now jenna: great to have you with us on this tuesday. i m jenna lee. jon: i m jon scott. the latest on the tragedy in connecticut. while investigators search for answers there are some students are heading back to school right now. rick leventhal has the latest from newtown. what is going on there today, rick? reporter: jon incredibly challenging times for the community, struggling are with the aftermath after that horrific mass murder. sending kids back to school and reassuring those kids they will be safe in those classrooms. in fact security has been beefed up at the six cools in the newtown school district that reopened their doors today. a sign in one window said, quote, we are strong. the flags are flying at half-staff. the we also saw more moving vans rolling from sandy hook elementary which is the one school still closed. it is still considered a crime scene. all the desks and chairs and equipment and supplies from sandy hook are being moved to another hill. chalk
deadly rampage at sandy hook elementary. just as we learn new details about the gunman, two more young victims are laid to rest today. plus a major cybersecurity threat. what you need to know to protect your bank accounts on-line especially in the new year. a hour harrowing ordeal for a tv news correspondent and his crew, kidnapped five days in syria. the latest details on their escape. it s haul l all happening now jenna: great to have you with us on this tuesday. i m jenna lee. jon: i m jon scott. the latest on the tragedy in connecticut. while investigators search for answers there are some students are heading back to school right now. rick leventhal has the latest from newtown. what is going on there today, rick? reporter: jon incredibly challenging times for the community, struggling are with the aftermath after that horrific mass murder. sending kids back to school and reassuring those kids they will be safe in those classrooms. in fact security has been beefed u
morning from a teacher there in there on the ground, he said, john, we read about this story and there is good people here. you know, we re not all cartel members. we re not all bad people. i said i know. i understand. she said, it doesn t help you but, you know, we re praying that you get your son home. bill: that is the father speaking there. steve harrigan now live in our bureau in miami. steve, what is the family saying about their son and the prison he is in now? reporter: bill, it has really been a four-month ordeal for the family. they began getting threatening phone calls inside the prison days after john hammar was arrested. the first call was a demand for $1800 to be sent via western union or the caller said your son would be killed. olivia hammar said the call made her physically ill. we have your son and we re going to kill him. you know, i had this really weird response, i said, no, we re going to call the
translator present either. back to you. bill: steve harrigan from the story on the legal aspect now. alisyn: joining us is john hammar s family attorney, eddie levy. he is with us live from mexico city. good morning, eddie. good morning, aisyn. good to talk to you. alisyn: let me make sure we have the story correct. john has been held since august. he was traveling through mexico on a road trip with a buddy. they were going to costa rica to go surfing. why did john have this antique gun with him? i ll tell you the way i understand they were going to go hunting in costa rica and nicaragua. they had a single shotgun in winnebago kind of a camper. they had to go through mexico to get there. that is where they were going to use it, which is sporting gun used in the united states of america. alisyn: he did all the right things. he declared the gun. he filled out all the paperwork. he alerted officials that he
consulate. he was like, they can t help you. reporter: it was only after those numerous threats that john hammar was moved from the prison s general population into a storage room, bill. bill: who else is pushing for his release? who else is giving him support? reporter: throughout this four months the family has been initially low-key but that didn t get them anywhere. now they re becoming very public. a lot of friends and family and online petitions as well as elected officials. the family s congresswoman has implied that the state department is not doing enough to free john hammar. i am very frustrated that with the response of the state department. it is very [electricity crackling] ic, it is very cold. and i don t want to say that it s the state department s fault. of course the mexican government is at fault. the mexican authorities are the responsible ones. reporter: questions too about the legal process so far. hammer he is attorney in mexico told us one of the hearings