One person was killed and five others were injured after a large tree fell on top of a wedding party at a Southern California park on Saturday afternoon, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department. 

Multiple people were trapped after a tree toppled over around 4:30 p.m. in Whittier's Penn Park, fire officials said. 

"I heard the crackling and I'm looking up and it was just an odd sound," witness Mary Escarga told NBC4. 

A wedding party was taking pictures after the ceremony when a 100-foot tall eucalyptus tree fell, trapping up to 20 people, the fire department said. Chainsaws were used to remove those who were trapped underneath the tree's branches. 

One person was killed and five people, including a young girl, were injured. The five people who were injured suffered minor and moderate injuries and were taken to a hospital for treatment. They are expected to recover. 

• Those Finally Fleeing Aleppo Tell of Their Pain in Leaving

2 trees fell during a wedding at Penn Park, multiple people injured... pic.twitter.com/zuVf9h60TN

— pat (@ChiefPat_) December 18, 2016

"The scene was very chaotic," said Sgt. Jason Zuhlke of the Whittier Police Department.

Rene Zaldivar, who was at the park for a quinceañera, said he saw the bride during the chaos.

"She was limping a little bit, but she was screaming about her mom – they couldn’t wake her up."

A search dog was brought in to search for additional victims who could still be trapped. 

"Fortunately, there weren't more people injured by the tree collapse," John Tripp, a Los Angeles County Fire Department deputy chief, said at a news conference. "It could have been a lot worse." 

The wedding party was taken to a nearby senior center where mental health counselors were made available to them.

Officials could not confirm that the heavy rains reported Friday evening played a factor in the tree collapse. 

Arborists are expected to investigate why the tree fell.

The identity of the person who was killed has not yet been released.

More than half of Americans say they are significantly bothered by the news that hackers working in connection with a foreign government were involved in trying to influence November's presidential election, according to results from a new national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

Forty-three percent of respondents say they are bothered a "great deal" about Russian interference, while an additional 12 percent were bothered "quite a bit."

By contrast, 23 percent of Americans say they aren't bothered at all by the news, while 8 percent said "very little" and another 10 percent said "just some," NBC News reported.

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sunday that the Obama administration, congressional leaders and Donald Trump have all demonstrated a lack of urgency surrounding the recent election-related Russian hacking revelations, NBC News reported.

"I think that given the unprecedented nature of it and the magnitude of the effort, I think people seem to have been somewhat laid-back about it," Gates told NBC's Chuck Todd on "Meet the Press."

"And maybe part of the problem was that it took the intelligence community a while to assemble really firm evidence of Russian involvement and Russian government involvement that delayed a response," Gates, who also headed the CIA, added. "Attribution is a challenge, but it seems pretty clear to me that they've developed really reliable information that the Russian government was involved."

The self-declared white supremacist who was convicted Thursday of gunning down nine parishioners at a South Carolina church last year will not present mental health testimony during the penalty phase of his federal trial, NBC News reported.

In a hand-written note filed Friday night, Dylann Roof, 22, told U.S. District Court Judge Richard M. Gergel that he "will not be calling mental health experts or presenting mental health evidence" when the proceedings continue next month.

The admission came after Gergel ordered — then canceled — a hearing on the subject when Roof failed to meet a filing deadline. 

The Associated Press reported that the move was expected.

Authorities say an Uber driver fatally shot a man who was allegedly attempting to rob him early Sunday morning.

Aventura Police say an Uber driver in a black Toyota Corolla picked up a passenger from a condo along the William Lehman Causeway at around 5:30 a.m. on Sunday.

As the Corolla headed west on the causeway, a silver Dodge Caravan occupied by two people cut off the Uber driver. The driver of the Caravan jumped out with two guns drawn and attempted to rob the Uber driver.

Aventura police spokesman Chris Goranitis said the Uber driver pulled his own handgun and fired shots that killed the robber.

"The Uber driver was able to fire off some rounds at the suspect who was pronounced deceased on scene," Goranitis said.

The passenger of the caravan got in the driver’s seat and fled.

Goranitis said the Uber driver had a concealed weapons permit. Neither the driver nor his passenger was injured.

Police recovered the suspected getaway car hours after the homicide and have also interviewed a person of interest.

Uber said in a statement that they are aware of the reported incident. According to company's firearms policy, riders and drivers are prohibited from carrying firearms of any kind while in a vehicle and using the app. Violators may lose access to Uber.

Aventura residents who live near the causeway are reacting to the news of the scary encounter.

"You have to be very careful no matter where you are, in any neighborhood. This is a great neighborhood, very safe," said resident Margot Stashower. "The Aventura Police Department is right up the block."

Police have not released any further details on the incident. Check back with NBC 6 for updates.

One former Hillary Clinton staffer, concerned with the possible conflicts of interests that could arise because of Donald Trump’s businesses, decided to catalog these potentially problematic relationships online with his own website. And while the site itself is presented as straightforward and serious, its URL is a bit more cheeky: Corrupt.af.

Matt Ortega, the former digital director for communications for the Clinton campaign, maintains the website himself. He told NBC News he sees the project as necessary to keep track of the president-elect's many business interests.

The .af suffix in the domain name is actually pulled from Afghanistan’s country code, but the site isn’t affiliated with the war-torn nation. Instead, Ortega is using the .af in its modern form, as an initialism for “as f---,” meaning “very.”

Authorities in Maryland say everyone is accounted for after 16 sailboats overturned during part of a sailing event in the Severn River off Annapolis.

The Maryland Natural Resources Police say 22 people ranging in age from 16 to 70 were pulled from the water and that everyone was unharmed and accounted for.

Officials said the incident happened around 2:30 p.m. Sunday when the boats encountered strong gusts of wind and the water turned rough.

Officials said the boats that overturned were part of a Severn Sailing Association event and that many of those who were thrown overboard were wearing wetsuits.

The Muslim teen who alleged to have been the victim of a hate crime last week in New York was charged with falsifying her report Wednesday — and the reaction from many Muslim Americans has gone from anger at the time of the purported incident to dismay following her arrest, NBC News reported. 

Muslims nationally have been openly worrying about how 18-year-old Yasmin Seweid's arrest might affect them and the struggle against real bigotry and Islamophobia. 

"Whenever an individual, especially a minority, cries wolf, it always ends up hurting that community," said Wajahat Ali, creative director of Affinis Labs, a center for social entrepreneurship and innovation.

Seweid has been charged with lying about being harassed by group of men she claimed were Trump supporters on the New York City subway.

A 7-year-old Syrian girl whose Twitter updates chronicled the horrors of life in Aleppo for months was safely evacuated from the besieged city Monday, according to an aid organization, NBC News reported. 

According to Ahmad Tarakji, president of the Syrian American Medical Society, Bana al-Abed was among "many children" safely evacuated into the surrounding countryside Monday.

The evacuation comes two days after she and her mother, Fatemah Bana al-Abed, appealed to first lady Michelle Obama for help. 

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad said their Twitter account, which has 320,000 followers, is propaganda promoted by "terrorists" and their supporters.

Twin brothers tried to swipe 180 bars of soap from a New Jersey supermarket but weren't able to make a clean getaway last week, according to police in South Jersey.

Absecon police posted to Facebook saying Kenny and Lenny Stewart dumped 30 six-packs of Dove soap into a large bag and bolted for an exit with employees of the ShopRite along White Horse Pike in pursuit Friday.

The twins were knocked down when they ran into a trash can.

Police pick up the story on Facebook:

The key to dodging that trash can would have been a little communication between the two. With Kenny on one handle of the bag and Lenny on the other, it became imperative they pick the same side of the trash can to navigate around. They didn't.

No worse-for-wear and not the least bit discouraged, the twins sprung to their feet and began putting some distance between them and their pursuers.

Until the shopping cart appeared. The cart, not wanting to be outdone by the can, re-introduced both Kenny and Lenny to the hard-packed pavement. Alleged stealing can be hard like pavement.

Slightly worse-for-wear and perhaps fighting off those feelings of discouragement, Kenny and Lenny pressed onward...

[[407433585, C]]

And as they turned a corner, the twins came face to face with a police officer who was investigating an accident in the parking lot.

"Rounding the building, with freedom in sight and the aromatic lilac musk of dove soap permeating the December chill, the twins came face to face with Ptl. Cavileer," police wrote. "Ptl. Cavileer was investigating a minor motor vehicle accident on the side of the building. How serendipitous."

The Atlantic City residents were charged with shoplifting. It was not known if they retained lawyers. [[287977901, C]]

The makers of "Patriots Day" are taking heat for failing to mention late Boston police officer Dennis "D.J." Simmonds in the film about the Boston Marathon bombing and its aftermath.

Simmonds didn't die in the marathon bombing, but his death a year later of a brain aneurysm has officially been attributed to a head injury he suffered when brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev detonated an explosive device during the shootout in Watertown days after the April 2013 blast. He was 28. His name is engraved on the memorial to fallen law enforcement officers at the Massachusetts State House and his family received line-of-duty benefits from the state.

"No one reached out to us at all. No one from the production team," Simmonds' mother, Roxanne Simmonds, told the Boston Herald on Sunday. "I view that as insulting, that they wouldn't even reach out and ask us about his story."

The family declined further comment Monday.

One state lawmaker is calling on director Peter Berg to include recognition of Simmonds in the movie, set for a limited release in Boston Wednesday and in theaters nationwide January 13.

"Officer Simmonds' brave and selfless service that dangerous night in Watertown is representative of the great young women and men who answered the call to capture two wanted terrorists," said State Rep. Timothy Whelan of Brewster, himself a former state police sergeant. "The injuries DJ sustained that evening directly led to his tragic loss one year later and I grieve with his family for their loss."

Whelan said Berg has an opportunity "to right a wrong" by recognizing Simmonds.

Boston Police Superintendent-in-Chief William Gross took the criticism of the movie a step further, saying it failed to include "anyone of color," and the filmmakers didn't speak to any of the black commanders or officers involved in the investigation.

"They forgot Dennis and anyone of color," Gross said in a Facebook post on Sunday. "I guess (Boston police superintendents) Randall Halstead and Lisa holmes never existed. No black Commanders were ever talked to even though they commanded and worked with Officers of all nationalities that actually did the work that night. 60 Officers and 10 great Lieutenants and Sergeants were never talked to. To leave Dennis Simmonds out and have Walberg's [sic] character be based in part on a certain individual that Martin Luther King Jr would NOT be proud of, is a disgrace!!!!"

Larry Ellison with the Massachusetts Association of Minority Law Enforcement Officers said he's disappointed in the film.

"I'm not angry because I don't think DJ would want us to be angry about this," said Ellison. "I think he would want us to sit back and figure out how we can move forward."

A spokeswoman for the film told necn that the number of stories that could be told in the movie were limited by the 2-hour run time, but that the film is dedicated to "everyone involved."

Both Whalen and Ellison agree that there is a way to fix the issue.

"Right a wrong and give recognition of Officer Simmond's sacrifice, which will ultimately give his grieving family some closure," Whalen said.

"There's always room to go back and correct it," Ellison said.

"Patriots Day" received mostly positive reviews when it premiered in Boston last week, including from some bombing survivors and law enforcement officials who attended.

"I thought they nailed it," former Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis said. "The emotion of that week and they squeezed an enormous amount of detail into the process so I was very happy with it."

President-elect Donald Trump promised to repeal Obamacare, defeat ISIS, withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement, create 25 million jobs over the next decade and "drain the swamp" in Washington, D.C. How well do his Cabinet nominees reflect his governing philosophy? Here they are in their own words. 

The retired neurosurgeon and unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination grew up in Detroit and has no experience in elected office or in running a large bureaucracy.

"These government-engineered attempts to legislate racial equality create consequences that often make matters worse. There are reasonable ways to use housing policy to enhance the opportunities available to lower-income citizens, but based on the history of failed socialist experiments in this country, entrusting the government to get it right can prove downright dangerous." — The Washington Times, 2015

Former secretary of labor under President George W. Bush, deputy transportation secretary under President George H.W. Bush, Chao is married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

"If vehicles already meet an acceptable level of safety on a particular aspect of vehicle performance without being required to do so by regulation, I believe the Department should devote its resources to other issues rather than engage in rulemaking simply to affirm the existing level of safety." — Statement before DOT deputy secretary confirmation hearing, 1989

A keen advocate for school vouchers and charter schools, influential in Detroit, where charter schools have a poor record and state legislators rejected calls for more oversight, she engages in political battles to help advance God's kingdom, she told a religious gathering in 2001.

"We are stuck in a partisan rut. The political parties are dead-enders when it comes to education revolution. As long as we think political parties might solve the problem it will never be solved. Oddly enough education choice is very unique in that some conservative Republicans and some liberal Democrats are actually on the same wavelength….But those are exceptions. The vast majority of the political class is committed to defending and protecting the status quo." — SXSW in Austin, 2015

The governor of South Carolina and the daughter of immigrants from India, Haley led the drive to remove the Confederate flag from the statehouse and during the Republican primary accused Donald Trump of "irresponsible talk."

"During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices. We must resist that temptation." -- Speaking of Donald Trump and others in the Republican response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech, 2016

A retired four-star Marine general, he oversaw the Guantanamo Bay military prison and efforts to stop drug trafficking and other smuggling into the United States.

"In my opinion, the relative ease with which human smugglers move tens of thousands of people to our nation’s doorstep also serves as another warning sign: These smuggling routes are a potential vulnerability to our homeland. As I stated last year, terrorist organizations could seek to leverage those same smuggling routes to move operatives with intent to cause grave harm to our citizens or even bring weapons of mass destruction into the United States." — Testimony to the Senate Armed Forces Committee, 2015

Nicknamed "Mad Dog," the retired Marine Corps general and former commander of U.S. Central Command blames President Barack Obama's policy in the Middle East for adding to the rise of extremism.

"Is political Islam in the best interest of the United States? I suggest the answer is no but then we need to have the discussion. If we won't even ask the question, then how to we ever get to the point of recognizing which is our side in the fight. And if we don't take our own side in this fight we're leaving others adrift."— The Heritage Foundation, 2015

Donald Trump's campaign finance chairman, a former partner at Goldman Sachs, and Hollywood financier, he and partners took over failed mortgage lender IndyMac Bank and operated it under the name, OneWest Bank. He pledged to tackle mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

"It makes no sense that these are owned by the government and have been controlled by the government for as long as they have. In many cases this displaces private lending in the mortgage markets, and we need these entities that will be safe. So let me just be clear— we'll make sure that when they're restructured, they're absolutely safe and they don't get taken over again. But we've got to get them out of government control." — Fox Business, November

Perry, the former governor of Texas, has promoted the state's oil industry and has questioned climate change. He has advocated eliminating the department he would head though famously could not name it during a presidential debate in 2012.

"I do believe that the issue of global warming has been politicized. I think there are a substantial number or scientists who have manipulated data so that they will have dollars rolling into their projects. I think we're seeing, almost weekly or daily, scientists are coming forward and questioning the original idea that manmade global warming is what is causing the climate to change. Yes, our climate has changed. They've been changing ever since the earth was formed." -- Town Hall in Bedford, N.H., 2011

Republican congressman from Georgia, an orthopedic surgeon and persistent critic of Obamacare, he has repeatedly introduced his own legislation for replacing it.

"It's a fundamental philosophical difference that we have with the other side …. They believe that government ought to be in control of health care. We believe that patients and families ought to be in control of health care. And sadly what we're seeing right now is that government control that we've seen ramped up over the past six or seven years has resulted in a decrease in quality that's being seen by patients. People have coverage, but they don't have care. They're priced out of the market." — American Enterprise Institute, June

Attorney general of Oklahoma, one of the Republicans leading the legal fight against President Barack Obama's attempts to curb carbon emissions, Pruitt questions how much human actions are contributing to climate change, a point disputed by the vast majority of the world's climate scientists.

"Healthy debate is the lifeblood of American democracy, and global warming has inspired one of the major policy debates of our time. That debate is far from settled. Scientists continue to disagree about the degree and extent of global warming and its connection to the actions of mankind. That debate should be encouraged — in classrooms, public forums, and the halls of Congress. It should not be silenced with threats of prosecution. Dissent is not a crime." — with Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange, Tulsa World, May

The CEO of CKE Restaurants, the fast-food company that owns burger chains Carl's Jr and Hardee's, Puzder is an opponent of the Affordable Care Act, which he said created a "government-mandated restaurant recession" and of raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, which he argues would lead to fewer jobs.

"I like our ads. I like beautiful women eating burgers in bikinis. I think it's very American. I used to hear, brands take on the personality of the CEO. And I rarely thought that was true, but I think this one, in this case, it kind of did take on my personality." — Entrepreneur, 2015

Turnaround specialist who became rich buying struggling steel, textile, coal and other companies and restructuring them, Ross came under criticism for a deadly explosion at a mine his company had bought.

"Clinton will raise taxes. Trump will cut taxes. Clinton will increase regulation. Trump will decrease regulation. Clinton has vowed to kill the coal industry. Trump will leverage America's energy resources to create new jobs and growth." — with Trump adviser Peter Navarro, CNBC, August

U.S. senator and former U.S. attorney from Alabama who failed to win confirmation to a federal judgeship because of concerns about racially charged comments he was accused of making, he has opposed immigration reform and the legalization of marijuana.

"You have to have leadership from Washington. You can't have the president of the United States of America talking about marijuana like it is no different than taking a drink, saying I used marijuana when I was in high school and it is no different than smoking. It is different. And you are sending a message to young people that there is no danger in this process. It is false that marijuana use doesn't lead people to more drug use. It is already causing a disturbance in the states that have made it legal. I think we need to be careful about this." — Senate floor speech, April 2016

Tillerson, the CEO of ExxonMobil, has what he has called "a very close relationship" with Russia's Vladimir Putin, which could be problematic during his confirmation hearing. Although he does not have a political or diplomatic background, he has broad experience negotiating deals for ExxonMobil in troubled spots around the world.

"We do not support sanctions, generally, because we don't find them to be effective unless they are very well implemented comprehensively and that's a very hard thing to do," he said, adding, "We always encourage the people who are making those decisions to consider the very broad collateral damage of who are they really harming with sanctions." — ExxonMobil shareholders' meeting, 2014.

Montana's sole representative in the House, Zinke would end a moratorium on federal coal leases on public lands. He is also a hunter and fisherman who opposes transferring public lands to the states.

"It's not a hoax, but it's not proven science either. But you don't dismantle America's power and energy on a maybe. We need to be energy independent first. We need to do it better, which we can, but it is not a settled science." — Campaign debate, 2014

Patients treated by women doctors are less likely to die of what ails them and less likely to have to return for more treatment, researchers reported Monday.

Yet, as NBC News reports, women doctors on average are paid less than their male counterparts and are less likely to be promoted. According to one study, white male doctors were found to earn an average $250,000 a year, while white female doctors earned an average $163,000 a year.

The researchers said that if all doctors performed as well as the female physicians included in their study, it would save 32,000 lives every year.