world in furtherance of an act of terrorism in order to show that something, a crime was in furtherance of an act of

terrorism, it was intended to imtim date citizens through intimidation or coercion or affect the conduct of government by murder and they'll have to show that luigi mangione 's intent, not just the sort of after effect of what he did. so it is not enough, i don't think, to show that people felt intimidated or felt scared in the aftermath of this murder. knowing that the killer hadn't been located. they're going to have to show that this was buy design. >> was that part of why the police commissioner jessibbica tish held up the new york post, showing that others with a deck of cards are trying to target other ceos. is this trying to justify the charge in the moment after the fact? >> well, i think they're trying to show that it did have the fact of intimidating people and it is part of a groundswell and a movement that luigi mangione was not a person who acted in

isolation, but is part of some sort of larger community of people that are so disgruntled with the delivery of health care services in this country, that they advocated violence against those who were involved in it and in luigi mangione's case, was willing to act on that. i believe, katy, that one of the writings he left behind referred to the parasites that had it coming and you're expecting to see that as evidence in the case to prove that luigi mangione's crime here was in furtherance of an act of terrorism. they're bringing murder in the second-degree charges also here in the alternative. but they're aiming for the first-degree murder charge because of the consequences of it. and i just want to review with you and our viewers, in new york state, a first-degree murder charge carries a minimum penalty of 20 to 25 years and a maximum penalty of life in prison. the statute itself allows for the death penalty. that hasn't been used in new york in decades.

but luigi mangione could be facing here if convicted on first-degree murder charge, life in prison without parole. >> you would expect that if he's convicted for murdering someone in cold blood as alleged here. but say it was just the murder in the second-degree charge, could he also face life for that? >> i'm not sure. as we sit here. i'm not fluent enough in murder charges in new york to know exactly what the consequences are and what class of felony that is. you did get life for second-degree murder charges. >> as a maximum. >> i think that is fair. i think that is fair. i guess i'm just, i'm just questioning the terrorism charge because i start to worry that you get into a slippery slope by using the terrorism charge, potentially in this way. and maybe i'm wrong, but it is just meaning that it piqued my interest. >> and it piques my interest. particularly you and i were discussing during the press

conference that not only is it a slippery slope with respect to the use of the terrorism charge but the use of evidence in this case. is it self-reflective to some of a police stace. all of the electronic surveillance involved here. it is itself something that concerned many civil libertarians. so you're right to say this is a concern and i'll be very curious to see how they attempt to persuade a jury, particularly a manhattan jury when luigi mangione may have taken on full hero status and that i intended to kill brian thompson and -- >> and murder in the second-degree, which is a max max life in prison, two counts would that be two life sentences that they could put counts, wouo life sentences on top of each other or concurrent? >> they would be inalternative to each other, and one murder committed and one is straight murder in the second degree and one is murder in the