Happening Today: Correction Officer Shot, Oakland Fire, Trump Picks Carson, Pipeline Protests

Get the top headlines of the day in your morning briefing from NBC 4 New York, Monday through Friday. Sign up for our newsletter here.

Correction Officer Fatally Shot

An off-duty New York City correction officer was shot to death in her car Sunday night in Brooklyn, police said. Alastasia Bryan, 25, was behind the wheel of her car at Avenue L and 73rd Street in the Flatlands around 9:15 p.m. when someone came up and fired into the vehicle. Bryan suffered gun shot wounds to her head and torso. She died at the scene, police said. Police hadn’t made any arrests by Monday morning, but they said investigators had recovered surveillance video showing a man getting out of a vehicle and walking up to Bryan’s car and opening fire. He then fled the scene, according to police.

NJ Filmmaker Missing After Fire

A filmmaker from Orange, New Jersey, is among the missing after a deadly fire tore through a warehouse in Oakland, California, during a music festival there on Friday night. Friends and family of filmmaker Alex Ghassan were holding out hope but fearing for the worst on Sunday, two days after the blaze killed at least 33 people in what has since been deemed one of the country’s deadliest structure fires. Ghassan posted Instagram video that appears to be from inside the warehouse dance party just an hour before the deadly fire broke out. Seven victims of the fire have been identified. In a tragic twist, the city of Oakland said that it started investigating whether people were illegally living in the warehouse less than three weeks ago. Here’s how you can help the victims.

Trump Picks Ben Carson

President-elect Donald Trump picked retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson to be Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Trump said in a statement Monday that his former campaign rival "has a brilliant mind and is passionate about strengthening communities and families within those communities.” Carson had previously said he was not interested in serving in Trump's administration. Meanwhile, a federal judge ruled in a late-night order that Michigan must begin its presidential recount at noon Monday. The order could make it more likely that the state will complete the count ahead of a Dec. 13 deadline. In his ruling Sunday night, Judge Mark Goldsmith rejected an effort by state officials to delay the hand-counting of about 4.8 million ballots.

Pipeline Protest Victory

Protesters celebrated a major victory in their push to reroute the Dakota Access oil pipeline away from a tribal water source but pledged to remain camped on federal land in North Dakota anyway, despite Monday's government deadline to leave. Hundreds of people at the Oceti Sakowin, or Seven Council Fires, encampment cheered and chanted "mni wichoni" — "water is life" in Lakota Sioux — after the Army Corps of Engineers refused Sunday to grant the company permission to extend the pipeline beneath a Missouri River reservoir. The company constructing the pipeline, Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners, released a statement Sunday night slamming the Army Corps' decision. The protesters’ victory could be short-lived with President-elect Donald Trump, a pipeline supporter, taking office in January.

Violent Robbery in Central Park

A man was attacked and robbed by four men in Central Park on Sunday night, police said. The man was robbed near Tavern on the Green just after 8 p.m. He was hit in the head and robbed of $55, according to police. While Central Park is statistically safer than ever, the attempted rape of a jogger there in October led to an increase in police patrols. NYPD statistics show that violent crime is up in the city’s parks.