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National Guard Member Dies, Another Fights For His Life After Shooting; Winter Storms Disrupt Post-Thanksgiving Travel Plans; Flower Farm Founder Quilen Blackwell Brings Beauty, Hope and Jobs to Chicago. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired November 28, 2025 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

LEIGHTON MEESTER, ACTRESS AND ADVOCATE FOR FEEDING AMERICA: At a grocery store, there's always, like, a part of me that thinks about that and has made me maybe just more aware and all the more grateful.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): That's why she volunteers with the nonprofit Feeding America. For the last decade, she's helped at food pantries, schools, and women's shelters, often with her husband, Adam Brody.

MEESTER: You connect with people. It just is the face-to-face contact that's giving a face to the cause.

CLAIRE BABINEAUX-FONTENOT, CEO, FEEDING AMERICA: Hunger in America looks like each of us.

ELAM (voice-over): Feeding America's CEO says every county and parish in America has people going hungry and that she used to be one of them.

BABINEAUX-FONTENOT: I get a chance to give back. So many people experiencing hunger volunteer at pantries and at food banks. So many of them just need a little lift up, and when they get there, they give back to their communities.

ROSIE LOPEZ: I went without a Thanksgiving for many, many years.

ELAM (voice-over): Rosie Lopez says taking care of her physically disabled husband limits her income.

ELAM (on camera): What does that mean to someone like you who can benefit from this, that people are so caring?

LOPEZ: It's a blessing. It's a thanksgiving day every day to me.

ELAM (voice-over): By the end, the L.A. sun returned, and this community had not only food but hope and thanks.

LOPEZ: God bless this place, and God bless America.

(END VIDEOTAPE) BRAD SMITH, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, a 20-year-old National Guard member has died. While another is still fighting for his life after an ambush-style attack in the nation's capital. New details are being revealed about the suspected shooter. As officials say, a coast- to-coast investigation is now underway.

This morning, a dangerous cross-country storm could cause major headaches for travelers returning home after Thanksgiving. Parts of the country already dealing with a post-Turkey Day snow with chilly, rainy weather on the way for millions.

And also this morning, rescue teams are still searching for survivors after the deadliest fire in decades ripped through an apartment complex in Hong Kong. The death toll has risen to 128. With officials warning that number could go even higher.

Kate and John are out today. I'm Brad Smith with Sara Sidner. This is "CNN News Central."

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, one of the National Guard members wounded in that ambush-style shooting in Washington, D.C., has died. And the other still fighting for his life in the hospital. 20- year-old Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom died from her injuries on Thanksgiving.

President Trump made the announcement during a holiday call with U.S. service members calling Beckstrom, quote, "outstanding in every way." New images from overnight show law enforcement officers lining the streets for the transfer of her body. The other Guard member wounded in the attack, 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe, remains in the hospital in critical condition.

And we're getting new details this morning about the suspect who is in custody, a 29-year-old Afghan national who arrived in the U.S. in 2021 on a resettlement program. After he worked with the CIA while in Afghanistan.

The attack has added fuel to President Trump's immigration crackdown. He says the U.S. will, quote, "permanently pause migration from all third world countries." And the U.S. will reexamine all green cards issued to people from 19 of what he called countries of concern.

Joining us now is CNN Senior Law Enforcement Analyst and former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, as well as Michael Moore, the former U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia.

Thank you, gentlemen, both for being here. First to you, Andy. I mean, the FBI Director said, look, multiple law enforcement agencies are looking coast to coast in this investigation. What will they be doing to try to figure out how the suspect got to the decision, for example, got a hold of a gun to attack these troops?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yeah, so first, maybe a little bit about the why they're doing it. There's really two purposes that the FBI and all of their law enforcement partners are pursuing right now. First is to determine if there is still an existing threat to national security.

Meaning, did this person act with the help of anyone else? Are there other people out there who he was connected to who might be similarly motivated? And therefore, we need to find them, investigate them and stop any violence.

And the second purpose is, of course, collecting evidence to be used at trial. So, what the bureau is doing right now is conducting a really a limitless investigation into every place they can -- and person they can associate with this individual. So, they're looking on no doubt at his social media presence, his electronics devices that they seize through executing search warrants at locations associated with him.

[08:05:10]

Everyone they identify in that process will be located and interviewed. And they're trying to collect a picture, in essence, beyond just the evidence they need, but to tell them who was this guy and why did he set out on this cross-country assassination essentially.

SIDNER: Yeah, I mean, there's just so much for them to dig through. Michael, I do want to ask you, when you look at what happened here, what charges are being considered in a case like this?

MICHAEL MOORE, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yeah, well, it's good to see both of you. And I send my sympathies to, you know, Specialist Beckstrom's family and certainly our thoughts with Staff Sergeant Wolfe and his family right now.

This -- what happens in these cases oftentimes is people come out and they sort of thump their chest about big charges. And we've heard things like the death penalty is going to come and that may very well be the case. And it may, in fact, be a terrorism case or it may not. I just don't know that they know enough at this point to say whether or not this individual acted with the intent to use violence to influence some governmental action or policy or whether this was just somebody who had some malignant intent for himself and took this action. We just don't know.

But I think we also heard sort of an interesting comment at one point yesterday or the day before from the U.S. Attorney in D.C. And that was about some of these people had just taken an oath. So, I'm curious when I hear that as to whether or not the recent oath given was somehow to make them members of some type of law enforcement or federal law enforcement activity.

If that's the case, then there are certain protections and statutes under federal law that would, in fact, allow for the use of capital punishment in these types of cases. So, you may see a murder charge, murder of a federal officer, murder of a federal agent, other things like that that could, in fact, carry a capital charge. And the president has pushed to have the death penalty used in federal cases, certainly in D.C., where you wouldn't have it, you know, in local activities. So, I think you will see that, you know, whether or not you're going

to see, you know, a weapons charge. I'm sure you'll see that. But this suspect is in custody. I guess what I want to say is some of the rhetoric, some of the comments about death penalty and we're going for this, I've heard the word vengeance. One thing that makes federal prosecutors so effective is that they walk the walk. They do it quietly.

They come in when they can prove their case, that they bring a case forward, and they seek a conviction when they have the evidence to do that. They don't just talk the talk on T.V. and for news clips in order to sort of say things.

We know that there have been some prosecutors in D.C. recently who've had sort of some failings because they've elevated some charges or attempted to elevate them without success. So, my point is simply pray for these families. This person's in custody. The charges are going to come, but it will need to be what those charges that experienced federal prosecutors think they can prove, not just something that gives talking points to politicians.

SIDNER: Certainly based on evidence is what the jury is -- is -- that's their remit that they have to look at that. And so --

MOORE: Right.

SIDNER: -- so, the prosecutors as well, as you well know, and have said many times on this program.

Michael, I do want to just lastly ask you, there is a lot of talk about this. There's a lot of blame going around. The Biden administration admitted this person for asylum, but it was a Trump administration that approved his asylum. The suspect also previously worked with the CIA in Afghanistan. I mean, the vetting process, certainly you would think, Andrew, would be pretty stringent with somebody who, first of all, had been vetted in while in Afghanistan to work with the CIA and then to be allowed into this country. I mean, how does this play in this investigation? What would the FBI, for example, be looking at in his background?

MCCABE: Well, Sara, I'm sure they're going to look very closely at all of the vetting that was done on this individual at many different kind of stops along his -- his journey. The questions you seek to answer with vetting someone in a theater of war for the purpose of working with our military or intelligence folks. Those are very different questions than the sort of vetting you do to answer the question, is this person safe to come live on their own, essentially unsupervised in the United States of America?

So, but what we do know at this point that people it is being pretty widely reported that he passed each level of those different sorts of vetting. It's also important to know that vetting is not perfect.

[08:10:04]

You look back at the information you have. And if you're doing a very broad scope vetting, you know, that's just tapping into more and more different sets of information. Does this person have a criminal record? What does the intelligence agency who worked with him say about him? What does the -- what sort of military unit did he work for? And does that tell us anything about whether or not he might present a danger here?

So, you look at the information you have, but you can't see perfectly into the future. So, if he was -- if that information was all scoured and reasonable decisions were made upon it at each of those steps, I don't know that we're going to be able to blame this horrible, violent action on a failure in vetting. That remains to be seen, but vetting is not a perfect process. You really are limited by the information you have about an individual.

SIDNER: Yeah, you make a really good point. You don't know in the future what someone might intend to do or whether or not potentially that person got radicalized at some point in the future that, you know, they answered the questions and were looked into before they came into the country. There are just so many questions.

Meantime, these two families are devastated, especially the woman who has lost her life.

Andrew McCabe, Michael Moore, it is a pleasure to have you both. Thank you so much for explaining that all to us this morning.

Brad.

SMITH: Thank you, Sara.

Up ahead, a fleet of UPS planes grounded after that deadly crash in Kentucky will not be back in service during this peak holiday season. What that could mean for your holiday packages.

And we're tracking a dangerous cross-country storm that could make the trip home after Thanksgiving a mess for millions of Americans. Grab the wellies one way or another. And a scare for people in Alaska, shaken by a 6.0 magnitude earthquake. We've got that full story and the visuals.

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[08:15:59]

SIDNER: All right, we've given you some breaking news out of St. Louis. You are seeing what has happened just moments ago. Now, authorities say at least 200 firefighters are working to contain a raging inferno that's engulfed at least four buildings downtown. The fire is so large and hot, officials say it could burn well into the weekend. One of the buildings has collapsed already. Officials say the buildings are old factories and they are vacant, but there are still dangers present.

The fire also spreading to nearby electrical lines and railroad tracks. So far, there are no reports of injuries. That is the good news this morning, but this fire raging still hot for the rest of the day and maybe into the weekend. We will keep tracking this for you as the morning goes on.

Brad?

SMITH: All right, a significant ongoing effort there.

This morning, millions are heading home after the Thanksgiving holiday, and they may be in for a travel headache. A new blast of Arctic air. It's sweeping and dropping temperatures and fueling another round of snow, rain and potentially slick roads. Got to be careful out there. Through a thousand-mile stretch of the country, that's actually going to see this.

CNN's Allison Chinchar is with us now. And Allison, where is this system now? And who should be prepared for a colder returning trip?

ALLISON CHINCHAR: Right. So, in terms of who should be prepared for the colder trip, it's pretty much everyone east of the Rockies, because these temperatures have already started to settle in. We're talking bitter cold.

Now, what you're looking at here is a combination of the air temperature plus the wind. So, what it feels like to your body when you are outside feels like 29 in New York, only into the single digits in Indianapolis, 27 in Nashville, only 23 in Atlanta. So, even some southern cities are definitely feeling the chill this morning.

Those afternoon high temperatures will warm up, just not where they normally would be this time of year. Chicago is only going to get to the freezing mark. They'd normally be in the low to mid 40s. Atlanta should be 60 this time of year. They'll only top out at 50. And look at St. Louis, normally in the low 50s, that high today only about 37 degrees.

Now, this is where the next system is going to go. And you'll see it's a lot of folks that are going to be impacted here, starting out to the west, then crossing over the high plains, the Midwest, and eventually over into portions of the northeast by the time we get to the latter part of the weekend. But it's not done snowing yet in some of these places.

You still have some of those lake effect bands ongoing from the previous system that are still expected to dump several more inches of snow today before the next system even arrives. And this is where the next system is now. And it kind of looks like a little bit of a cluttered mess out here.

The system itself is really starting to take shape this late this morning and will continue to do so by this afternoon and evening. So, here's a look at tonight. Again, yeah, you can start to see some of that snow begin to spread across portions of the Midwest.

But really, unfortunately for the Midwest, the worst is going to be Saturday. This is a look at Saturday morning, 8 a.m. Very heavy snow coming down across portions of Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, even into southern Wisconsin, portions of Nebraska and North Dakota. You've got very heavy rain, even some thunderstorms potentially on the southern flask of this or southern fringe of this storm.

Again, when you slide it off to the east, here's a look at Saturday evening. Look at this. Now, you're talking Chicago, Detroit, portions of Toledo and Cleveland looking at some of that heavy snow. Some of these areas could be looking at 8 to 12 inches of snow. In some cases, on top of what they got from the previous system.

SMITH: All right. Already readying my attire now. Allison Chinchar, thank you.

Well, up ahead, Pope Leo makes his first international trip. The message that he's taking to the Middle East coming your way. And it is officially Black Friday. How shoppers are looking to save major bucks on this year's hottest deals.

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[08:24:00]

SIDNER: All right. This is the last weekend for you to vote for the 2025 CNN Hero of the Year. We are reintroducing each of our top five heroes as you choose your favorite.

On Chicago's south side, Quilen Blackwell is bringing new life to empty lots and creating much-needed jobs and opportunity for young people with flowers. The neighborhood has long been a classic example of urban blight, but where many see decay, Blackwell saw potential.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

QUILEN BLACKWELL, SOUTHSIDE BLOOMS CO-FOUNDER: Most people wouldn't expect to see a full flower farm here on the south side of Chicago. It's really cool to be able to bring that beauty to places where people least expect it.

I've been living in Englewood since 2015. It's one of the more dangerous neighborhoods, high poverty, high urban blight. So, you can kind of see like storefronts that are boarded up, the building gets condemned. They'll knock the building down and now it's a vacant lot. Yes, these aren't parks. Most people will see the trash, the vacant lots. But for me, I see a potential. We're here to try to bring life.

[08:25:06]

Southside Blooms is a farm to vase florists. We'll take over vacant lots, grow our own flowers, design them in our flower shop. And then we do retail bouquets, weddings, corporate events and everything in between. This is about creating opportunity in a place that desperately needs it.

Try to get some good stem length, you know the drill.

A big part of what we do is creating jobs in the floral industry for at-risk youth.

What's your favorite flower? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The lily, cosmos. My favorite, it would be the red rose.

BLACKWELL: Growing up, I was very fortunate. I had a bevy of opportunity. I came to Chicago, started tutoring at a high school in Englewood. And I started to just realize, I could be any one of these kids.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to do them tiger lilies and yeasts.

BLACKWELL: There are people who want a chance at something better.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have to grow up fast around her. I lost a lot of friends, ended up in jail. I was looking for a job. One of my friends, he was like, hey bro, I got a job. I'm like, bro, flowers, what?

Working here, I see myself changing. Calmer, into nature. This was just an empty parking lot. We did this. We started all this. We cleaned it up. It's our community. I'm proud.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ready for the event?

HANNAH BONHAM, SOUTHSIDE BLOOMS CO-FOUNDER: Getting there.

BLACKWELL: My wife, Hannah, trained at the florist. Figured out the youth training program.

BONHAM: It's a feel, so teaching kind of the basic concept and then kind of letting their creativity go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I learned, I paid close attention, I asked questions and I fell in love with it. I'm an example. I purchased my first apartment. I purchased a car. I try to tell everybody it's an opportunity. Every place you step in, you take advantage of it.

BLACKWELL: Our young people are blossoming and blooming every single day.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: That is incredible. Look at what one person can do and then what happens when so many others join in. What a wonderful program.

You can go to CNN.com/heroes right now to vote for Quilen for CNN Hero of the Year or any of your favorite top five heroes. You can get 10 votes per day every day through this Sunday, November 30th, to help the heroes who most inspire you.

All right, straight ahead. There are new arrests in that devastating fire that ripped through a Hong Kong housing complex. And unfortunately, the death toll is going way up. The latest on the investigation into what may have caused the inferno.

And a fleet of UPS planes will be out of service during a peak delivery season. What that might mean for getting your packages to places on time this holiday season.

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