and sheriff provided new information on what happened and what's happening now. newman residents have been placing flowers at the police station ever since officer ronil singh was gunned down yesterday morning during what officials revealed as a dui traffic stop. in fact, a picture of the possible suspect is from a liquor store security camera where he bought beer before the shooting. >> i just thought it would be the best way i can express my condolences. >> reporter: law enforcement agencies also put the focus on officer singh. >> please remember the man, please remember the husband, please remember what he was, what he came to this country to do. >> reporter: the sheriff says singh's life was a stark contrast to new information revealed about the man on the run. >> this suspect is in our country illegally. he doesn't belong here. he's a criminal. >> reporter: the sheriff also said for the first time, singh shot back at the suspect calling it a gunfight and said he believes the suspect is still

around stanislaushelp him. inand harboring fugitive who's >> if we find out you're aiding dangerous, i guarantee you'll get arrested. >> you feel he knows enough people here for that to happen? >> yes, he does. >> reporter: we'll find out if that's the situation happening in merced county. the sheriff says federal agencies are on the alert to ensure the suspect who, again, we've been told is not an american citizen, does not try to leave the country. live in newman, robert handa, nbc bay area news. >> robert, thank you. the statewide manhunt grabbed the attention of president trump. today, he reacted on twitter noting the suspect is a, quote, illegal immigrant, and tied the search to his demand for a border wall. you just heard from stanislaus county sheriff who's leading the search for the gunman. he actually met with president trump at the white house back in may. he and other opponents of california's sanctuary state law discussed its impact with the president. the sheriff complained the law, quote, ties his hands in dealing with immigration officials.

new information tonight about a deadly officer-involved shooting on christmas day. san jose police admitted the shooting was tragic, but it was justi justified. here's a live look at the vigil for the victim, 25-year-old jennifer vasquez. this is at the site of the shooting on fruitdale and lee. her mother told nbc bay area yesterday that officers shot and killed the wrong woman and today san jose police admitted they did chase the wrong car. chief eddie garcia spoke about the shooting for the first time. he says officers were looking for a stolen white toyota camry which was involved in a shooting and vasquez was driving a car of the same model and color and it, too, came back as stolen. then when officers tried to pull vasquez over, she took off. >> had the deceased not been driving a stolen vehicle, had not led police on a dangerous high-speed chase, crashed the vehicle and did not attempt to get away, at all costs ramming officers and endangering their lives, that this shooting and this tragedy would not have occurred on christmas morning.

>> doctors treated the passenger in the car at the hospital. police then booked her into county jail on an outstanding warrant. the four officers involved in the shooting are on paid administrative leave. we are under a microclimate weather alert. a wind advisory is out for parts of the bay area. it's been a pretty blustery day all around. sky ranger caught this big tumbleweed blowing around in a field north of morgan hills. >> that's kind of wild. >> in san francisco, we also caught people enjoying the wind. we saw a lot of wind surfers today. tonight, we have team coverage of the wind advisory. we start with meteorologist rob mayeda with a look where the strongest gusts are right now. rob? >> right now we're seeing the strongest gusts generally confined to 3,000 to 4,000 feet up. gusts up to 63 miles per hour today around mt. st. helena. mt. diablo, 53 mile per hour gusts. drop below 2,000 feet, wind gusts 20 to 4 miles per hour. look what the winds have done to the visibility. amazing view looking west from emeryville. clear skies. winds still gusting at 24 miles

per hour. and as we go through tonight, we will continue to see these locally breezy conditions. especially around the hilltops. the wind advisory for our bay area hilltops through at least 4:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. i do think we'll see a little less wind as we pass midnight tonight. what this sets the stage for is a big drop in temperatures. in fact, as early as tonight, some parts of the bay area where the winds back off could be waking up to patchy frost. we'll have more on the big chill headed our way to start the upcoming weekend and our forecast in ten minutes. >> sounds good, rob. the wind may be responsible for knocking over a massive tree in san francisco. it fell onto a delivery truck about 9:45 this morning in the hayes valley neighborhood. traffic was blocked in both directions as crews cleaned up the fallen tree. no one was inside that truck. the wind is howling today, the threat of wildfires is relatively low. you can thank all the rain we've had over the last few weeks for that. n we're joined now from mt. diablo state park in walnut creek with

how people in the east bay are coping on this very blustery day. >> reporter: well, i can tell you the winds have considerably died down since early this morning and early this afternoon. i spoke to a bicyclist, a cyclist, who said he was being extra careful today. the journey up toward the peak of mt. diablo got a lot tougher for him because of the resistance from the wind. it's actually the ride downhill that poses the most risk. >> lots of resistance for sure. >> reporter: call it the windy workout. >> makes you go slower and it's not as enjoyable when you're going up mt. diablo. >> reporter: we caught up with cyclist, christian, of san francisco, as he pedaled toward the peak. he said the climb is always the toughest part but the scary part is -- >> going down, i got to be careful on the turn so the wind doesn't blow me out of the road. >> reporter: north winds of 25 miles per hour near mt. diablo blew away the patio furniture from this house in walnut creek. >> we have a lot of patio furniture in the back with a lot of umbrellas. come out in the morning and

they're completely blown over, tables are turned over. they're inside our swimming pool. yeah, it's pretty bad. >> reporter: over at fremont, alex reyes tweeted us this picture. he says the wind blew his canopy down and threw it like a toy. thankfully, no damage to his house. back in walnut creek, sean coffey is keeping a close eye on the overhanging trees in his neighborhood. >> those branches over the years, after drought season, they get really heavy and they break off. and they can -- we've had them lands on power lines. but it gets really dangerous up and down this road. >> reporter: and a spokesperson for pg&e tells me that their meteorologist is keeping a close eye on the wind conditions throughout the bay area. but so far, no plans for any power shutoff. that's the latest in walnut creek, melissa colorado, nbc bay area news. >> melissa, thanks very much. we'll continue to monitor the winds. you can follow along on rob mayeda's social media feeds including twitter. he'll be tweeting out new information all evening long. a prison escape in the north

bay to tell you about. there's a manhunt under way right now for this san quentin inmate who managed to slip away last night. it is the first time someone has escaped from the state prison in nearly 20 years. we are also learning that same man may be tieded to another m crime at a home depot north of the prison. nbc bay area's sam brock joins us live from san quentin what he's uncovered. sam? >> reporter: vicky, terry, good evening. mendoza was serving the first year of a five-year sentence for carjacking when he vanished and we're getting all kinds of new informat mendoza was actually o work shift when he vanished but outside of the secure perimeter on the grounds, on the prison grounds here still at san quentin. another new development in the last five or ten minutes the san rafael police department releasing a couple of pictures of home depot where it is believed that mendoza was linked to yet another carjacking upon getting right out of prison.

>> that's right, chuck, this is going to be -- >> reporter: in july of 2017, a carjacking suspect led police on a dangerous pursuit through the streets of west l.a. the man arrested and convicted, 21-year-old mendoza, ended up in san quentin state prison until he apparently escaped yesterday. do you recall anything in your time on the force that's happened like this? >> no, i don't recall anything -- i know that san quentin has had a longstanding history of being a very secure facility. >> reporter: the san rafael police department has been thrust into the search after a person matching mendoza's description threatened a woman at this home depot last night and stole her car. >> it's unfortunate, i hope she's okay not physically hurt. >> reporter: what did you think when you heard about this? >> it was shocking. we were having coffee and the news flash came on and the first thing that i thought of was how did someone get out of such a high security facility like that? >> reporter: the last time there was an escape at san quentin, 2000.

present communication staff answered questions by phone but refused to discuss anything on camera including how mendoza got out in the first place, puzzling some people around here. >> hey, here's what happened. here's what we're doing to try to rectify the problem. maybe create a little sense of calmness, you know, to all of us in the public. >> reporter: today, san rafael police canvassed the neighborhood asking stores for video surveillance and hoping to stumble upon some clues. so there are two different agencies looking into this right now. the san quentin task force as well as the san rafael police department. but they are looking at the escape and the carjacking as two separate incidents for the time being. neither one of them could give me a timeline on when they expect to actually track down and arrest mendoza. we will continue to call both for updates. reporting live this evening from san quentin, sam brock, nbc bay area news. >> thanks for those late breaking details, sam. a mountain view man is accused of trafficking immigrants out of his apartment. police believe carlos garza

helped bring illegal immigrants including children from guatemala to mountain view by promising them a better life. but once they arrived, the immigrants say they were abused and sexually assaulted. a dozen people were found living in garza's apartment on latham street near castro park. detectives say his sister helped the victims cross the border and used threats to prevent them from talking to authorities. police are asking any additional victims to come forward. a morgan hill farm is in hot water over waste water. monterey mushrooms is accused of pumping waste water directly into nearby fisher creek. the small waterway joins coyote creek which flows into san francisco bay. the santa clara county d.a. filed a $67 million lawsuit against the farm which straddles both sides of hale avenue. a state fish and game investigation claims for a year the farm pumped toxic water from holding ponds and tanks directly into fisher creek and nearby fields. coyote creek is home to steel head trout, tiger salamanders,

species considered vulnerable or endangered. it's shutdown day six and looks like it could last several more days. capitol hill is practically a ghost town. offices are locked. halls empty. the senate was in session today for four whole minutes. just a formality because most lawmakers are in their home states. shutdown negotiations appear to be nonexistent. >> i don't see a scenario where the government opens back up until a new congress is sworn in. >> from coast to coast, reminders the government is twitter, fal how they're braci financial hardships without paychecks. a stock market roller coaster continued today. [ closing bell ] stocks closed higher adding to yesterday's big gains, but that didn't happen until late in the day. the dow jones average started the day in the red. dipping some 600 points. a strong surge in the final hours of trading left the dow up 260 points. if you're awaiting for your new tesla to arrive, this may be one of them. one of these could be it. take a look at all these

trailers in front of tesla in fremont earlier today. this is a picture from nbc bay area sky ranger. we counted ten trailers. loading up with cars and this could be a sign of the are rush to deliver them before the december 31st deadline for tax credit. elon musk tweeted a few days ago that tesla would cover a lost tax credit for any customer if tesla is late to deliver a promised vehicle. we reached out to tesla. the company didn't respond. still to come, making it easier for wildfire victims to move forward. consumer investigator chris camora joins us next with the break they'll soon be getting from insurance companies. plus college football fans camping out on a billboard in downtown san jose. we're going to tell you how it ties into the national championship game coming to levi stadium. clear skies. pretty spru views around the bay area. golden gate bridge looking nice from our sutro tower camera. it's windy. winds at 21 miles per hour. wind advisory through 4:00 a.m.

tomorrow. coming nd advisory may get expaa little further into your friday. a look at that when we come right back. ahead for us tonight, it was their lucky day. unbelievable video of a commuter train barely missing cars in an intersection. and making history, hear from the oregon man who made an unbelievable solo trek across antarcti antarctica. that )s what )s in sy

people whose homes burned in the camp and woolsey fires. less people work and more recovering money. that's what's in store for many people whose homes burned in the camp and woolsey fires. >> today the state insurance commissioner announced most home insurance companies have agreed to pay the victims up to 75% of

what they're owed without the piles of paperwork. so what does that actually mean? is let's go to consumer investigator for answers on that. chris? >> there's still going to be paperwork. perhaps a little bit less of it. it isn't until your home burns down that you learn how insurance often won't pay you in full unless you fill out that. an item-by-item list of your home's contents. we repeatedly taken you up to napa and sonoma where frustrated 2017 fire victims continue their struggles with their insurance inventory requirements that they call unfair. >> they want every single thing you ever had, any cup and saucer, every spoon and fork, everything that you had in your life. >> reporter: now, following the north bay fires, while under pressure from us and from others, most insurance companies agreed to pay 75% without the extra paperwork. well now, many camp and woolsey fire victims will get the same companiese

agreed to this. you got to check on it. and second, people can still fight for 100%. after all, you paid 100% of your premium, right? why settle for 75%? i'll be back at 6:00 with how to get every penny, plus the steps everyone can take right now to prevent some of this frustration. terry? >> all right, chris, look forward to that. thanks a lot. the silver and black are mourning the loss of one of their own. former wide receiver warren wells died this morning in beaumont, texas, of congestive heart failure at the age of 76. wells played four seasons for the raiders from 1967 to 1970. he helpedafl championship in '67. the team quotequoted, he'll for be a part of raiders lore. services are expected to take place after the new year. college football fans showing their love before the bowl games in a very unusual way. nbc bay area skyange caugh

the poor fans who have to live above a billboard in downtown san jose. it's part of an es, pn challenge to get attention for the game. for the next 12 games a fan from each of the final four college games will participate. an espn spokesperson says the company will give them snacks and a sleeping bag. that's a deal. >> that's generous. >> don't worry, the fans have a shower, too. we're going to see how many days they last. by the way, the game will be at levi stadium monday january 7th. one san jose family is counting their blessings tonight because thanks to an organ donor, their daughter will live to ring in the new year. by looking at her play in the park there, you'd never guess 4-year-old penelope suffered from a lethal liver disease when she was an infant. she was placed on a liver transplant wait list. her family was told to expect a long wait. but miraculously, a liver became available in a week. >> we were shocked because they had given us such a long timefra

timeframe, but we were happy because our baby was going to be saved. the same time, we knew that somebody else had lost a family member. and it was -- it was really sad. >> is penelope's family says they're grateful to the organ donor and their family. there are still 1,600 people waiting for an organ transplant just in santa clara county. anyone can register as a donor. do it at the dmv. rob mayeda here now, i tell you, i know why it was, it sure was crystal clear today. >> it was. >> still is. >> yeah. gorgeous. >> but it's like sleeping without a blanket at night. you loose the clouds. and things really dried out. thanks to the gusty north winds. the stage is now set tonight. north bay, wind-sheltered valleys could have patchy frost for the morning. here's one of the views terry's talking about. look at the view. sutro tower. sometimes it's just fog, you don't see anything. look at the golden gate bridge, the lights there. traffic not moving so good but the view looks nice. 57 degrees. currently. we had a high of 59. winds za little gusty around sa

francisco, 21 miles per hour. view from emeryville looking to the west, no clouds in the way. 57 degrees. emeryville, gusts at 24 out of the northeast. san jose, clear skies, currently 56 degrees. from here, the wind speeds, at least in the lower elevations we think are going to start to decrease between now and 11:00 tonight. what's interesting are those hi hilltop wind speeds. we have the wind advisory up through 4:00 a.m. if you take a closer look at the futurecast, there's a chance that wind advisory might get extended a couple more hours and here's why. north and east bay hills. look at the wind speeds staying up. we now passed the window of 4:00 a.m. this is 9:00 a.m. tomorrow. we're still seeing locally gusty conditions around napa county and solano county. the afternoon and evening, wind speeds do begin to come down. it will be less windy tomorrow. it's going to get chel illy especially friday night and saturday. i comparison for tomorrow morning versus what we'll see saturday morning. we're looking at upper 30s and mid 30s in wind-sheltered spots in the north bay tomorrow morning. the afternoon, highs tomorrow not all at bad.

just like we had today. mid to upper 50s. close to 60 in oakland. 58 in san jose. but i do want to go back to the low temperatures, what you're looking at here, tomorrow's lows probably more 40s because there's enough wind out there to prevent the chilly air from just kind of settling into the valleys. as we take a closer look at those numbers as we get toward saturday now, see how these numbers turn more over into mid 30s. so the stage i think will be set for saturday morning. especially areas south of san jose where a freeze watch is up around holster and down through carmel valley. weekend plans there, looks like an icy start possibly starting up saturday morning. for the bay area, north bay might see a few areas of patchy frost for the weekend. notice no talk about any rain this weekend. that one weak storm coming in for sunday falls apart on approach. we'll see some clouds out of it but not much more than that. as we head toward new year's eve, new year's day, look at these arrows. north wind again will keep things clear and dry. through your seven-day forecast, looking at some chilly nights and mild sunny afternoons.

breezy at times. san francisco, if you like today, a lot more to like in the forecast. sunday, i think we'll get more clouds. no raindrops. boy, the mornings are going to get chilly. once we lose the wind, the clear skies this time of year, it's going to get cold. patchy frost. we'll have a closer look at those nighttime lows coming up tonight at 6:00. >> all right. rob, thank you so much. coming up, uproar after instagram makes a change to its app and now the company says the update was just an accident. we'll tell you about the mixup.

♪

♪ not long ago, ronda started here. and then, more jobs began to appear. these techs in a lab. this builder in a hardhat... ...the welders and electricians who do all of that.

the diner staffed up 'cause they all needed lunch. teachers... doctors... jobs grew a bunch. what started with one job spread all around. because each job in energy creates many more in this town. energy lives here. bankruptcy back in october. its sears has less than 24 hours to be saved. the company filed for bantcocto. its chairman, eddie lampert, put together a plan to buy the

company out through his hedge fund. the deadline for that is tomorrow and he has not submitted his offer. should he miss the deadline, it would put sears and kmart on the path to liquidation. the 125-year-old retailer has more than 68,000 employees. it was a tense few minutes before fans of instagram today. the social media site surprised users this morning with a sudden change. a feed that scrolls left to right instead of the traditional up and down format. the test created an immediate wave of backlash on, where else, social media. the head of instagram took to twitter to explain the change was meant for a small test group, but a mistake caused it to roll out to a much larger group than anticipated. he says the problem should be fixed and if you are still seeing the new feed format, just restart the app. it's going to be okay, folks. a sick sea lion nursed back to health and now going home. we've got video. we'll be right back. i am a family man.

i am a techie dad. i believe the best technology should feel effortless. like magic. at comcast, it's my job to develop, apps and tools that simplify your experience. my name is mike, i'm in product development at comcast. we're working to make things simple, easy and awesome.

rescue that saved his life. a take a look's a young adult. come on, spruce. there we go. this was him returning to the ocean with a fellow sea lion today. earlier this month, the marine mammal center found him with a real bad bacterial infection. they nursed him for three weeks. as you can see, he's doing fine. spruce is one of nearly 300 sea lions the center treated for the

very same infection this year. but all's well that ends well. spruce. take care, my man. >> and a great day to be returning to the ocean. >> yeah. >> every day is good for that, yeah. >> the ocean or the bay. behind me or the golden gate bridge, the sutro tower camera. gorgeous conditions except in the hilltops. still monitoring gusty winds through 4:00 a.m. wind advisory up for bay area hilltops and watch for patchy frost. i think saturday morning looks like the best candidate for some patchy frost in the valleys. and dry weather taking us all the way into and through the new year. >> all right. enjoy that gorgeous sunset behind us. >> absolutely beautiful. >> thanks for joining us. "nightly news with lester holt" coming up next. >> hope to see you back here at 6:00. police are searching for the man suspected of shooting and killing an tonight, a big winter storm hits the

middle of the country, more than a foot of snow in some areas, flooding in others. wild weather for millions and many won't be able to travel any time soon. the president told troops about a big pay raise during his surprise trip to iraq, but the reality for those who serve is different. there are close calls and then there is this, what happened when a police officer and a fast-moving train almost collided. a manhunt for a gunman who killed a beloved police officer. >> what needs to be known is that he was truly just a human being and an american patriot. >> the suspect here illegally is still on the run, considered armed and dangerous. the homeland security secretary set