potential political fallout from governor newsom's vacation in montana. world news tonight with david muir is coming up next. tonight, alarming new details about the mass shooting suspect in illinois, and now word he may have been considering a second attack while making his escape. robert crimo in court today, showing no emotion, charged with seven counts of murder. the prosecutor says he confessed to the attack, telling people he dressed in women's clothing and covered his tattoos with makeup so people wouldn't recognize him. allegedly armed with a semiautomatic rifle. authorities say he drop md it as he escaped from the scene. police recovering magazines and shell katings from the rooftop where the alleged gunman opened fire. the sheriff says the suspect fled to madison, wisconsin, where he considered another shooting there. the prosecutor promises more charges are coming. alex perez is in highland park.

one of the many heartbreaking stories emerging from the shooting, the 2-year-old boy who lost both of his parents, rescued by strangers. his father killed shielding his son from the gun fire. stephanie ramos is standing by. >> the january 6th commit teal hears from a major witness this week. former white house counsel pat cipollone set to testify, wg the ansidind closedfray unldg at the u.s. overght, weaponin arsenalre b de our te ok at ukrainian forces with u.s. rockets capable of hitting 40 miles away. also tonight, after receiving a hand-written letter from wnba star brittney griner, the white house says the president and vice president spoke with her wife today. their message to griner tonight. a skaifting new report says authorities in uvalde, texas, has several chances to stop the

massacre at robb elementary before it started. the report finds an officer armed with a rifle had the gunman in his sights before he went into the school and waited for permission to shoot. and a severe storm threat as we come on the air, from montana to the carolinas. damaging winds and large hail. more than a dozen states in line for extreme heat. ginger zee is tracking it all. good evening h, everyone. thank you for joi syedsday night. i'm i fordavid. we begin tonight with chillg new details about the m shooting suspect charged with e fourth of july p i highla, illinois, with more charges on toy,he sheriff revealed the cond a that same day. 21-year-old robert crimo appeared in court today, barely

looking up, showing no emotion as names of the victims were read outloud. the state attorney says crimo confessed to opening fire on the crowd. authorities say he used a smith and wesson semiautomatic rifle, firing more than 80 rounds from a rooftoop, emptying nearly three magazines. authorities say he dropped his rifle during the getaway. police say he then drove to madison, wisconsin, where he thought about attacking the crowd at another celebration. investigators still say they have no clear motive. there are reports that the suspect had a troubled past, including an attempted suicide and threats to kill his family, and yet, he still passed four background checks to buy five guns and we're now learning his father will also be investigated. abc's alex perez is in highland park and leads us off. >> reporter: today, before a judge, accused fourth of july killer robert crimo denied bail. prosecutors say he has confessed to the horrific crime. >> his statement was voluntary.

he went into details about what he had done. he admitted to what he had done. >> reporter: they say crimo dressed in women's clothes, covered his distinctive facial tattoos with makeup, and climbed a fire escape to the perch where he used an ar-15 style semiautomatic rifle to rain down terror on his innocent victims. amid the chaos, police say crimo fled to neighboring wisconsin, where they say he considered launching a second attack there on a celebration he drove by. >> it appears when he drove to madison, he did see a celebration that was occurring in madison and he seriously contemplated using the firearm he had in his vehicle to commit another shooting. >> do you know how much ammunition he had at that point? >> approximately 60 rounds. >> reporter: but according to police, crimo abandoned the idea, believing he didn't have time to plan it. investigators have determined he spent weeks mapping out the attack on the parade in highland park. but his motive, still a mystery.

>> his motivation isn't necessarily clear. however, he had some type of affinity towards the number four and seven and inverse was seven four. >> reporter: seven four. july 4th. what authorities say they do know is that crimo was armed to the teeth. and tonight, they are grappling with serious questions about how he was able to obtain his weapons legally, given a series of red flags over the years. police called to his home twice in 2019, once as they say he attempted suicide, and again five months later, after they say he threatened to kill his family. authorities confiscating a stash of more than a dozen knives, a dagger, and a sword. but none of that stopped crimo from passing multiple background checks to legally purchasing a total of five firearms. for most of those purchases, he was under 21, which means he needed a parent to sign off, and state police say that's exactly

what his father did. >> police aauthorities said they had insufficient basis to deny that application. alex perez joins us now from highland park. and alex, lots of questions, certainly, now for that father and tonight the illinois state police say they're looking into it? >> reporter: yeah, linsey. state police here say they've launched a criminal investigation to determine if the suspect's father could be held culpable. in a statement tonight, the attorney for crimo's parents saying, in part, quote, none of us know exactly what's going on with our children all of the time. this family was no different. linsey? >> all right, alex, our thanks to you. the highland park community remains grief-stricken tonight. heartbreaking stories are emerging about some of the seven victims killed on the fourth of july, including the parents of a 2-year-old little boy. his father was killed as he shielded his son from the barrage of bullets. the boy was rescued by rangers. here's abc's stephanie ramos. >> reporter: tonight, as the close-knit community of highland

park mourns and plans funerals for the seven killed on the fourth of july, we are learning more about the people who lost their lives and how strangers came together in the chaos to help a little boy. in the aftermalt of the shooting, dana and gregory ring, sheltering in a parking garage, approached by a woman covered in blood. >> she was carrying a child who was also covered in blood. and it quickly became apparent that child was not her own. >> reporter: that child was 2-year-old aiden mccarthy. aiden's parents, kevin and irina mccarthy, did not survive. that woman who found aiden was lauren silva. >> he had blood on his legs, he had a sock that was fully covered in blood that i wanted off of him. he had one shoe on. >> reporter: what was aiden like? >> aiden, when i took aiden down the garage, he wasn't crying. he just kept saying, "is momma and dada okay?" and it was hard to look at him

in the face and say, it's going to be okay, when i didn't know if it was. >> reporter: lauren gave aiden to the rings, who brought aiden to the police. >> i pulled up, i said, this is not our kid. >> reporter: tonight, he is safe with his grandparents. the rings thankful they were able to help aiden and lauren. >> she's -- >> she's -- she's a real hero. >> she's a hero. >> got him out of the immediate danger. >> it's a time when strangers come together and you just -- you just do. you just act and they were doing the same thing that i was doing. >> just a hoertbreaking story. stephanie ramos joins us now. and stephanie, now the families have the grueling task of planning the funerals. >> reporter: they are, linsey. families are planning funerals. the first is set for this friday for jacki sundheim.

linsey? >> no doubt all of those victims will be missed. stephanie, our thanks to you. and we move on now to the january 6th committee, preparing to hear from a major witness under pressure from the committee and under subpoena. former president trump's white house counsel pat cipollone will testify behind closed doors on friday. here's abc's chief justice correspondent pierre thomas. >> reporter: he was the top lawyer in the trump white house, one of the few people around the former president as the insurrection unfolded. and tonight, pat cipollone has agreed to testify before the house committee investigating the riot. >> our committee is certain that donald trump does not want mr. cipollone to testify here. we think the american people deserve to hear from mr. cipollone personally. >> reporter: faced with a congressional subpoena and weeks of public pressure, cipollone has agreed to a videotaped, transcribed interview with the

committee behind closed doors on friday. several witnesses already describing his actions that fateful day, including former white house aide cassidy hutchinson, who said cipollone tried to stop the president from going to the capitol. and was angry when former chief of staff mark meadows appeared to do nothing as rioters chanted "hang mike pence." >> hang mike pence! hang mike pence! >> i remember pat saying something to the effect of, "mark, we need to do something more. they're literally calling for the vice president to be effing hung." and mark had responded something to the effect of, "you heard him, pat. he thinks mike deserves it. he doesn't think they're doing anything wrong." to which pat said something -- "this is effing crazy." >> reporter: linsey, sources tell us cipollone's testimony could be limited due to attorney/client privilege. but the committee is all but certain to use video from his taped interview in the final hearings set to take place next

week. >> lots of interest in what he has to say. pierre, thank you. next tonight, we're tracking severe storms at this hour, from montana all the way to the east. damaging winds, large hail and possible tornadoes reaching into the carolinas. more than a dozen states under dangerous heat alerts, with temperatures into the triple digits. ginger zee is tracking it all for us. hey, ginger. >> reporter: hey there, linsey. just yesterday, we had gusts up to 99 miles per hour in south dakota. now at least 84 severe storm reports just in the last 24 hours. many of them damaging wind. two of them reported tornado, but it's all along that stationary front. so, stationary means doesn't move much. it's going to bubble along. lots of convection and that dangerous heat right below it. so, let me take you to the problem area tonight. anywhere from western virginia down through raleigh, so, the triangle there, charlotte to columbia. and back into west virginia. but remember, tomorrow, we get more of this, because it doesn't move much. so, that same region has to be on the lookout from norfolk to columbia, atlanta involved, too.

as far as the heat goes, excessive heat warnings include memphis feeling like 110 tomorrow, linsey. >> still try have to try to keep cool. ginger, thank you. overseas tonight, ukraine is putting long-range rockets onto the battlefield capable of hitting targets more than 40 miles away. our cameras got a rare up close look at the rockets being deployed. president zelenskyy says they are working very powerfully. abc's james longman is in ukraine for us. >> reporter: tonight, a rare, front-line look at the powerful american weapons ukraine is unleashing against russian forces. these are the rockets being loaded on to the u.s. himars -- high mobility artillery rocket systems. these are the weapons that ukraine says are making all the difference in its war, for the very simple reason they fire further than anything ukraine currently has in its artillery. the other very important detail saw that they're truck-mounted. so, that means once they're fired, these guys can move. the gps-guided rockets can

accurately hit targets over 40 miles away. "we can use them to find targets in russian-controlled territory that no other weapon can get to," the himar commander tells me. "we've hit command centers and ammunition stores." video circulating online shows this massive blast at a russian ammo dump deep in donetsk, which ukrainian officials say they hit sunday. russian officials confirmed u.s.-provided himars were used in the attack. the launchers are capable of firing six rockets at a time. four of these systems are in ukraine now with four more on the way. and they could have a significant impact on the russians' next offensive. western officials tell abc news tonight they're not sure that russia will be able to take the rest of the donbas region by the end of the year. the ukrainians will be hoping that those u.s. himars will stop them from taking it altogether. linsey? >> ukrainians certainly hoping the new weapons will be a game changer. james, thank you. we move on now to the response from the white house tonight to the pressure campaign to get wnba star brittney griner

released from russia. brianer has been detained for nearly 140 days for allegedly carrying vape cartridges containing hashish oil, which is illegal in russia. let's bring in rachel scott at the white house for us. and rachel, we're learning about a call between the president and vice president and griner's wife today. >> reporter: well, linsey, the white house says they wanted to assure griner's family they are doing all they can to make sure she comes home as quickly as possible. griner wrote a very personal hand-written letter to the president. she says she's terrified that she may never leave russia. we know the president tonight does plan to write her back and respond to her directly. he has been receiving daily updates on her situation, but brittney griner is not the only american the biden administration believes is being wrongfully detained in russia. and tonight, the family of paul whelan is growing increasingly frustrated. they say after more than three years, they are still waiting for a call from the president, linsey. >> his sister upset there's been no response to his hundreds of

letters. rachel, thank you. now, to a scathing report into the police response for the deadly shooting in uvalde, texas. investigators say authorities had several chances to stop the hmassacre before it started. an officer had the gunman in his sights before he went into the school and waited for permission to shoot. here's abc's john quinones. >> reporter: tonight, a chilling new report detailing how uvalde police missed chances to stop the suspect in the massacre at robb elementary school. >> more kids running out. they're breaking windows. >> reporter: according to the 24-page assessment commissioned by the texas department of public safety, a uvalde police officer on the scene where the suspect crashed his vehicle saw the armed suspect outside the school but paused. >> guy with a rifle. >> reporter: the report saying the officer, armed with a rifle, "asked his supervisor for permission to shoot the suspect. however, the supervisor either didn't hear or responded too

late." adding, "in this instance, the upd officer would have heard gunshots and/or reports of gunshots." and "a reasonable officer would conclude in this case, based on the totality of the circumstances, that use of deadly no, sir was warranted." when the officer looked back at the suspect, he was entering the building. the report saying another responding officer did not see the shooter in the parking lot because he was driving "at a high rate of speed." >> room 112. is anybody inside of the building? child is advising he is in the room full of victims. >> reporter: 24 seconds after entering the school, the suspect began firing into classrooms 11 and 12, killing 19 children and two teachers. linsey, the house legislative commit teal that's been investigating this shooting is expected to release its final report at the end of this month. linsey? >> john, thank you. british prime minister boris

johnson is defiantly refusing calls to resign. he's under intention pressure to step down after yet another scandal. this time, involving his handling of sexual misconduct allegations against a government official. he says he's going to remain on the job because of the, quote, hugely important issues facing the country, but today, senior cabinet members told him it's time to go. and when we come back, the new warning about the summer and flight disruptions at the nation's airports. is persists... put it in check with rinvoq, a once-daily pill. when uc got unpredictable,... i got rapid symptom relief with rinvoq. check. when uc held me back... i got lasting, steroid-free remission with rinvoq. check. and when uc got the upper hand... rinvoq helped visibly repair the colon lining. check. rapid symptom relief. lasting, steroid-free remission. and a chance to visibly repair the colon lining. check. check. and check. rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tb. serious infections and blood clots,

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to the index tonight. striking evidence of the worsening drought in the west. these images are of great salt lake in utah, which hit a new historic low. millions of birds are at risk and the region's economy is threatened. scientists also warn that as more of the lake bed becomes exposed, its high levels of arsenic could threaten the local population. the fda is trying to make the covid anti-viral medication paxlovid easier to access. the agency is revising its emergency use authorization to allow pharmacists to be able to describe the drug to eligible patients. when we come back, the little leaguer determined to make her dreams a reality. n get. and for those who do get it bad, it may be because they have a high-risk factor - such as heart disease, diabetes, being overweight, asthma, or smoking. even if symptoms feel mild, these factors can increase your risk of covid-19 turning severe.

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finally tonight, america strong. one 11-year-old may be a long way from the big leagues, but don't count her out. tonight, 11-year-old zoe wood from mullica hill, new jersey, is not letting anything stop her from following her dreams. she is the only girl on her little league team, the harrison heat. and she's so good at pitching, hitting, and catching, it's easy to miss something else about zoe. she's missing the fingers on her left hand. >> sometimes they're just like, "can i ask you what happened to your hand?" or they just don't say anything, they just recognize it. >> reporter: and what does she say? >> i was born with it. >> reporter: her father, jeff. >> the way she's been raised, we never really pointed it out, to be honest with you. you know, we just treated her like everybodies. we never let it get in her way at all. >> reporter: earlier this month, zoe hit her first ever

over-the-fence home run in a game. and then, a few innings later, a second one. her coach, mike aherns. >> she's an inspiration for everyone that's out there, and talent is talent. >> reporter: zoe telling us she wants to eventually play in the majors, and coach. and right here tonight, zoe, and her message to everyone following their passion. >> if someone asks you why you're doing it, you with just say, because you wanted to try something new. and i'm pretty sure they'll just accept whatever answer you give them. >> she persists. and we are rooting for you all the way, zoe. thank you so much for watching. i'm lynninsey davis in new york. for david and all of us here, good night.

>> building a better bay area, moving forward, finding solutions, this is abc 7 news. >> are you ok? they just shot through our -- window. >> a terrifying drive for a bay area couple, i'm the cause fire during a gun battle on the east bay freeway. thank you for joining us. >> the shooting happened last month on 580 as the couple just enter the freeway off grand avenue. >> they were not injured but as you can imagine, that was a terrifying experience. leslie brinkley spoke with the couple today. >> five :00 p.m. june 14. >> are you ok? they just shot through our -- window. >> i am fine. >> we need to call the police. >> leaving for work in san

leandro what interstate 80, they found themselves in the middle of a shootout as a vehicle cut the mouth as another tailed them. >> maybe within 15 seconds of being on the freeway, the first vehicle shot backwards at the second vehicle which we happened to be kind of lined up with along the freeway. >> heard a few rounds at that point and when it hurt -- when it hit the front windshield, i thought it was a walk -- i thought it was a rock. i was literally feeling my body making sure nothing else was hurt. we had minor scratches. >> police told them that freeway shootings were not uncommon. more than 80 freeway shootings in the bay area in the last four years. >> the part of the scenario was the fact the bullet went right past her face. >> they processed what happen for two weeks then posted on instagram which blew up

overnight. . they recovered their insurance deductible through a gofundme