nbc's chris pallone has the latest from alabama. >> oh, wow, oh, jesus, look at that tornado. >> reporter: in mobile, alabama, a christmas surprise no one wished for. a tornado that touched down right near the emergency center. the twister left lots of damage at its waking blowing out first and second floor floor windows. and tearing off the roof at the high school. with trees and power lines down, tens of thousands are without electricity. the storm sent people scrambling for cover. >> one of the customers looked out the window, and he said there's a tornado coming. i looked out and saw the sparks, the debris, i got everybody, seven customers, and said we need to come in the back. >> i probably hurt my baby grabbing her running for protection because there was no time. >> reporter: the system spun from a massive storm system from the nation's midsection. earlier christmas day, a tornado touched down near mcneil, mississippi, more than a dozen homes were damaged and several people suffered minor damage. in texas, a live stock feed store. and high winds toppled a tree in harris county, tex

chris pallone has this one. >> reporter: a sleepy vacation community northeast of rochester, new york, is in shock after a gunman lured firefighters to a neighborhood and shot them. investigators in webster, new york, say four firpths responded to reports of a house and car on fire around 5:30 monday morning. two in a fire truck, two others in their own cars. >> it appears that it was a trap, that there was a car and a house that were engulfed in flame. >> one of the men was able to retreat to safety after being s.w.a.t. a s.w.a.t. team in an armored vehicle retrieved the other three. toe tas kaczowka and mike chiapperini were dead. police evacuated at least 30 people from the area and seven homes were damaged or destroyed. the shooter was found shot dead near the scene. police say he killed himself identified as william spengler, a man with a lengthy criminal history and served time for killing his grandmother. throughout the day, townspeople remembered the fallen firefighters as they tried to make sense of the senseless. >> you know, these people, they're just always there for you,

chris pallone, nbc news. >>> former president george h.w. bush took a turn for the worse last night. he's developed a fever and will be spending christmas in the hospital. his doctors now say they are cautiously optimistic that mr. bush who is 88 will recover. he has been hospitalized since thanksgiving suffering from bronchitis. >>> well, as members of congress spend christmas at home they are hearing from their constituents about guns. for and against further restrictions. it is shaping up to be one of the next year's biggest battles. nbc news justice correspondent pete williams has details. >> few things illustrate the nation's divide over guns as sharply as this. the debate over high capacity magazines that can hold more than ten rounds of ammunition. on the website of brownell's, the world's biggest supplier of gun schizo, 20 and 30-round magazines are featured stocking suffers. the company's president says sales in one 72 hour period equalled what's usually sold in 3 1/2 years. connecticut state police say adam lanza used several 30-ro

let's get to nbc's chris pallone.latest on the senseless violent. >> reporter: we're getting another update from connecticut state police to my right here about this tragedy. as you mentioned, the investigation continues at this hour. the school is still an active crime scene as they try to figure out what happened here today and why it happened. they're appearing several search warrants to go into various places related to the gunman to try to figure out why he carried out this attack this morning. remember, the number of victims in this, 26, 20 young children, many of them kindergarteners and six adults as the school. we've been told there's a related crime scene in newtown where another adult has been found dead. the connection we're not sure of at this point. police expect to be in the school for quite some time to try to figure out exactly what happened. >> thanks very much. it's just an unbelievable story. do we know -- we h