a passenger plane on approach to new york flies right through a storm and is rocked and hit by lightning. we have exclusive pictures of the damage as passengers describe the close call. >> it was bad. i thought we got hit by a missile. >> eyewitness news reporter n.j. burkett is at kennedy airport where the plane finally landed. >> 55 passengers, four crew members, all with the same reaction. omg. yes, their jet was on final approach to laguardia, when it was struck by lightning and forced to make an emergency landing here. >> i never had this kind of experience. it's the first time for me. >> reporter: passengers were still shaking long after flight 4233 was safely on the ground at jfk. with the storm clouds still menacing in the distance. >> pretty terrifying, not going to lie. >> reporter: the call sign

from raleigh, durham to laguardia. taking them in to a storm. >> reporter: but moments later -- >> out of nowhere. >> reporter: passengers saw something they may never forget. >> wow, never experienced this before. >> it was a flash of light and big explosion, the plane dipped about 100 feet, i don't know. it just felt like i was on a roller coaster. >> 3233 just got hit by lightning. >> there was visible damage to the jet in at least two places. as for the passengers, you know how they feel.

>> my last meal is going to be the bag of peanuts and the cup of water i got on the flight? it was pretty intense but i'm glad we made it safe. >> it was an american airlines jet operated by republic airlines according to the faa. port authority police were out there on the runway but the jet landed without incident. the average commercial jet is struck by lightning at least once a year and the last one to crash from lightning in this country was back in 1963. live tonight at kennedy airport, n.j. burkett, eyewitness news. >> we first got unconfirmed reports of lightning strike on eyewitness news at 6:00. we told lee. he said right away i saw that lightning on radar. and through the magic of technology you're going to see it too. >> unlike yesterday it wasn't widespread, but this is between 5:00 and 6:00. it was a fairly benign shower coming through manhattan. look how it flares up over

and our lightning detection had it. it was noted right on the east side here, right near one-tenth and about 2nd avenue. that's just after 5len 11. the only lightning strike right there. then when you look at the flight path of the flight, it looped through that area, made its way through jfk, another loop and made the safe emergency landing. right now, partly cloudy skies. the empire state building in st. patrick's day colors. 53 right now. still very mild. there are a few showers in the midhudson valley. even in the catskills, a wet snowflake. gives you an idea of the cold air that's going to start to pour in. low pressure is already in the gulf of mexico and a low will develop along the coastline by the time we get in to saturday night and sunday. here's what you need to know. it starts to turn cooler tomorrow. you're going to notice sharply colder air tomorrow night. wet snow mixed with a few raindrops. that's going to develop sunday morning.

and i think mainly wet roads during the day. but then several inches likely sunday night in to early monday morning. in terms of our thinking right now, i still like a strong chance for a 3 to 6-inch storm. 75% chance of 3 to 6 inches plus. i do have enough information for a snowfall banded map. we'll have that in the main accuweather forecast with much more on the timing in your 7-day accuweather forecast. it's happened again in queens. another loaded gun brought to school. now a 15-year-old student is under arrest. a loaded .38-caliber revolver found today in a student's backpack in the york early college academy. yesterday's gun find was also in jamaica, a loaded .9 millimeter handgun found on an 11-year-old student at ps40. a 60-year-old foster parent on long island will be in court tomorrow to face very serious charges.

arraigned for sexually abusing his foster children. he's currently in the suffolk county jail. we hear from the man police say is a killer. she said he stabbed a man for $1. julio velazquez, turn yourself in and soon. eyewitness news reporter jim dolan in harlem. >> a dollar. that's how this started. police are looking for julio velasquez tonight. they say he chased a man down at the subway station and stabbed that man in the back. they call it murder. his family though says he was just trying to protect his daughter. >> reporter: people stopped to look at the wanted posters for julio velasquez that hang near his home. police say he stabbed and killed a man in the 116th street subway station last night but his daughter told eyewitness news tonight he was only defending her.

like dad, someone just robbed me. can you please come? >> reporter: she said the victim in this case, 53-year-old herbert burgess, who served 18 years in prison for murdering his own roommate, stole a dollar from her and punched her in the face twice last night. she called the police and her father as burgess stood there taunting her. >> the guy is like over a dollar, over a dollar? >> reporter: but there was more. she said burgess threatened to stab her. her grandmother picks up the story there. >> he said i'm going to have to kill this [ bleep ]. i'm gonna cut you. >> reporter: velazquez' daughter said there were no police and no passengers would help her either, even after burgess punched her in the face. >> call me cruel, call me cold. i have no sympathy. >> reporter: velazquez does have a history of drug offenses but his family says in this case he was protecting his daughter.

was going to be another victim in the train. you know they've been cutting up girls, slicing them in the face and in the hand. stabbing them. and i think that was the uppermost thought in my son's head, he's going to hurt my baby. >> remember, the daughter was punched in the face twice, but police point out that her life was never in danger, neither was velazquez' life ever in danger, and they point out that the victim was stabbed in the back. jim dolan, channel 7 eyewitness news. a new campaign to attack zika virus in new york. this as the number of zika cases tonight rising to 50 statewide. governor cuomo announcing a six-step plan starting with an all-out effort to trap and test mosquitos when the season begins in a few weeks. the effort will also include massive amounts of larvacide to prevent breeding.

tonight a federal case. agents now investigating claims by the cyber group called anonymous that it hacked and made public trump's personal information, included among the stolen data, trump's cell phone information and social security number. more republicans are denouncing mr. trump for predicting riots will break out if he loses the gop nomination during the brokered convention if that happens. as for the democrats, bernie sanders tonight conceding the missouri democratic primary to hillary clinton. sanders says he will not seek a recount from tuesday night's primary even though mrs. clinton had a narrow lead of just 1500 votes. that means clinton swept all five of tuesday's primary contest, including the key battleground states of florida and ohio. new at 11:00, north carolina defined u.n. resolutions by firing a medium range ballistic missile in to the sea hours ago. this comes days after north carolina's leader ordered weapons tests linked to the

missile that could reach the u.s. mainland. no word on how the u.s. or south latest violation. new tonight, led testing at newark schools widen significantly. the school district announcing tonight it will test every school. but is that possible? eyewitness news reporter josh einiger in newark tonight. >> they're sure going to try. newark public schools go on spring break next week and not a day too soon. that's when the real work will begin to search faucet by faucet for lead. after all, as disturbing as the results are so far, they represent just a fraction of water sources at public schools here. >> reporter: this is what it's come to in newark. health workers drew the blood today of hundreds of preschoolers. and in the coming weeks, 17,000 students will have their blood tested for lead. the school district here still trying to figure out how bad this really is.

>> reporter: tonight at ivy hill elementary, parents peppered administrators with questions at one of the 30 schools where they found lead levels nearly seven times the acceptable limit. >> these questions aren't being answered. >> reporter: district administrators revealed they don't know how many faucets and water fountains they even own. so far they've taps per school at fewer than half their schools. >> find out how many faucets we have, how many sinks we have. we don't give a damn what's leaking. we want the water situation abated. >> reporter: it is a daunting mission. starting saturday the district will first catalog then test every single tap at every single school. 67 in all. but in a district with century old buildings and miles of lead pipe, parents say they don't understand why the problem hasn't been addressed till now. >> we're outraged. >> reporter: grandparent donna jackson says she understands the cost of removing lead pipes, but why haven't water filters been

>> this is the one thing we can prevent is lead poisoning and we're not going to do all we can to stop this? >> mayor ras baraka has said the city water is safe and tonight released a statement alleging the state-run school district has been covering up lead results, possibly since 2004. the school district tonight released a statement saying it's had this information only for 10 days. as for the results from the blood test that started today, it will still take a few days before they start coming back. josh einiger, channel 7 eyewitness news. lead contamination also making headlines in new york city. looking in to whether lead paint was used in housing projects and homeless shelters. also investigating whether city workers made false claims to obtain federal funding.

when and where they've tested high for blood lead levels. green not the only color of the rainbow. organizers for the first time allowing lgbt groups to march. it was the first year the organizers opened the parade. he marched down 5th avenue alongside the group lavender and green alliance. new details on a deadly college campus stabbing here in the u.s. new concerns it was inspired by isis. >> also a stunt at a pep rally goes wrong, leaving students shocked. >> and it's hard to watch.

new tonight, the fbi says a university student was inspired by isis when he stabbed and wounded four classmates last fall. 18-year-old fizzel muhammad may have become self-radicalized. muhammad was shot and killed by a campus cop. new at 11:00, a father who lost his son on the football field is stepping up his fight for better safety regulations. frank cutinella spoke at a meeting in saratoga springs. his son, tom, died in 2014 after suffering a hard helmet to helmet hit while playing for shorm wading river high school. >> it shouldn't happen, and it wasn't meant to happen.

school level i think can take some initiatives to make it less likely to happen. >> cutinella wants stiffer penalties for things like illegal hits to be adopted statewide. hoboken transitioning from existing on-street parking meters to a so-called pay by plate meter system. drivers will be able to pay at any place in the city without having to return to their car. two young sisters in new jersey experiencing a windfall of girl scout cookie orders after word spread about a rude encounter they had with a nasty neighbor. 12-year-old natalie scolar and her 9-year-old sister angelina were verbally assaulted by a woman while going door to door. the woman yelled and cursed at them claiming no one wanted their cookies.

>> just weird, scary, kind of thing. >> she cussed at us and was like don't ring my door bell because i don't want any of those girl scout cookies, except she said the f-word before that. >> oh, no. that's bad. a worker at the fanwood police department saw the facebook post about the girls and their rude encounter and began passing cookie order sheets around the department. that started a buying boom. the girls have now sold hundreds of boxes. >> thanks to the f-word, the fanwood police department. >> knew the other one was a bad word. >> good for them. we were talking about that flight that was just hit by that lightning. >> second day with lightning. tomorrow less of a chance, but it might be isolated. but yeah, that's all it takes. outside we go this evening, we now have clear skies. it's calm now.

patrick's day parade. now we're clear and the wind has backed off though you wake up to a pretty good breeze. 53, certainly mild for this time of night. we'll be above normal. you'll feel it because the air is drier and there's a gusty wind. sunrise at 7:02. 43, islip. 53 in the park right now. gusty wind all day long. gust over 30 middle of the day. it's a similar routine we've had in the last couple of days. clouds continued to build, passing showers in the afternoon. isolated thunder even more so than today and then it's tomorrow night, we'll start to clear out and get much colder. couple showers still over sullivan, ulster, parts of orange county as well. a brief shower overnight. a repeat tomorrow afternoon. and then this entire corridor here of showers collapses south and here comes the cold air. watch the way it plays out. chilly tomorrow morning.

in to the 50s. clouds mixing in during the day. stray shower during the afternoon. could even be a wet snowflake. gives you an idea of the cold air coming in. by morning on saturday, 20s and mid 30s. the fresh cold air is in place. we'll get to the mid 40s. already high clouds coming in by the end of the day. that's the leading edge of the storm. let's look at futurecast here. low on the gulf of mexico. jet stream diving in. storm strengthening. rain and snow expanding and snowflakes and raindrops around our doorstep around 8:00 in the morning. i think there can be wet snowflakes and raindrops in the air for the end of the new york city half marathon but i think it's light for the most part. streets could get wet during the day. it's really sunday night when the snow kicks in and we start accumulating. here's an early call on the snowfall map. 1 to 3 inches, southern monmouth and ocean counties. once we get to central new jersey, new york city, much of long island, coastal connecticut, i think the best

initially during the day, light accumulations. then we get north and west of i-287. up in elevation, 6 inches or more. that's the early call with the storm track right now. 46 at 7 a.m. mostly sunny. brisk and chilly. tomorrow up to 56. gusty breeze. 56. you'll need the coach. passing shower in the afternoon. down to freezing. that's the coldest it's been since march 6th. sharply colder and clearing skies. there's your nice saturday, calm before the storm. here comes wet snow and rain. it goes throughout the day but really starts accumulating and stacking up at night. it will be messy on monday morning. roads will be snow covered in spots especially after the north and west. then we'll dry out and melt this all down. still lots to look at with the storm track. bill evans will have any adjustments tomorrow morning. up next, a shoplifting case with the suspect, well, you

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a fire breathing stunt at a high school pep rally goes horrifyingly wrong, and we warn you this is difficult to watch. the performer accidentally setting himself on fire in front of thousands of students. this happened at a school in florida. he was rushed to the hospital,

people treated for breathing fire extinguisher dust. pyrotechnics are banned. trouble is brewing for a nun caught on camera stealing coffee. surveillance from inside a grocery store in pennsylvania shows a woman shoplifting coffee beans and other items. workers took down the thief's license plate and police tracked it to a car owned by a group of nuns. the 78-year-old nun is charged with shoplifting. no comment from the convent. laura behnke in for rob ellis. she's up next with sports. >> just one day, hopefully your brackets aren't busted just yet because the fun is only beginning. we'll get you up to speed on the tournament games. plus, the pros hitting the court. good news for the bulls, not necessarily for the nets. and to florida we go. the baseball preseason has

channel 7 is your home for the united airlines half marathon. we're taking you mile by mile introducing you to some of the faces you'll see on race day. >> hi, i recently won the 800 meter final at the roadrunner games. look for me at the united airlines new york city half marathon. times square kids run. see you race day. >> awesome. the united airlines nyc half

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have to wait every game, right? >> yes, wouldn't be the ncaa tournament without upsets. and it did not take long for

first day of the first round. a pair of 12 seeds won. yale taking down 5-seed baylor and little rock beating purdue. uconn against colorado in a 8-9 match-up. uconn trailed by 9 at the half. totally different story in the 2nd. daniel hamilton off the steal slamming it home. 17 points. rodney pervis led the way with 19. goes end to end for the lay-up and foul. uconn rolls. the huskies face top seed kansas next. also today mac winner iona trying to upset iowa state in denver. english had 28 points in what turned out to be his final college game. iona could never close that game. 94-81, the gaels' season ending in round 1. two other local teams in action. stony brook having a rough go of it against kentucky. they're getting doubled up in the 2nd half. gonzaga and seton hall playing a tight game. with the ncaa tournament taking

weekend, the nets forced out on the road. brooklyn visiting a festive chicago on this st. day. bogdanovic fresh off his performance. followed it up with a dunk and 26 points. bulls were a little bit better in the 4th. rose to portis. fancy move. 118-102 the nets fall. the mets kick off baseball's regular season two weeks from sunday night with a world series rematch in kansas city. now we know who will be on the mound. matt harvey was named the amazing's opening day starter. jacob degrom tossed three scoreless innings, struck out three and allowed one hit. d'arnaud 2-2 with 3 rbi. 6-5 is your final. masahiro tanaka on the mound in this one. one strikeout, allowed two runs on what was a bit of a shaky day.

the two-run jack in the 4th put the pinstripes on top. that's where they'd stay, 7-2 the yankees win. the rangers' california tour continues tonight in los angeles one night after they beat the ducks in tonight's challenge, the kings. late start on the west coast. jt miller, moving in for his 19th tally of the year. the kings would tie it less than 30 seconds later. right now it's 1-1 in the 1st. tonight the islanders in nashville. ryan johannson using his speed zips past the isles' defense. predators top the isles. the devils hosting the wild.

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r that's the news for now. i'm sade baderinwa. >> and i'm bill ritter. thanks for watching. jimmy kimmel is next.

have a great night. >> dicky: from hollywood, it's "jimmy kimmel live"! tonight -- henry cavill. from "empire," gabourey sidibe. snapchatting with dj khaled. and music from flogging molly. with cleto and the cletones. and now, good luck, here's jimmy