And good monday morning to you all. Im t. J. Holmes. And im tai hernandez. We begin with the senseless ambush that took the lives of two Police Officers. People gathered overnight bringing candles and flowers to the spot where the officers were gunned down as they sat many their patrol car. Good morning, elizabeth. Reporter good morning to you and tai. Were learning more this morning about the 28yearold who killed two new York City Police officers. He left troubling messages on social media. Including the hashtag shoot the police. Make this world a better place reporter a candle light vigil for two flifrs, rafael ramos and wenjial liu. I think the s shots fired. Shots fired. Reporter the killings coming at a time when police and protesters have clashed in nationwide demonstrations against police brutality. We need to show solidarity. Hopefully, this will bring us together. They lost their hero. And its for no reason, you know. And they say to me, why . Theres no answer. Reporter officer ramos has two children. Officer liu just got married two months ago. Police say their killer, ismaaiyl brinsley, later shot and killed himself. He posted on instagram, im putting wings on pigs today. They take one of ours, lets take two of theirs. Brinsley had a long rap sheet dating back years. His family said that he had a history of Mental Illness and he tried to kill himself last year. Tai and t. J. , back to you. Elizabeth hur, live this morning. Thank you. Were learning more about the man who shot and killed them. He shot his exgirlfriend in maryland before heading to new york. He had a long criminal history that included at least 19 arrests. You see some of his mug shots here. He served two years in prison for gun possession. Meanwhile, another Police Officers murder under investigation. The victim there, charles kondak, a 17year veteran of the Tarpon Springs police department. He served five years with the nypd before moving to florida. It does not appear to be related to the new york city shooting. Statistics out showing this morning the number of Police Officers killed on the job sup this year. The total number of deaths rose to 23 . The firearm related deaths are up 58 . Turning to the weather now. High winds overnight causing problems in southern california. Gusts were clocked as high as 87 miles an hour, taking out trees like this one here, it landed on a car. Theres a winter storm warning for the colorado mountains today. A massive snowfall is expected creating a high danger of avalanches. The snow could come down as fast as 2 to 3 inches an hour. It will be great skiing weather if the skiers can get to the slopes. Today is the first full day of winter. The question on peoples minds is how to get to destinations in christmas. The snow in colorado will bm major storm in the east on Christmas Eve. We get the latest from steph davis from accuweather. Thank you, t. J. And tai. Accumulating snowfall and travel delays across the dakotas and minnesota. If youre krafling on Christmas Eve, be careful. Two storm systems will combine. Mostly a rain event along the i95 corridor. Gusty winds will slow things down at the major airports. Cooler air filtering in brings air across the plains and north central. Christmas day, the storm will continue to lift off to the north. Rain lingering in new england. Back behind the storm, expect a blustery day for much of the northeast. T. J. And tai, back to you. A close call for football fans in tampa after yesterdays game. A Lightning Strike hit a Stadium Parking lot. 11 people were injured, 7 taken to the hospital by ambulances. No one was directly hit. One man was knocked unconscious by the force of it. They were all on the ground. People put raincoats and jackets over them so they didnt go into shock. That was terrys suv hit by the bolt. She and her husband were about 100 yards away. Repairs will delay their trip back to wisconsin. Warning signals this morning. A warning of strikes against the white house, pentagon, and the whole u. S. Mainland following the cyberattack. The administration is reviewing on whether to put north korea back on its list of statesponsored terrorism. Meanwhile, sony is still trying to figure out how to get the movie released here in the u. S. Divers found shane montgomerys keys in a nearby river a ever a 4 1 2hour search yesterday. He vanished thanksgiving morning. The leading theory is he walked into a parking lot along the river and somehow ended up in the water. Boxing legend muhammad ali is in a hospital in louisville suffering from pneumonia. His daughter, leila, tweeted out thanks to people for their prayers. Still ahead, the 911 calls just in after witnesses spotted a plane colliding with a flock of birds. Also new this morning, a bear attacks a teenager next to a supermarket. How a young victims dog may have saved her life. And running players over. For 79 yards. He did it again. We are going beast mode and you will be talking about this young fella today. Welcome back. Its crunch time for u. P. S. The shipping giant expects to deliver 34 million packages today. More than any other in its history. U. P. S. Spent about there are 500 million to upgrade facilities to avoid what happened last year. Gas prices down every day for three months. The National Average this morning is 2. 39 gallon. Thats 85 crepts better than this time last year. Gasoline is below 3 a gallon in every state. Missouri has the lowest prices with gas in kansas city below 2. Beer sales are tapping out. Sales of the seven major American Brands declined by more than 20 in the past five years. The recession and the popularity among craft beers and imports are the main reasons. Its getting to be a hobbit at the box office. The next installment of the movie had 52. 6 million in sales. More than three times night at the museum. Annie was third. Facebooks popularity is on the decline with an important group. Teenagers. They view it as lest trust worthy and less fun than other sites. Meme, the popularity of instagram and twitter is up. The same survey noted a similar dip last year. When we come back, caught on camera. A choking child and the officer who came to the rescue with no time to spare. Plus, airlifted on a lawn chair with balloons. The milehigh stunt youve got to see. [vet] two yearly physicals down. Martha and mildred are good to go. Heres your invoice, ladies. A few stops later, and it looks like big ollie is on the mend. It might not seem that glamorous having an old pickup truck for an office. Or filling your days looking down the south end of a heifer, but. I wouldnt have it any other way. Look at that, i had my best month ever. And earned a shiny new office upgrade. I run on quickbooks. Thats how i own it. [ explosions ] well, now somebodys gotta clean up this mess. That is what used to be the west side of the texas a m University Football stadium. This is part of the 350 million redevelopment of kyle field. It was imploded yesterday thanks to a couple thousand pounds of explosives. Theyll have a new stadium in place next september. A look at the morning road conditions. Wet in the entire eastern half of the country. Slippery in the upper plains and midwest. If youre flying, airport delays possible in new orleans, minneapolis, chicago, and kansas city. A florida teen recovering from a brutal bear attack. Lee reeder, a 15yearold, was walking her dog when she came face to face with a black bear. The bear pounced on her, leaving her with bite marks, claw marx, and lacerations all over her face and body. The bear tried to drag her away. It ran off when her dog starting barking and lunged at it. The reward is doubled in the shooting of a texas weatherman. Police near waco released this sketch of someone they would like to talk to in the shooting of patrick crawford. Hes recovering in the hospital. He exchanged words with the suspect before shots were fired. Were learning this morning just how terrifying a bird strike incident earlier in month was for passengers and those on the ground. Officials have released 911 calls from the baltimore area. You can hear the pan nick their voices at the Southwest Airlines flight from san antonio struggled to land. An airplane just went over toward my house heading toward gibson island. Shes going down. On fire. One of the motors was completely on fire. It sounded like fireworks going off. Aboard the plane, one of the passengers remembered thinking that southwest has never had an accident and hes going to be a victim of its first. The plane did land safely. The passengers gave the crew a big round of applause. Dramatic moments on a as a camera, excuse me, captured as Nevada Police officer safes the life of a child choking on a piece of candy. Frantic parents rushed their 3yearold son into the Grocery Store moments after calling 911. Officer Quinn Averett responds. You can see him, he xwrabs the boy, cleared the jawbreaker candy from his airway in just a few seconds, saving his life. Florida State University quarterback Jameis Winston is free to play in his College Football teams playoff game after he was cleared of charges in a code of conduct hearing. The judge says theres not enough evidence to find him guilty of any violation. The woman accusing him can appeal the ruling within five days. Meanwhile, lindsey vonn was racing in the french alps over the weekend. She went down, ending her chance to equal the record for womens pro circuit career victories. Shes all right. She says her right knee is fine. The weekend not a total loss. The Memphis Grizzlies decided to spread cheer after the intern had his car stolen. The players chipped in and got him a brandnew car. Brandon the intern. They rolled out the christmas surprise. His car was stolen. Lookses like a nice car. Nice to work for people that can do Something Like that for you. Have that kind of pocket change. No starbucks gift card for brandon. The nfl playoff picture coming into focus. Im john buccigross. The seattle seahawks, the defending super bowl champions . They could return to the game this year. Last night, an easy win over arizona. And this run by Marshawn Lynch had everyone talking. Look at the power. And then, finishes it off with the breakaway speed and the leap, as well. His quarterback, russell wilson, can do everything. Throw, run. Here he is im not sure what im going to do. Im going to stiff arm and im going to score. He threw for two touchdowns. Seattle has never had a better offensive game in their franchise history in terms of total yards. Tony romo and the cowboys. He passes troy aikman, the alltime passing leader in cowboys history. Passing troy aikman. The cowboys win. A big game for the bengals and the broncos. The bengals can clinch a playoff berth with a win. Monday night football in warm cincinnati. Next live sportscenter at 9 00 eastern on espn. Now to a remarkable golfer from florida. He just made history. 103yearold gus andrioni. He hits the course three times a week. He got a hole in one. He said hes likely the oldest one to do that. Beating the record of a 102 yearold woman. We got the pulse coming your way. Peddling positive pregnancy tests. How some women are heading to craigslist to lock in their man. Plus, the best jenga play ever seen on video. To help spread some holiday cheer. Before earning 1 cash back everywhere, every time; and 2 back at the Grocery Store. Thank you even before they got 3 back on gas, all with no hoops to jump through, a couple was inspired to use their bankamericard cash rewards credit card to throw the ultimate Ugly Sweater Party of the season. Thats the spirit of rewarding connections. Apply online or at a bank of america near you. Thanks for teaching us to be as patient as you. This holiday season, give thanks to the pets who inspire you. Last chance to save for 6 days only, at petsmart, save up to 50 on thousands of items petsmart®. Mom . Dad . Big uncle wayne . Nut. Hot chocolate. Green tea. Uh, decaf, cuz. Wow. Im dying for an herbal tea. The all new keurig 2. 0. Right now at kohls, the more the more you save go to kohls dot com to get your savings pass. Spend 100 or more and save 20 spend under 100 and save 15 save on top of already great sale prices now through 6pm Christmas Eve kohls. Vicks nyquil severe. Helps relieve your ugliest, nastiest, roughest, toughest cold symptoms. Vicks nyquil severe. With maximum symptom fighting ingredients. Time to check the pulse. We is start with an upcoming tv series about o. J. Simpsons murder trial. In that series, its been announced that David Schwimmer will play robert kardashian. The series is called American Crime story, the people versus o. J. Simpson. Cuba gooding jr. Will play o. J. No word who will play the other trial personalities including Johnnie Cochran and judge lance ito. This may be the most bizarre holiday gift or just twisted. Ads for positive pregnancy tests now on krasinglist. Prices range from 15 to 50. Police say selling them is illegal. They believe they could be used for blackmail, everyone though theyre advertised as a great prank. Buyer beware. Is this real . Might be the wildest successful move ever pulled off in je in rks ga. So, check it out. Oh oh there you see. Hey. Maybe its the real deal. But its on the internet. Everything on the internet is real, im told. Some people say the blocks at the bottom may be glued. Even if they are, it still is together. Shes happy about it. We turn to another stunt now. A b. A. S. E. Jumper raising his adrenaline to a whole nother level. He wanted to feel the rush of being raised in the air 8,000 feet by being lifted by balloons. He took a shotgun and shot the balloons out one by one. [ rifle clicking ] [ gunshots ] okay, he then released the balloons all together. He went into a wild freefall in his lawn chair for just a bit. He then pulled the plug on his parachute. You mean his rockstar parachute . Yes. This is all done. This was a promotional thing. We all wondered if you can float yourself up with heel youm balloons. You can. Kids, dont try it. For some of you, your local news is next. For everyone else, america this morning continues after this. Oh, i like that one. Its so quick its just like my car insurance. I saved 15 in just 15 minutes. I saved more than that in half the time. I unfriend you. 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Most stores open christmas day. Good morning, im tamala edwards, it is monday, december 22. Were starting on a developing story, two devastating fires days before christmas and miles apart. Now investigators are trying to figure out how they started were live with updates. Police are on high alert after the assassinations of two Police Officers in new york city. Hear why this prompted president obama to callle Philadelphia Police commissioner, charles ramsey. Retailers are hoping for a big finish as shippers hope to avoid last years poor showing. And new leads for shane montgomery. Action news is up in two. R in the spirit of the season. They did to it make a certain recognizable feature of the community feel more at home. The feature, a not so pretty chris mtmas tree. Reporter ugly, pitiful, pa thetic. No other way to describe it. In there was a squirrel looking for a place to live in the winter, it wont go into the tree. Reporter yes, even the squirrels hated it. Reading, pennsylvania, stuck with a reallife Charlie Brown tree. I think it needs me. Reporter good grief it became an embarrassing reminder of tough times. This once powerful manufacturing hub not too long ago, named the poorest city in the country. We love it here. Relive here. We want to have the tree look good for the city. Reporter just as workers were about to replace the 50foot pile of imperfection with something more perfect. A christmas miracle. Good tidings for christmas and happy new year reporter the good people of reading had a change of heart. This ugly tree was their ugly tree. I love it. I think its the greatest thing ever. Something got to love it. Reporter a symbol of transformation and potential. All two, one. Reporter hope for a city through a Christmas Tree that even a squirrel could love. Cecilia vega, abc news, mork. You like the tree . Why not. You know what . Give the tree chance. But upon first glance, if you saw that, in Rockefeller Center . Oh, yeah, that would be interesting. It probably grows on you. The folks there have had tough times. Theyre going to stand by their funnylooking tree. Thats a good point. Thats whats making news in morning this morning. Stay with us. Everybody have a good monday, a good start to your christmas week. Hey, everyone, were following a developing story on monday, december 22. Investigator are trying to figure out what caused a fire at two apartment complexes. We have information on a homeinvasion robbery on a he would elderly woman in the suburbs. Good morning, it is december, 22. Lets go over to karen rogers with weather and matt pellman has