stephanie elam is in santa monica this morning. stephanie, what more have police said about the gunman? >> well, pamela, we can tell you now that it looks like john zawahri actually did have a connection to the school, he was attending there as recently as 2010, santa monica college this is along with a family member. police believe that he first set the house on fire before shooting his brother and father and then carjacking a woman and shooting at a city bus before making his way to the school where he then killed those four people. now, as we look at this, police are very interested to know how he was able to amass the massive number of weapons and ammunition that he was able to carry on to the school campus. they do believe that it was also premeditated based upon the fact that he did have body armor on, pamela. >> and you mentioned police are trying to figure out how he was trying to amass all these weapons. one of the weapons he had was highly regulated, right? at least one of the weapons. >> definitely. there's this one in pa

stephanie elam is in santa monica this morning. stephanie, what more have police said about the gunman. >> reporter: pamela, this is a story we've been following to get any details we can out of this. one other thing we believe, according to police, is that john zawahri, he actually set the house on fire before he killed his brother and father. that's one thing they're telling us before he then carjacked a woman and then shot at a city bus. one other thing we are learning now too is the shooting happened a day before his 24th birthday. obviously, he was also killed in this shooting spree. we also have learned he attended a high school for people who are behind in credits as recently as 2006, and we also now know that as recently as 2010 that he was a student along with another family member at santa monica college as well, pamela. >> stephanie, police now know john zawahri amassed all of these weapons. do we know how? >> that is something that they definitely want to find out more about because he did have such a cache of weapons wi

stephanie elam is in santa monica this morning following the story for us. t more have police said about the gunman? >> reporter: there's a few things more now we know, pamela. we do know that house that was burning where there were two other victims found, we do know their names as well. they're actually john's father and brother here, the last name being the same, zawahri. first name being sam, samir would be the father, and chris zawahri would be his brother. we're getting more information here. a couple things that's important to point out. police have been saying they do not think this has anything to do with terrorism. this was just a lone gunman who may have been premeditating this attack here at santa monica college, pamela. >> stephanie, do police know how john zawahri amassed all of these weapons? >> reporter: no. at this point, we still do not know any of that information. we're still getting information, obviously the breaking news coming out what their names are, but how he was able to gather so many different guns. also, the ammunition. he had a

unbelievable, stephanie elam, thanks. >>> from the fires to the relent unpredictable tornadoes. i want you to look at something. watch as a tornado in el reno, oklahoma, pulls this tractor truck backwards, flips it. that is vicious. the tornado so violent it killed at least 16 people, including experienced storm chasers tim samaras and carl young and tim's 24-year-old son paul. tim's death is shocking given his focus on safety and his decades of experience in the field. meanwhile the search will continue today for six others still missing. among them is an 8-year-old girl. we're joined by ed lavandera in el reno, oklahoma. good morning, ed. >> good morning, john. after all that individuvideo yo shown, that the twister in oklahoma city was not as strong as the tornado that touched down two weeks ago in the town of moore, oklahoma, but that doesn't mean it didn't wreak extreme havoc across this region. >> reporter: the search for six missing people swept away in flash floodwaters will continue monday morning. the bodies of three children and two adults were found sunday. they drow

stephanie elam on the fire line. the powerhouse fire burning just behind her. thanks, stephanie. >>> from wildfires to tragedy along tornado alley and proof of just how dangerous and unpredictable these storms can be. a tornado killing at least 16 people in oklahoma, including experienced storm chasers, tim samaras, carl young and tim's 24-year-old son, paul. storm chaser tim samaras's death is especially shocking, given his focus on safety and his decades of experience. his brother says he was the very last person you think would get trapped and killed in a tornado. >> i just could never think it would ever happen to him because of his level of expertise, years of being able, of doing this, his safety and all of his training, everything else he's done. if i had to have a way for my brother to die, it would be doing what he did, chasing tornadoes. >> a search will continue today for six others missing, among them an 8-year-old girl. ed lavandera is in el reno, oklahoma, this morning. just such a sad story, such a sad story. >> reporter: oh, this has been a simpl

. >> with the latest now from los angeles, cnn's stephanie elam. nie, gandolfini was locked in a hotel bathroom. what happened? >> now we know it was just natural causes that killed james gandolfini. michael cobalt who you heard in that press conference earlier today in rome saying nothing was found in that autopsy. he had been happy enjoying the vacation earlier on the day he died. his took his son, michael, teenage son to the vatican before eating dinner at the hotel where they were staying. michael then became worried about how long his father had been in the bathroom. because his dad did not answer his knocking, michael alerted the hotel staff who then knocked down the door and called emergency services. doctors attempted to resuscitate him. that's took for, like, 40 minutes they were working on him. but they were unable to restart his heart. we do know now his wife deborah lynn and their 8-month-old daughter were also traveling with the actor. now the family as you just heard is really focused on getti inti fwandle f gandolfini back to the unit

cnn stephanie elam covering that fire from lake hughes. good morning, stephanie. >> good morning, carol. good thing i can tell you this fire is now 60% contained, and fire officials are optimistic that they will continue to make progress as long as weather stays like this. a lot of humidity and that will help firefighters today. into the night, firefighters in colorado battling a wildfire that erupted in the foothills west of denver, forcing thousands to evacuate and now being allowed to return home. although small in acreage, the blue bell fire burned dangerously close to homes. the blaze, the latest outbreak of flames raging out west, from colorado to the tres lagunas fire, to the powerhouse fire in california. this consuming much in their path. >> this hill, that pill, and this hill right close to the house. >> devastating and i feel bad for my neighbors. feel really lucky for the firefighters to have saved our house. >> reporter: the wildfire in new mexico, spread over 8,000 acres, forcing residents in 100 homes to evacuate. >> nerve-wr

i don't want to put my family at jeopardy. >> stephanie elam, los angeles. >>> the first lady head tos her ground. video next. >> guess who wins? >> no, no. i do a lot of research on angie's list before i do any projects on my own. at angie's list, you'll find reviews written by people just like you. i love my contractor, and i am so thankful to angie's list for bringing us together. angie's list -- reviews you can trust. >>> you are about to see a side of the first lady you haven't seen before. she was speaking at a fund-raiser tuesday night when she was interrupted by a heckler. what happened next has everyone buzzing in washington. here is erin mcbike. >> exclusive images of michelle obama tuesday night. speaking at an exclusive fund-raiser hosted by a lesbian couple at their toney washington, d.c. home. giving an impassioned speech on one of her favorite topics, children. >> they are counting on us to give them the chances they need for the future they deserve. >> reporter: one woman in the crowd wanted to talk about something else. gay rights. >> i need your husband -- >> hard to

stephanie elam is live in palmdale. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, carol. yeah, they're estimating they will be able to get full containment a week from today because as you can see there is a lot of wind out here. and the crews are still coming in as you can see right here trying to get a hold of this angle of the fire which is still very active. >> two, one -- >> reporter: by air and land, a full scale assault ons massi ma wildfires raging out west. more than 1,000 are battling the powerhouse fire about an hour northeast of los angeles. the unpredictable fire doubled in size over the weekend forcing the mandatory evacuation of nearly 3,000 people and leaving about 1,000 homes in danger. >> we have 15 homes that were damaged, six destroyed. >> reporter: but the los angeles county fire department says these numbers could have been worse if not for their around the clock air assault. >> we have put everything that we have into this, including night air attack from the forest service, three l.a. county fire helicopters dropping water at night. and one l.a. ci

stephanie elam joins us from lake hughes. phanie, i hear where you're standing there was once a home. >> reporter: right, exactly, brooke. we're here on lake hughes. we do know now this powerhouse fire burned about 29,000 acres. but they're saying they got a 40% containment. that is not necessarily the news that makes you feel much better when you look at this house and this is where you lived. you can see that right now they're out here cordoning it off because it is completely destroyed. only the chimney is still standing. and this area wasn't even supposed to be burned but saturday afternoon, the fire just took off in three different directions and raced through the canyon and, in fact, if we just went down the street, just a little bit from here, we came across a family that was picking through what was left of their parents' home, which was a different position than what they're used to since they're used to being on the fire line. so your family is made up of firefighters. >> right, correct. >> reporter: doesn't it feel

stephanie elam, cnn, morrow, oregon. >>> when we come back, a poison scare midair.elped restrain the unruly passenger making the claims. >>> and a super bowl ring caught in the middle of an international controversy. that story is next. ♪ load! we keep moving to deliver what you need. and that means growth, lots of cargo going all around the globe. cars and parts, fuel and steel, peas and rice, hey that's nice! ♪ norfolk southern what's your function? ♪ ♪ helping this big country move ahead as one ♪ ♪ norfolk southern how's that function? ♪ where over seventy-five percent of store management started as i'm the next american success story. working for a company hourly associates. there's opportunity here. i can use walmart's education benefits to get a degree, maybe work in it, or be an engineer, helping walmart conserve energy. even today, when our store does well, i earn quarterly bonuses. when people look at me, i hope they see someone working their way up. vo: opportunity, that's the real walmart. bob will retire when he's 153, which would be fine if bob were a v

i want to bring in stephanie elam in palmdale, it looks friegtsening for anybody in that community, but it looks as if there's some good news here in terms of the number of people who were able to get out of that area. >> that's very true, suzanne. we're actually in a little community called lake hughes. if you take a look behind me, you can see just how hot this fire was and just what it did. we know so far that six homes have been destroyed. and this would be one of them. you can see that the chimney still stands, but just about everything else is decimated. you can see in the back maybe even the stove. and it looks like what's in the back is the washer and dryer, that's all pretty much what's recognizable in the house. everything else just burned down. the good news is is that this morning we got news from fire officials saying that this fire is now 40% contained. the acreage burned 29,500 acres. that's up a little bit from yesterday, but they are hopeful cautiously optimistic that that number is not going to grow any further as long as the winds cooperate. and i have to tell you, su

stephanie elam spoke to some decision.ron 4 news weekend.another hot one in store for the bay area. we east bay hotspot. a heat wave has hit the bay today. kron 4's mike pelton joins us live now in walnut creek yesterday. and get the forecast for the rest of the bay area. tom people, this morning and their white shorts and t- shirts. >> people have already brought out the tennis rackets at and they are giving ready for the hot day. >> this is the best time for me to start the day. the sun goes up and it is good and nice outside and i like it. >> it is already worn out here at 7:00. >> many people say this morning that she's out here all because she likes the weather as it is currently. and they don't want anything to do with those high nannies in the heat wave. >> people in the park are here to enjoy things. >> today is the spare the air a day because of the weather conditions. >> get outside and enjoy the weather. >> let's get the forecast from the judge knew. >> upper 90s in walnut creek today. >> this is a view from the

let's get the latest on that situation from stephanie elam, live in lake hughes, california this morningat this point, right, stephanie? >> that's true and actually we've got good numbers there are christine. the fire about 60% contained and looking for full containment by monday, that's good news here. but while that is the situation we're seeing here, on other fires, not much progress being made so far. into the night, firefighters in colorado bat lung a fire that erupted in the foothills west of denver. thousands forced to evacuate, now being allowed to return home. the blue bell fire burned dangerously close to homes. from colorado to the tres la lagunas fire to the powerhouse fire in palmdale, california. >> this hill that hill and that hill all going at once, and they are right here. >> it's devastating and i feel really bad for all my neighbors and i feel really lucky for the firefighters to have saved our house. >> the wildfire in new mexico has spread over 8,000 acres, forcing residents in 1 0 homes to evacuate. >> nerve-wracking not knowing if your land is okay or not. >> and t

stephanie elam is live from lake hughes, california. so much of this under growth, 1929 the last time they had a big fire through there. so you're talking about a teurpbd box, quite frankly, much of california? >> yeah. and they are talking about a certain region around here the time it burned. yes, a lot of brush here. it was the right kindle for a fire. what a difference a day makes. it's easier to breathe. while you take a look, it is still closed to mainly everybody else. but people are allowed to come in here and get to their homes. that's good news. but it's not the same situation throughout the western region. >> into the night, firefighters in colorado battling a wildfire that erupted in the foothills west of denver monday forcing thousands to evacuate are now being allowed to return home. the blue bell fire burned dangerously close to homes. it is the latest outbreak from out west. from colorado to santa fe, new mexico, to palmdale, california, these flames consuming much in their path. >> that hill, this hill and that hill wer

. >> i want to go to los angeles to stephanie elam.lk about two brazen people who attacked police officers outside a police station. >> reporter: it's amazing the officers are already back here and taken a look at the suspects rounded up so far. we know about three so far that they've pulled into the command station to try to get handle on who the shooter may be, but imagine sitting in your police vehicle and having gunshots come from behind you at around 4:30 in the morning our time. that is what happened to them. they were able to return fire. not sure whether or not the suspect was wound bud this person did get away on foot. they didn't see him get away in a car. that's why they've cordoned off a wide perimeter here, about 25 blocks, so they called narrow where he could be. they've got officers walking through the streets, four canine teams and about all together, 200 officers here, brooke. >> and, stephanie, what are people in the community saying? >> reporter: obviously people have been frustrated because the area that's cordoned