Ambushstyle shootings of two of their own. The cover of the daily news, we weep as one. New yorkers of all backgrounds gathered at the crime scene for a vigil. Hours before the police chief described this chilling encounter the shooter had with two strangers just momented before he carried out his attack. He begins the conversation with them. They start speaking. And he asked them three things. He asked them for their gang affiliation. He asked them to follow him on instagram, and then he says watch what im going to do. Nbcs Stephanie Gosk has more. Reporter investigators now believe 28yearold suspectish mail brinsley was motivated in part by rage towards the police. Looking at instagram messages they say were likely posted by him in the hours before the shooting. A photo of a silver gun and references to the deaths of both eric garner and michael brown. They take one of ours, lets take two of theirs. One hashtag read reads shootthepolice. He killed himself after being chased by police and had at least 15 prior arrests including a felony charge for weapons possession. Police say 40yearold officer rafael ramos and 32yearold officer lui didnt even see him coming. They were quite simply assassinated. Targeted for their uniform. Reporter ramoss 13yearold son posted a message to his father on facebook. Everyone says they hate cops, but they are the people that they call for help. I will always love you. The head of the Police Officers union in new york blamed protesters and weeks of demonstrations against heavyhanded police tactics. Theres blood on many hands tonight. Those that incited violence on the street under the guise of protests. Reporter the union also holds new york mayor bill de blasio responsible. Officers your honor itted their backs to him saturday night when he visited the families of the officers killed. In a statement a spokesman said its unfortunate that in a time of great tragedy, some would resort to irresponsible, overheated rhetoric. Former new york mayor rudy jewel ye jew giuliani laid part of the blame at the feet of president obama. Eric adams is a former nypd officer. Its time for us to ensure the safety of the public and the police, and we do that by toning down our conversation. Reporter adams supports Police Reform but is asking that the protests stop until both officers are buried. While eric garners family is making a plea to their supporters. We want you to not use eric garners name for violence because we are not about that. These two Police Officers lost their lives senselessly. Reporter that is a sentiment at least most people in this city can agree on. And that was nbcs stiffepha gosk reporting. Support for the fallen Police Officers and the nypd is growing. L. A. s police chief wore a badge with a black stripe. Nick mangold wore an nypd hat before the home game on sunday. Giants head coach tom coughlin wore a black stripe on his shirt and a pin in the shape of a peace sign. And on the basketball court, a moment of silence during the nets home game. Well, a war of words could turn into much more if north korea has its way. It is accusing the u. S. Government of being, quote, deeply involved in the making of the film the interview. Not only that, but its threatening action. North korean officials say, quote, the army and people of the dprk are fully ready to stand in confrontation with the u. S. In all war spaces including cyber warfare space to blow up those citadels. Now, those citadels include the white house, the pentagon and the whole u. S. Mainland. What North Koreans officials call the cesspool of terrorism. But they still deny any involvement in the attack on sony. So what should the u. S. Do . Nbcs Kristin Welker has more. Reporter in an interview, president obama said his administration will review whether the cyber attack attributed to north korea amounts to statesponsored terrorism. Weve got very clear criteria as to what it means for a state to sponsor terrorism. Reporter the designation would mean even tougher economic and trade sanctions against north korea. Still, president obama was measured in his language. No, i dont think it was an act of war. I think it was an act of cyber vandalism that was very costly, very expensive. Reporter words that drew sharp criticism from republicans who have consistently argued mr. Obamas Foreign Policy isnt strong enough. Its more than vandalism. Its a new form of warfare that were involved in, and we need to react and react vigorously. Reporter north korea was taken off the terror list back in 2008 by former president george w. Bush who was trying to strike a Nuclear Weapons deal with the country. That deal fell apart, but would a new terror designation matter to a country already steeped in sanctions . There already are dozens and dozens of sanctions on them going back to the korean war. The Economic Impact is not going to be very large, but the political impact could be. Reporter meanwhile, president obama continues to hit sony for not reaching out to him before pulling the movie the interview. Had they talked to me directly about this decision, i might have called the Movie Theater chains and distributors and asked them what the story was. Reporter on meet the press, david boies, sonys lawyer, fired back. In the three weeks where sony fought this issue by itself, none of the secondguessers who are now out there saying oh, what a terrible thing this is, none of them were standing up to help sony then. Reporter sony says it will release the film, and the president is vowing a proportional response. I think we need to be deliberate, look through what the options are, but we absolutely do need to respond, and we cannot we have to deter this kind of behavior in the future. That was Nbcs Kristen Welker reporting. A memorial was held last night for a Florida Police officer killed in the line of duty. He was responding to a loud noise complaint when he was shot and killed in tarpon springs. The alleged shooter, marco peria, was reportedly playing loud music in his car when the officer approached him. Officials say he fired seven rounds at the officer, then backed over him with his car as he fled the scene. He was wanted on a probation violation and is now in Police Custody on one count of firstdegree murder. Lets get down to business with landon doughty. Good morning to you. Betty, good morning. Stocks are poised to build on last weeks rally. Today the dow and nasdaq rising more than 2 thanks to the feds decision to be patient about raising interest rates. Look for data on the housing sector today. And unemployment and the consumer later this week. Prices at the pump continue lower. The latest Industry Survey shows the National Average at 2. 47 a gallon. Thats down 25 cents over the past two weeks. The lowest price, 2. 06 in tulsa, oklahoma. Today is the busiest day of the year for u. P. S. The Company Expects to deliver 34 million packages. U. P. S. Has spent 500,000 to avoid last years embarrassing and costly disaster when millions of packages werent delivered on time for christmas. Betty, back to you. Uhoh, better get delivered on time or someones going to be upset. Thank you, landon. Sunday night football right here on nbc. Seattle and arizona, a blowout in the making. The defending champion seahawks pound the cards 356. Russell wilson and Marshawn Lynch led the hawks offense. That puts the champs at 114. Another blowout, this one in big d. Tony romo almost perfect at 18 for 20, throwing for 4 of dallass 5 touchdown passes. Romo even broke troy aikmans team record for passing yards. The cowboys return to the playoffs for the First Time Since 2009. The steelers are back in the postseason after a threeyear drought with a 2012 win over kansas city. Pittsburgh faces cincinnati next week for the afc north title. The lions faced a hungry bears team at soldier field. Connects with Alshon Jeffery on the 20yard pass to put the bears up. But detroit manages to claw their way back. Lions squeak past the bears, 2014. The falcons julio down by the school yard jones had seven catches for 107 yards as atlanta eliminates new orleans from the playoffs with a 3014 win. Lets take you now to college football. A former Florida Supreme Court judge cleared Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston of accusations faced in connection to an alleged Sexual Assault two years ago. The judge found evidence was, quote, insufficient to satisfy the burden of proof. At skiings world cup super g competition in france, american lindsey vonn who has just returned to the circuit after right knee surgery had a runin with a gate that took her out of the competition for the day. Luckily, though, her knee is okay, and she will be back. That is some good news. Well, drivers licenses for dreamers, Hallowed Ground in texas turned to dust, and an amazing sight of one monkey saving anothers life. Dad,thank you mom for said this oftprotecting my future. You. Thank you for being my hero and my dad. Military families are uniquely thankful for many things, the legacy of usaa Auto Insurance could be one of them. If youre a current or former military member or their family, get an Auto Insurance quote and see why 92 of our members plan to stay for life. [ male announcer ] the rhythm of life. [ whistle blowing ] where do you hear that beat . Campbells healthy request soup lets you hear it in your heart. [ basketball bouncing ] heart healthy. [ mm. ] great taste. [ tapping ] sounds good. Campbells healthy request. Mm mm good. ® welcome back to first look. We are looking at a lot of wet weather across the country from the west coast to the east coast. Were looking at mainly showers, though, because temperatures are fairly mild. So today well have showers through the midwest and then moving up from the south. We could even see a few strong thunderstorms down to our south in the gulf states. So heres a look at your monday forecast. Temperatures very mild for this time of the year. Actually coming in above normal. That will be the trend for the rest of the week. But unfortunately, so will the rain. So showers will continue from the midwest all the way off through i95. Thats a look at your monday forecast. Back to you, betty. All right. Thank you very much. Well, some stories making news this morning. Later today president obama is expected to announce u. S. Attorney sally yates as his pick for Deputy Attorney general. She currently serves as u. S. Attorney for the Northern District of georgia and yates is also said to be Close Friends with outgoing attorney general eric holder. Starting today, some 20,000 dreamers can begin applying for drivers licenses in arizona. Its all part of the president s program for young undocumented immigra immigrants. It had been stalled through legal wrangling, but now governor jan brewer is vowing to take the fight back to the supreme court. Check this out. Texas a ms kyle field out with the old. Yes, this implosion kicks off a 450 million renovation project that will allow the stadium to hold more fans in its current capacity of 100,000. And you dont want to miss this. An heroic monkey in india. Look closely. He is trying to rescue his friend who had just been knocked unconscious while walking on hightension wires at a train station. For the next 20 minutes as dozens of passengers looked on, amazingly, the monkey was able to revive his buddy. Good for him. Well, the worldfamous Empire State Building is officially in the holiday spirit. Over 15,000 l. E. D. Lights were synchronized to Christmas Music played on local radio stations this weekend. Viewers can vote online for the best light theme to be redone on christmas eve. Watch the beautiful display every night leading up to santas arrival. If that doesnt get you in the spirit, i dont know what will. Coming up, though, republican infighting getting juicier by the day. Jeb getting more w. Like by the tweet. And alaska senators get the ultimate cold shoulder. Scrambled politics is next. You dont need to think about the energy that makes our lives possible. Because we do. Were exxonmobil and powering the world responsibly is our job. Because boiling an egg. Isnt as simple as just boiling an egg. Life takes energy. Energy lives here. Twhat do i do . You need to catch the 4 10 huh . The Equipment Tracking system will get you to the loading dock. There should be a truck leaving now. I got it. Now jump off the bridge. What . In 3. 2. 1. Are you kidding me . Go. Right on time. Right now, over 20,000 trains are running reliably. We call that predictable. Thrillingly predictable. 18 minutes past the hour. As you know, it is christmas week. Here is your first look at this mornings dish of scrambled politics. A war of words between senators rand paul and marco rubio is heating up for the possible 2016 president ial candidates have been voicing their opinions over president obamas efforts to normalize relations with cuba. Senator rubio discussed the Foreign Policy move on sunday, calling senator paul a cheerleader for the president. Rand, if he wants to become the chief cheerleader of obamas Foreign Policy, he certainly has a right to do that. Im going to continue to oppose the obama Foreign Policy on cuba because i know it wont lead to freedom and liberty to the cuban people which is my sole interest here. And abc News Washington post poll Shows Hillary clintons frontrunner for 2016 is shrinking. 61 say they choose mrs. Clinton, down from last month, 63 . Meanwhile, v. P. Joe biden is i adistant second with just 14 of the vote. Senator Elizabeth Warren has 13 . One person vouching for senator warren, though, seems to be democratic congressman Joseph Kennedy iii. In an interview with the boston herald, she said whatever warren wants to do, shes going to excel at. She has been adamant that shes not running for president , and i take her at her word for that. If things change, well see. Well, we are still waiting to see if jeb bush will make a run for the white house in 2016. But as mother jones points out, he may have more in common than his brother than we knew. Turns out the former governor of floridas first twitter follower was karl rove, the architect of his brothers campaigns. Also w. s former deputy chief of staff and currently a fox news analyst. In alaska, thousands jumped into icecold water this weekend in an effort to raise money for the states special olympics. Senator Lisa Murkowski and senatorelect dan selvin also jumped in on the action. They are probably still trying to warm up. 20 minutes past the hour. Im joined by lynn sweet, wa Washington Bureau chief for the chicago sun times. Good morning. Good morning. We want to talk about the subject a lot of people will be discussing this week, former mayor Rudy Giuliani says the killing of two Police Officers was the result of antipolice propaganda. And he says even the president bears some responsibility. How is washington reacting to that . Well, even though president obamas in hawaii on vacation, he issued a statement saying that the killings were outrageous. And this is happening just as he created a task force, police task force, in recent weeks headed by chief Charles Ramsey of philadelphia. And this is in the wake of ferguson and staten island. And, you know, the reaction that the president had is that he wants his task force to further explore what they could do in the wake of this. The message that somehow anyone is responsible for this other than the shooter is one that will probably be very polarizing and controversial if it goes much further than this. And i know mayor de blasio seems to be troubled over it, but so far the reaction one is one of outrage. Lynch, the obama nominee to replace eric holder as attorney general also issued a statement of outrage. And i thought it was interesting in that it went out nationally. It wasnt just for the press in the new york area, which is usually how a statement for a local prosecutor would be handled. So i think that the president obama and holder were supportive of athletes saying i cant breathe, wearing those tshirts. So i understand how there is now going to be backlash in the wake of this terrible assassination. People are definitely talking about it. Theres a lot of harsh rhetoric going around on all ends. Lynn, thank you so much for joining us today. We do appreciate it. Coming up, we will go live to the north pole to check on the progress of santa and his elves. Plus, a sinister familiar face hijacks snl with a surprise appearance. And hear what dr. Evil had to say about kim jongun when we come back. Dave, im sorry to interrupt. I gotta take a sick day tomorrow. Dads dont take sick days, dads take nyquil. The nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, fever, best sleep with a cold, medicine. Ring ring progresso i cant believe im eating bacon and rich creamy cheese before my sisters wedding well its only 100 calories, so youll be ready for that dress uhhuh. You dont love the dress . I love my sister. 40 flavors. 100 calories or less. Into one youll never forget. Earn triple points when you book with the expedia app. Expedia plus rewards. Ime know im doing a good job. Ts i like it when my toothpaste lets me know too. 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