i'm raj mathai, next on nbc bay area news tonight, we are following breaking news in milpitas. the great mall is on lockdown. also, san francisco threatened by rising sea levels. it could wash out neighborhoods right by the bay and even flood. there's a new idea to protect the city, but it isn't cheap. and a san francisco cop accused of trying to steal painkillers from a local pharmacy. the officer's lawyer not denying the crime. >> obviously he has hid a shameful addiction for a long time. >> how his lawyer says he developed that habit. >> plus. >> everyone on the squad knew i was not vaccinated. everyone in the organization knew i wasn't vaccinated. i wasn't hiding it from anybody.

i was trying to minimize and mitigate having this conversation. >> aaron rodgers admits he isn't vaxxed. why he's upset with the so-called woke culture. >> good evening, this is nbc bay area news tonight, i'm raj mathai. a lot happening on this friday. let's start you off with our breaking news. one of the biggest malls in the bay area is on lockdown. the great mall in milpitas, a lot of stores, a lot of restaurants and right now a lot of confusion and fear. about 90 minutes ago, milpitas police officers swarmed the great mall after reports of an active shooter. this is a live look now here. dozens of squad cars are outside the mall. you see the string of them there. . multiple agencies are on site. sky ranger, friday night busy for holiday shopping and the

multiple restaurants and outlet stores. among them the burlington coat factory, dave and buster's and olive garden. they said this is how started. they received a report of an altercation where someone brandished a knife inside the mall. shortly after, a shooting was reported inside the burlington coat factory. milpitas police officers have checked the business, and there's no indication that there was a shooting inside the mall. we're still waiting to find out if there was a shooting outside. let's bring in nbc's ian cull. he is at the great mall right now with the very latest. tell us where you are, in front of what store and what's happening around you. >> reporter: yeah, raj, we're right outside the burlington coat factory as well as marshal's. this is the great mall entry number three. this seems to be where all the activity is really happening, and i talked with a couple of the cruz family, who just arrived today from amarillo to visit the bay area. they were walking in when that altercation occurred.

you can still see there are sheriff's deputies along with milpitas police here. that couple says right when they walked inside the mall that they saw a group of men shouting at each other, pushing each other, one of them said let's take this outside. they're not sure what happened after that, so they just continued on and kind of walked away, but then about 15 minutes later, there was a sort of panic, some rushing, someone yelled perhaps shots fired, and they were taken into the popcorn store and actually put into the back room. we talked with cindy cruz just minutes ago. here's what she had to say. >> we were in the popcorn store, and all of a sudden somebody yelled shots fired, and then the -- another lady in the store just said close the doors, close the doors, so they shut the iron doors down and they took us all in the back of the popcorn shop. we were there like 45 minutes. when we first went into the mall, we went into this entrance, and that's where the fight was right there in the

entranceway. and they were screaming and yelling and i was just like standing there. >> so we have seen dozens and dozens of patrol cars from different agencies as raj mentioned out here with officers inside of the entry three. we've also seen groups of people come out with their hands over their head as officers cleared them and allowed them to leave. there are still, you know, dozens of people out here that work at the mall, perhaps some witnesses heard something, saw something. haven't heard of anything that heard shots. milpitas police confirming that it does not appear that a shooting actually occurred inside. so raj, that's the latest from us outside of burlington. >> and ian, we're also working it from this point of view of the newsroom, milpitas police tweeting out this information saying there was conflicting information right where you're standing whether there was a shooting or not, whether there

was an altercation. they said right now milpitas police officers have not located any of the reported victims related to this initial stabbing or shooting. we don't know if either of that happened, and they are now looking inside the entire mall. is the mall closed right now, meaning is everyone out from inside, or are there still people inside? >> reporter: everyone is not out, actually. that cruz family said their daughter is in the nike store. they were in contact with her. she's doing fine, but they're just waiting for her to be able to come out. you can see some more people coming out now. so no, the mall is closed off. the entrances when we fist pulled up, we saw officers at each entryway to the big box stores, but also the mall entrances themselves making sure that nobody went in. this is where most activity was when i drove around about an hour ago near the theater, i saw that there was still some people that appear to be entering, but couldn't confirm over there, so yes, but no one allowed inside

the mall, at least on this major section over here, raj. >> throughout the night, just in case something new develops also throughout this newscast, ian cull reporting for us at the great mall in milpitas. let's recap here, here's what we know there's no confirmed shooting or stabbing from the great mall in milpitas. again, you're looking live from our sky ranger in milpitas, the great mall between 680 and 880. no reports of a stabbing or a shooting. however, milpitas police officers and several other agencies are now going inside the mall and clearing each section, each restaurant, each store to make sure this is an all clear. right now we'll continue to keep our crews in place and give you updates throughout this evening. let's move on. also tonight, trouble for one of the most iconic locations in san francisco. we're talking about the embarcadero, home to the ferry

building and peer 39. all this talk about climate change, that big summit in scotland, all the politics, all the experts, but you don't need to be an expert for this. it doesn't matter what your opinion is about climate change. here's the hard reality right now in our own backyard. the embarcadero is one of the spots in the bay area most at risk from rising sea levels. today the port of san francisco says in order to protect this area, parts of the embarcadero need to be raised by seven feet. what does that mean, what exactly does that look like, and is this realistic? here's nbc's melissa colorado. >> this area along the embarcadero south of the ferry building, it's one of the kilo lying areas that officials are worried about being washed away from rising sea levels. there's still some time to come up with a defensive strategy. the bad news, it's going to be very expensive. >> some multibillion dollars effort that we have to undertake over the next several decades.

>> but brad benson, the port of san francisco's waterfront resilience director warns doing nothing would be worse. >> inaction is not an option. we would experience up to $30 billion of damage and disruption if we did nothing. >> today the port's water front resilience team released this memo laying out a framework for the port's plan to defend downtown san francisco. the memo warns, the embarcadero may need to be raised anywhere from two to seven feet. >> that's some engineering marvel. >> it's critical that we fund this work before disaster strikes so that we can protect muni, b.a.r.t., the city's combined sewer system. >> reporter: so where is the money to build this massive infrastructure project? benson says some funding is tied to president biden's $1 trillion infrastructure bill. benson says the state legislature recently allocated billions to help pay for climate change resilience projects.

>> we build before the disaster, ultimately we'll save money for taxpayers. >> in the meantime, port officials are meeting with their counterparts in other coastal cities like boston and seattle to learn how they're responding to the rising sea level problem. >> i think if the city of san francisco wants to continue to bring in tourists and visitors and conventions and things like that, i think they have to do what they need to to keep the waterfront accessible and safe for the visitors. >> in san francisco, melissa colorado, nbc bay area news. let's take a small break here, go back to our breaking fuse. the great mall in milpitas, initial reports at 5:30 that there was some sort of altercation and possibly some gunfire. the mall remains on lockdown. milpitas police just now telling us san jose p.d. is on site, the chp and the county sheriff's

department there going inside the mall and clearing out everyone in the interior of the mall. our nbc bay area sky ranger is overhead. milpitas police telling us we are locating shoppers and store employees who remain sheltered in place. officers will get to them, and then they will escort them out of the mall. we have two reporters on site. we just heard from nbc bay area's ian cull. also with us is nbc's scott budman. let's bring you in, tell us exactly where you are and what's happening right where you are there. >> reporter: you know, we're just on the other side of the mall from where ian is, raj. still a tremendous police presence here all over the mall in milpitas. we're seeing fire trucks, we're seeing police cars. we actually saw officers with guns drawn outside stores. like you said, people are being told not to go inside. we met a family that was on its way to dave & buster's. they came down from hayward and they were told there's something going on in the mall. get back to your car, go home. everything is locked down.

we're still seeing some people walking around in the mall, so it's not like the whole thing is being evacuated, but clearly inside people are being told to come out, and nobody is being let in. we've seen very many storefronts as we've been driving around. many of them are closing up and everyone is being told, get back in your car, go home, don't come in. none of the streets around here are closed down but because there's quite an influx of traffic leaving the mall right now, traffic around the great mall in this area of milpitas is pretty slow. so give yourself some time, if you're anywhere in this area. don't come to the great mall. it is completely locked down right now, raj. >> okay, scott budman on one side of the great mall. ian, it looks like you have someone that might have just left the mall right there. who do you have? >> reporter: yeah, isabel from newark who just came out. you were outside of forever 21 when this happened.

>> yeah. >> reporter: tell us what you saw and what you heard. >> we just saw a big old crowd coming towards us, and then we stopped for a second and looked at each other, like what's going on, like you know, and we asked some people that was pushing him, what's going on, why is everybody running, and he was like they're shooting, you know, somebody's shooting, and we both looked and we ran back to forever 21, and we just -- everybody just went towards the back of the store and locked. >> and you were with your boyfriend and your young son there. >> yes. >> what were you guys doing? you said you were watching shows for the kids? >> yeah, i put on shows for like a few kids for them to like settle down and stop crying so that helped a lot. then i had to like keep my -- you know, keep my clothes, like my yeah -- >> kpoe sewer.

>> for my son. i knew he felt the tension of what happened. >> >> okay. isabel, thank you so much for your time. we'll let you continue on. people have been checked by authorities. folks with shopping bags, they were just going around the mall shopping, have a good friday evening here at the great mall. then as you heard, quite a bit of panic and rushed out. we'll continue to talk to them as they come out and see what they saw, what they heard, raj. we'll send it back to you. >> ian, just to clarify, you just talked to isabel there who when we thank her for her time, did she say she heard any gunshots or was there a lot of confusion to get out of there? >> no, there was a lot of confusion, she said, and she was outside of forever 21. really, when she stepped back out, there was just a group of people who said there's someone shooting, someone shooting, and then they all started running, so dozens of people causing a panic really, they just went back in the store as you heard,

but she didn't hear those shots. >> and you can see, we're showing some video now. you can see the emotion there, the police crime tape, a lot of people coming out of the mall and hugging their loved ones, obviously with all the shootings we see around the country, this is a very tense time. but right now according to ian, even according to milpitas police and some of the witnesses, so far no confirmation of any shots fired. however, there are reports of gunshots. and here's the good news, no injuries reported yet. so that's the bottom line so far from the great mall. ian, stay in place, we also have scott budman there. we'll check back with you guys in just a few minutes. we are back in just a moment. stay with us.

we love our house, been here for years. yeah. but there's an animal in the attic. (loud drumming) yeah yeah yeah yeah!!!! (animal drumming in distance) (loud drumming) drums! drums! aaaaaahhhh! at least geico makes bundling our home and car insurance easy. we save a lot. aaaaaahhhh! ohhh! (loud drumming) animal! aaaaaahhhh! for bundling made easy, go to geico.com. uh-oh...

welcome back to nbc bay area news tonight. you're looking at live pictures from our nbc sky ranger j milpitas, above the great mall in milpitas. around 5:30 this evening, less than two hours, reports of gunfire and some sort of altercation inside the burlington coat factory, but here's what we know right now. so far there is no confirmation there was any gunfire at all. no report of any injuries. what you do see is hundreds if not thousands of people being evacuated from that mall. police officers, sheriff's deputies and chp on site here at the great mall in milpitas, now essentially clearing the mall, going store by store to make sure there is no active shooter or there's not sort of any violence going on right now.

. what you're seeing is people being evacuated from the mall. it is on lockdown. to reiterate, no confirmation of any shooter even though there were reports there were shots fired. we do have two reporters on the scene talking to law enforcement, talking to many of these witnesses you see here. our twitter page and website a great place to get details of what's happening at the great mall in milpitas. some other stories that we're watching on this friday night, a veteran san francisco police officer is on the wrong side of the law. sfpd sergeant davin cole was caught moments after he robbed a san mateo pharmacy. he was looking for painkillers, that's a claim his attorney doesn't deny. here's nbc bay area's robert handa. >> the arrest has stunned two communities, one where he works, the other where he lives.

they police officer davin cole minutes after he robbed a san mateo rite aid pharmacy of painkillers, a pharmacy that's minutes from his home. the arrest and the fact the 27-year police veteran was after painkillers shocked people. >> okay, you have an addiction, but that doesn't give you the right or to go do something bad. you're an officer of the law. >> reporter: cole's attorney says his client started on painkillers in 2010 after being bitten while training a police dog. he also confirms the sergeant has checked into rehab. >> it's such a sad case to see a person at this stage to have allowed the addiction to get this far, this deep. >> reporter: the district attorney was not so sympathetic. cole will be in court facing charges including possible first degree robbery and resisting arrest. >> that was robert handa reporting. another story we're watching that's gone from bad to worse

for star quarterback air aaron rodgers, he's on the defensive blaming the media and cancel culture for his battle with covid. will the nfl defend him and will state farm insurance drop him from multiple commercials. he insisted he did not lie when he told reporters a couple of months ago he was immunized. >> my plan was to say that i had been immunized. it wasn't some sort of ruse or lie. it was the truth, and i'll get into the whole immunization in a second. but had there been a follow-up to my statement that i've been immunized, i would have responded with this. i would have said, look, i'm not, you know, some sort of anti-vaxx flat earther. i am somebody who's a critical thinker. you guys know me. i march to the beat of my own drum.

i believe strongly in bodily autonomy, and the ability to make choices for your body. >> rodgers said that he's allergic to an ingredient used in the pfizer and moderna vaccines and that he just felt not comfortable for the third vaccine, that johnson & johnson. he didn't want to get that shot because of possible side effects. he said he got an alternative treatment, but he declined to say exactly what his covid immunization treatment was. he did say the nfl did not accept it as an alternative for getting the shot. we are back in a moment. we'll continue to watch our breaking news at the great mall in milpitas. we will have an update from ian cole, one of our reporters on the ground level about the evacuation of the great mall as we speak. stay with us. elp you merry savers decorate with the best bargains ever! ross has savings on everything you need to get the party started. because who waits for shipping anymore? or guests?! i love saying yes to more merry for less at ross!

mrs. claus the shopping boss here to help you merry savers find the best bargains ever!

when you have the world's longest list you go to ross so you can work that budget and get those savings. i love saying yes to more merry for less at ross. before we go, we want to update you on the breaking news we've been covering since the 5:30 hour now. the possible shooting at the great mall in milpitas, right now you see our nbc bay area sky ranger. these are live pictures from up above. a lot of police presence there, a lot of law enforcement arriving on the scene for the last 60 minutes at the great mall. here's what we know. so far there are no confirmation that there was a shooting. however, there were initial reports that right inside there, the burlington coat factory, there was an altercation that led to a shooting. however, there was no confirmation of the shooting actually occurred. so what we're seeing now, initially the lockdown of the ball and now the evacuation of the ball, they're clearing each

store, store by store, and you can see just the motion from the people. the good news is no report of injuries right now, and again, no confirmation of any gunfire. we're going to stay on the story throughout the evening. our social media sites are a great way to stay updated on this, what's happening at the great mall. i'm raj mathai. thanks for joining us here on nbc bay area.

i think you're a foodie like me. >> i want to take you to kitchen 86. >> let's go. >> i understand you have this unique pizza here. >> it's called the blackberry and apricot ricotta pizza. >> we begin with the blackberry sauce. >> oh, now, this you guys make in house. it's fresh blackberries and sugar. how many of those? >> how about three spoonfuls. >> what's next? >> and the apricot ricotta. >> apricot and ricotta. >> this is house made as well, so you've got ricotta, apricot,

and then you've got honey in there. >> yes, wild honey. next we got the applewood smoked bacon. >> bacon makes everything better. >> every time. >> and after this we do a sugar crust around the edge. >> sugar, what? on a pizza? what does that do? it makes the savory really pop? >> caramelizes the edge and it makes it crunchy. >> oh, let's go. ♪♪ >> oh, that was delicious. >> thank you. >> okay, what's the final step here, abel? >> the final step is baby arugula with fresh lemon juice extra virgin olive oil, and salt and pepper. >> it's all organic, everything's organic going into it, and that arugula on top of that fresh. >> this looks so good. >> how is it?

>> it's like that perfect blend of sweet and savory and salty. >> thank you. >> cheers. >> we are going way back dawn, i see pop tarts. >> you're right. you wouldn't be mistaken there. >> we're here at the beautiful gardens, and wilma and frieda are here, they were inspired by the nostalgic you know what of our youth. and they are probably the most popular pastry in the desert. i want us to decorate a few. >> we've got blueberry here i'm going to do. you just did the mixed berry. now you did a strawberry. see how easy that is? >> oh, my gosh. >> one of my top three favorite desserts, butter cake. we got the traditional butter cake, which you must know well, but then we got the seasonal, which is going to give her big sister a run for her money. the cinnamon pcan seasonal is going to run through the end of the year.

i'm going to call in sabrina, she's a master. these are their candy pecans, and in the center, you've got that cream cheese butter in the middle. this is a cinnamon sugar in the middle, all that melt in your mouth lusciousness. you're going to love this one, i promise. >> all right, thank you, sabrina. >> thank you. i'm going to take a bite right now. >> oh, my gosh. i'm going to have to get into this one. >> ooh, i'm going to start with the ice cream. >> the best part about being an adult, you can have breakfast tarts and butter cake. >> all day long. >> i could not agree more. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> let's eat now.

i watched my father punch my mother in the side of her head so hard. >> how close did will smith come to killing his dad for abusing his mom? as for his open relationship with jada, oprah sure enjoys will's answer. >> this is my girlfriend hilaria thomas. >> notice how my husband answers the questions for me. >> as they face the tragedy together, a look at alec and hilaria's love with a now eerie answer from alec about guns. >> you know, i'll just say this.

♪ >> plus, absolutely w