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Protests in Minneapolis After Fed Agent Ambushed, Shoots Man in Leg; Astronauts Splash Down After Space Station Medical Evacuation; Emotional Testimony Resumes in Trial of Former Uvalde Police Officer. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired January 15, 2026 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: You also flagged that Google received backlash this week from a viral post where a mom says her 13-year-old child received an e-mail with ways of disabling parental controls. What is this about?

CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH REPORTER: Yes, so this is interesting timing here. YouTube says their new announcement is not related to this post, but this post went viral. And it's a post from Melissa McKay, who is president at the nonprofit Digital Childhood Institute.

She says that her almost 13-year-old son received this e-mail from Google letting him know that he could remove parental supervision from his account. In response, Google says that it has updated its policy to require that both parents and teens opt in to removing that supervision before 13-year-old and older can remove that supervision feature.

BOLDUAN: Love to hear help is on the way. It still feels like we're in a sea of there is no help and there is no turning back as a parent. But we'll continue on.

Thank you so much, Clare.

DUFFY: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight. Protests exploding once again in Minnesota after a federal agent shoots another person in the city. They say attack them.

Minneapolis mayor calling ICE's actions disgusting and the situation not sustainable. But he is warning protesters not to take the bait.

Also breaking overnight. History made off the coast of California. The first ever medical evacuation from space ending in a splashdown. What we know about the medical issue that prompted astronauts return a month early.

And this is going to sound really specific. But if you have a single friend who lives alone and you haven't heard from them in a while and wonder, are they OK? Are they alive? There's now an app for that.

I'm Sara Sidner with John Berman and Kate Bolduan. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BOLDUAN: So breaking news overnight, there's new unrest in the streets of Minneapolis after a new shooting involving a federal agent triggering chaotic protests and clashes. Federal agents seen deploying tear gas, throwing flashbangs amongst the protesters. On that new shooting, I mentioned the Department of Homeland Security says an officer was assaulted by a Venezuelan national when the officer was trying to conduct a targeted traffic stop.

Officer taking, quote, defensive shots after he was attacked by that man and eventually two other people who emerged from a nearby apartment building with a shovel and broom handle. Officials say that the man was shot in the leg. He and the officer were both taken to the hospital and are expected to be OK.

And I mentioned those clashes. Those were really triggered after this new shooting between federal officials and protesters and really reached a new level last night. Some protesters even seen throwing fireworks, all of it leading to the Minneapolis mayor, Jacob Frey, to call the situation unsustainable.

Speaking out late last night, pleading for calm. CNN's Whitney Wild has the latest from Minneapolis.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: This scene became quite chaotic, Kate. What we saw were two locations where federal law enforcement was positioned at one location, which was around the corner and up the block from where we believe the shooting happened. Multiple law enforcement agents, we believe they were federal agents, was throwing tear gas canisters and flashbangs at the crowd.

And it wasn't immediately clear what prompted that. But what was clear was the impact. Tear gas canisters were hitting the feet of protesters.

They were exploding at the feet of our team here. Jonathan Schaer was right in the middle of it. Our fearless photographer, these tear gas canisters detonating right at his feet.

And then we were all encased in a pretty thick cloud of tear gas smoke that just hung in the air for at least an hour afterward. Around the corner, there was another line of federal agents who were facing off with protesters behind the yellow police tape line. And there we saw multiple protesters screaming in the face of federal law enforcement as they basically said nothing.

And stood in the line at dozens of them, virtually shoulder to shoulder, holding that line in that location where we believe the shooting happened. Kate, I'll leave you with this. Something notable that we saw was that the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension was there to process the scene. They brought their mobile command vehicle. That is what they use in high-profile incidents that require quite a bit of evidence collection and processing. And so it was a notable moment because the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension was boxed out of the Renee Good shooting.

And that was a point of contention between federal law enforcement and local law enforcement here.

[08:05:00]

But we now know they were at least at one point part of this investigation. So we will see if they will have a continued role, which would be in stark contrast to, again, being completely boxed out of the Rene Good shooting.

And I'll leave you with this, Kate. When we came up around the corner away from the shooting, we saw what looked like multiple law enforcement vehicles that had just been ransacked.

Windows smashed in, graffiti on the side and debris everywhere -- Kate.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, I'll take it. Whitney Wild, thank you very much. You've been on the ground in Minneapolis.

With us now, CNN law enforcement analyst Jonathan Wackrow. Jonathan, great to see you this morning. First, we don't have video of the incident which set this off.

Homeland Security says that the federal agent was ambushed basically in the process of trying to apprehend someone they say it was a Venezuelan national and shot the man, they say, in self-defense. Based on what we know, and, again, it's very limited there, if this agent was, in fact, ambushed, if, in fact, there was a confrontation, would discharging his weapon be appropriate?

JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yes, actually, it would be appropriate, John. And, you know, any time that an officer, an agent, you know, fears for their life or the life of others around them, they can escalate to the use of deadly force. But I think we have to just take a quick step back and just look at, you know, this is not an isolated tactical event.

It's really a, you know, part of this, broader, you know, highly charged environment. We just heard from the reporting where ongoing ICE enforcement operations are really just fueling tensions constantly across the Minneapolis community. And the reality, John, is when you have thousands of ICE personnel who are surging into a single metropolitan area, the first order effect is extremely simple.

More officer activity means more enforcement contacts, like we saw yesterday. More contacts usually equates to more incidents in absolute terms. So the denominator of incidents is really starting to increase. So what we're seeing is intensification, not de-escalation across the board. And this most recent incident actually shows how quickly these incidents can act as a catalyst, quickly mobilizing demonstrators who end up, you know, showing up on scene very quickly. And we saw a lot of Facebook Live communication last night that act as the mobilization, you know, trigger for everybody.

And they start clashing with law enforcement. And, you know, final point, that clashing of law enforcement. Anytime you start throwing items and throwing fireworks at officers, we heard Whitney describe the, you know, government vehicles being vandalized.

That really transcends away from this peaceful protest narrative or nonviolent direct action into things that law enforcement has to react to to maintain civil order. And this is where you just get these clashes between the individual community and law enforcement, both on the federal and local levels.

BERMAN: What way is there to de-escalate if these numbers in terms of federal agents are going to stay there?

WACKROW: Well, what we really have to do is reset what public safety means for the Minneapolis community. And what we've seen since, you know, the shooting of Renee Good is this complex intersection of, you know, immigration enforcement and what public safety needs to be. And these moments are really exposing these structural gaps between law enforcement and public safety operation.

And what I mean by that is law enforcement, as we know, works best when federal, state and local entities work in parallel and coordination. And that can happen even when policy or political leadership viewpoints differ. This is about public safety.

So cooperation doesn't mean endorsement of a particular agency's direct mission. So in this case, cooperation by the Minneapolis Police Department in vetting with ICE agents is not an endorsement. What it means is greater public safety for everybody, increasing situational awareness.

So two things can happen at the same time. People can protest peacefully expressing their First Amendment rights, while ICE agents and federal agents can go ahead and engage in their enforcement operations. We need balance right now.

And what we're seeing from the video in these increased rate of incidents is imbalance in this community.

BERMAN: Jonathan Wackrow, great to get your insight here. Thank you very much -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Ahead, Venezuela's opposition leader Maria Corina Machado heads to the White House for high stakes talks on the future of Venezuela. Trump has already said she doesn't have the support to run the country.

What he said when asked whether he will change his mind if she hands over her Nobel Peace Prize to him.

Plus, the emotional trial of a former Uvalde School District police officer continues this morning. A key witness telling the court that officer failed to respond when the shooting began.

[08:10:00]

And NASA astronauts now back on Earth after their mission was cut short by a medical issue. How that astronaut is doing this morning after splashdown.

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SIDNER: This morning, four Crew 11 astronauts are safely back on Earth after splashdown in the Pacific Ocean just a few hours ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On behalf of SpaceX and NASA, welcome home, Crew 11.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: SpaceX Dragon, it's so good to be home with deep gratitude to the teams who got us there and back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: You can hear the gratitude in her voice after the 10 hour journey home from space. The crew emerged in the dark from the side hatch on the Dragon capsule, taking their first breaths of fresh air in 167 days. The central focus now, the health concern that caused this crew to leave the International Space Station about a month early.

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CNN's Ed Lavandera has been following their return, and he joins us now live. What are you learning from the post splashdown press conference this morning there in Houston?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're not learning much. The NASA administrator simply said that the astronaut in question with the medical issue that caused the early evacuation of this crew from the International Space Center is simply, quote, doing fine. All four of those astronauts were taken from the capsule and then flown onto land.

They splashed down just off the coast of San Diego before 4 a.m. Eastern time this morning. They're all at a hospital. They will remain there in the San Diego area for the remainder of today and then -- and then be brought here to the Johnson Space Center on Friday.

But even as we watch the astronauts emerge from the capsule on the ship out in the ocean, we couldn't really get a good sense of who might be suffering from some sort of medical ailment. All four of the astronauts, Sara, looked to be in very good spirits, waving and smiling and greeting the other crew members that were there on the ship, helping them out of the capsule. So it was hard to kind of decipher as we watched them emerge from the capsule who might be in some sort of, you know, kind of painful condition or anything that might have offered some sort of clue.

But this is kind of standard procedure, though. NASA officials keep very tight lip on for health privacy reasons. And it's up to the astronaut to divulge what they want to share about their own physical and health conditions coming out of there.

But clearly it was serious enough for NASA officials last week to quickly draw up plans to have this crew return back to Earth because they said that the medical attention that this astronaut needed could only really be done here on the ground -- Sara.

SIDNER: Yes, you know what I find kind of incredible is that we're not biting our nails as to whether they're going to make it back. And it's such an incredible thing that we're just kind of used to them be able to, you know, come back from the International Space Station. But people are worried about the condition, the health condition of one of the astronauts.

It's a long way that we've come in the world of getting to and from space. Ed Lavandera, thank you so much for getting up early for us this morning. I do appreciate it -- John.

BERMAN: Right. I've seen an exclusive. How the U.S. plans to guard Venezuela's oil. More specifically, with whom?

And one of the most iconic lines in the film, Matthew McConaughey now wants to trademark it as part of a fight against A.I.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY, ACTOR: All right. All right. All right. How are you doing?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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BERMAN: All right, happening today. New testimony in the trial of former Uvalde School police officer Adrian Gonzalez. He has been charged with child abandonment and endangerment. As prosecutors say, he did not do enough to stop or delay the attack at the Robb Elementary School.

A former teacher's aide told jurors she saw both the teen gunman and the officer before the mass shooting. The aide also testified she repeatedly warned the officer about where the shooter was headed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MELODYE FLORES, FORMER SPECIAL EDUCATION AIDE AT ROBB ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: I just kept pointing, you know, he's going in there, and he's going to the fourth grade building. I don't know exactly what he was doing, but he was just running back and forth.

[Speaker 12] He was running back and forth.

FLORES: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Here with us now, CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson. Good morning. Always great to see you.

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Thank you, John.

BERMAN: Why is this testimony important to the prosecution about what a teacher's aide says happened?

JACKSON: Yes, John, it's critical, more than important, because, number one, she observed what he was doing or not doing. And remember, keeping our eye on the prize here, he is being charged for inactivity. What is the issue?

The issue prosecutors are saying is that you had a special duty to these students. You were a school resource officer and should have acted. Based on that special duty, you put them in immediate fear of death, and you consciously disregarded the fact that if you did not act, something like this would happen.

This is a teacher who provided testimony that I saw him. We engaged with each other. I indicated to him that there was a problem, that this is where the shooter was.

And what did he do in response? Paced back and forth. And prosecutors, from the prosecutor's perspective, that was far from enough.

And so you add that with the additional testimony, and that points to the conclusion that you might be guilty.

BERMAN: How do you defend against this, given there's so much emotion in this?

JACKSON: So that's the thing that you need to overcome from the defense, and I'll tell you why. Jurors want accountability. Society wants accountability.

And when you see something like this, the consequence of parents who are just really in so much grief, descriptions of the fact that my child is in so much pain, they can't see the color red anymore, you know, they can't do the things they used to do, it's a lot.

But I think what the defense is doing is they're saying, look, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, keep your eye on the prize. There's someone who should be accountable. It's not my client.

It's the shooter. And by the way, he's dead. Number two, the fact is, is that there were failures here. What were those failures? If the doors were not unlocked, right, then there would not be access to the actual school. Number three, why are you scapegoating my client?

There are 400 other law enforcement officials who responded. And as a result, this is what happened. Why is it me who should take the fall for this?

And so at the end of the day, what the defense is doing is saying that there were lapses here, but that lapse does not fall on this specific individual who, by the way, final point, John, did something. What was that? Radioed for help.

What was that? Help evacuate. And so they're arguing that you're misdirecting the blame. It's not on me.

BERMAN: The prosecution keeps on talking to parents of some of the students. They're talking about the trauma that they still have. From a legal perspective, why does that matter in this case?

JACKSON: So it goes to the emotion and the jurors, just to be clear, will be told to disregard emotion. Cases are not about emotion. It's about what happens in that courtroom. What's the evidence?

[08:25:00]

But I'll tell you what it does when you talk to those parents. It does, number one, show you the consequence of your inactivity. Number two, it goes to the issue of accountability.

Who specifically should be accountable for this and why? And then number three goes to that very issue. Hey, if you would have done something, then this wouldn't have occurred.

And remember the argument. The argument is we don't expect you, prosecutors say, to have committed suicide, but we, at the very least, would have expected you to delay, to impede, or to distract the shooter. To the extent that you didn't do that, prosecutors say, you're guilty.

But just to be clear, this is a very rare prosecution. Only the second of its kind in the country, the Parkland, you might remember in Florida, resulted in an acquittal. Little different facts there.

But he's being charged for inaction, and some say charging cowardice is not appropriate. We'll see what the jury thinks.

BERMAN: Yes, look, it's very emotional testimony and a very difficult case, I think, for these jurors. Joey Jackson, good to see you this morning. Thank you, as always.

JACKSON: Thank you, John.

BERMAN: Kate.

BOLDUAN: Sex, lies, murder. New details are coming in from the trial of a man accused of murdering his wife and another man in an elaborate plot with the au pair he was having an affair with and the cross- examination that was pretty brutal.

Whole milk heading back to school lunchrooms for the first time in more than a decade, but it is already getting pushback from some medical professionals.

We'll tell you why. We'll be right back.

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