great moments are born from great opportunity. that's what you have here, tonight. that's what you've earned here tonight. this is your time.

>> announcer: wbtv on your side. wbtv news starts right now. >> right now, a student is in custody after a fire was intentionally set at a charlotte school. >> my whole class saw the smoke. >> we are talking with concerned parents after the fire forced to accepted the students home. >> and a mother and daughter run on to a school bus to escape from a man with a gun. the woman's description of how they managed to get away. i'm jamie boll in for paul cameron.

hickory mother is sharing her frightening story how she and her teenage daughter escaped an aempty ited carjacker armed with a gun. she was on her way to drop her 14-year-old daughter off at the school bus stop when a man armed with a gun approached her car and tried to get inside. police arrested 22-year-old wesley wright. what did chang have to say about her experience? >> maureen, chang was shaken up. she never thought anything like this would ever happen to her and she is lucky to still be alive. >> get out. get out. i have a gun. >> that is what happened to her friday morning when a man with a gun tried to get into her car. >> he kept walking by the car and looking in my side mirror he had a gun. and he ran up. >> the 14-year-old daughter was in the car with her going to her

>> both were emotional late into the afternoon. >> there is a guy trying to kill usment. >> the suspect has been identified as 22-year-old wesley wright a man chang has never seen before. walker has lived in the neighborhood for 35 years and this is the first time an incident like this happened there. >> it is not a welcome mat for him. that is unusual in this community because it's quiet and nothing has ever happened like that here. >> while being chased by wright chang flagged down the school bus and the operator called 9-1-1. >> my daughter's bus came and i honked on the school bus and i parked and told my daughter to get out in the bus and we got out and went in the bus. >> deputies were nearby participating in a training exercise. wright was arrested and is charged with felony attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon.

was watching over me and my daughter. >> now detectives say the gun was an air soft gun but scary situation for chang and her daughter. christian dplor respect, wbtv on your side. >> fortunate the bus driver was there at that time. thank you. wright's first court appearance is monday. >> breaking news word of a school bus crash in caldwell county. over to alex giles in the alert center with more details. >> we got video of that accident from our reporter steve ohnesorge up in the area.a. this happened south of hickory. we can show you the video and the skid marks behind that truck it slammed into the school bus from gainwell middle school south of lenoir and that truck is smashed into the back of that bus. 25 kids were on the bus when the accident happened. no one involved had to be taken to the hospital. but troopers will be charging the driver of that truck for that accident. and the kids along with the

we will update you when we get more information. >> thank you. glad the kids are ok. police say say south carolina officer was shot and killed while serving a warrant on a self-admitted gang member. the suspect ran and opened fire on the officer hitting him several times. the officer died at the hospital. officers on the scene were visibly distraught and crying. the suspect shot and killed himself. the sun shining on this friday afternoon and the skies are clear but we are headed for a cooldown. >> we could have temperatures in the 30s and rain in charlotte and possible snow for the mountains. let's get the big story from our chief meterologist, eric thomas. >> good evening that is still on the plate. look at your doppler radar. you will see the rain really beginning to gather now across the gulf coast states and at the moment as the anchors pointed out we are in the clear.

question about it offer the weekend time-frame. out the door look how delightful. 74 and bone dry air and the humidity at 17 and calm winds. and we'll stop it here at 11:00 p.m. you know what? light clouds getting in here and the rain not a disruptive factor on your friday evening. enjoy your happy hour. 62 at 9:00 p.m. and 59 through 11:00 p.m. but the rain will not be denied. more on that for the weekend in the seven-day first-alert forecast. >> right now parents are asking questions after their children were forced to leave school when a fire was set inside a bathroom. walter g. buyers school was evacuated. a student set the fire and has been detained. dedrick russell spoke with concerned parents and students and joins us live with more. have police said what was used

>> right now, jamie, still not sure. but what we do know, two bathrooms are now in question. one bathroom damaged by fire and another bathroom just damaged. the fire department did take samples from both to determine what substance was used. the fire started at 9:00 a.m., causing fear and concern. >> i saw all the kids running down the ham. >> that is fifth grader describing the moments when part of her school caught fire. >> my whole class smelled like smoke. >> alarms went off and staff put out the fire and firefighters cleaned up the mess. >> am i going to get hurt? >> no one was injured. parents rushed to the school to pick up their kids. >> at first i was upset and scared because a fire. anything can happen. i was worried trying to figure out what was going on. >> the parents were forced to make immediate adjustmentsism i will have to be off for the rest

losing a little money but as long as my baby is ok i am all right. >> the damage happened inside a bathroom on the middle school side. the fire caused less than $4,000 worth of damage but enough to evacuate the school and bring classes to a halt. >> the school did smoke in in it so we advised them to let cms clean the school system. >> the evacuation process went smoothly. practice makes perfect. >> we practice this once a month. that is a state law. so we just went into that process and everybody knew what to do. clean up has begun and punishment for the fire starter has not been determined. >> you do not want any kid to be out of school but if you are doing this you deserve to be expelled. >> he needs to change his life around because he will be in

>> now, still, no word on the name of the suspect. students tell us that the suspect is an 8th grader here at the prek-8 school. this weekend cms will be here at the school cleaning the school making sure the building and classrooms are ready when students return monday morning. dedrick russell wbtv on your side. >> thank you. right now good news for the city of charlotte. the payment processing firm paypal will open a global operations center in the queen city 400 new jobs. the announcement was made this afternoon. paypal announced that charlotte was in the running for an east coast operations center. david whisenant was at today's announcement and will have much more on the impact this could have on our area tonight on wbtv news at 6:00. fridays often mean a slow go on the interstate. here is tonya rivens in the first alert traffic center.

i-77 northbound is slow-moving traffic happening at the moment. quite a bit of stop-and-go traffic. a couple accidents close to i-77 one at clanton road and archer drive and another on tryon by i-77. west tyvola is a great alternate route. and the slow-moving traffic again i-77 north. really impacted as we wrap up and check in on the dot camera. back towards westinghouse. slow-moving traffic and that is exit 1. about five to six miles for slow-moving traffic. back to you. >> thank you. a south carolina teacher says she wants her dignity back after a student spread nude photos of her on-line. >> and new, the action she is taking against the school district. >> i'm meteorologist eric thomas. a delightful friday evening on tap and take advantage of it because that is rain heading our

coming up in uh, hello geico?... yeah, i was just talking about your emergency roadside service and how it's available 24/7 and then our car overheated... what are the chances? can you send a tow truck please? uh, the location? you're not going to believe this but it's um... it's in a tree. i wish i was joking, mate, but it's literally stuck in a tree. (car horn honking) a chainsaw? no, no, all we really need is a tow truck. day or night,

>> one man's attempt to sell his phone through an internet site ended with a gun in his face and a teenager behind bars and out of it is a lesson for anyone looking to deal in e-commerce. david whisenant has the story from salisbury. >> a cellphone transaction turned into armed robbery. last month on a quiet street in salisbury. a man had advertised his phone on the website offer up. and he did get a reply. >> the suspect told the victim to meet him in front of this house on forestdale drive and the suspect was in the yard and when the victim drove up the suspect jumped in the car in the passenger's seat. the suspect looked at the phone for a few minutes and decided he was going to take it but he had to get out and get money to pay

he got out but he came right around to the driver's door, stuck a gun in the victim's face and said now that phone is mine. the suspect ran away and he lived just a block right behind the house where he met the victim. after working with the offer up site police were able to arrest 16-year-old teenager on wednesday and charged him with armed robberyism folks may get robbed. >> five years ago this was the worst possible case. an elderly couple from conover agreed to meet a stranger to sell their car. they setup the deal on-line. that man murdered the couple and is now serving life in prison. many police departments setup safe zones for e-commerce. kannapolis police did so last year and the spots have video surveillance. in salisbury the captain says find a public place.

with people walking around or in a restaurant there's people around and it's less likely something will happen. >> david whisenant wbtv on your side. >> new information in the case of a south carolina teacher which who he resigned after student spread nude photos of her. she wants her dignity back. arthur is suing the union county school district for breach of contract and slander. the lawsuit comes after arthur says she was forced to quit her job. arthur says a 16-year-old boy took her phone and used his phone to take pictures of nude images arthur had on her phone. she is seeking unspecified damages. >> it is 5:17. let's check in with tonya rivens and see if traffic has lightened up? >> it's not better we have a lot of problems, maureen. your first alert traffic is sponsored by people's bank.

heavy traffic south of the street. as we continue to check around the area, johnston road an accident. rea road and pineville matthews. and take a look at 485 as well. a lot of traffic still the and a lot of problems in this area as we continue to check around the area. problems on providence road and this is 485 and south tryon. the roads are packed at the moment. >> thank you. and eric was mentioning that we should enjoy the beautiful friday night because, well, the weekend is not going to be beautiful. >> that is right. not good for outdoor plans but maybe good for your lawn and garden. putting down the fertilizer and you need the rain to grow the flowers. >> i like that glass half full attitude. >> well, it's friday.

in the southeast. the leading edge ready to crossover into georgia and you can see next up that will be the carolinas and they are marching our direction. your hd towercam 74 . it is mild and dry and the humidity is not even 20%. calm winds there's nothing to disrupt you heading out this evening. things change. here it is. future-cast, the showers are rolling across georgia and next up south carolina. and 11:00 if you are out you will be fine in the wbtv viewing area. hour-by-hour forecast. 62 at 9:00 p.m. and 59 at 11:00 p.m. and things change. here it comes. we'll stop it there at 7:00 a.m. and all of a sudden heading out around day break you will be running into the showers and that includes the mountains as well. the piedmont may see more rain at the outset. 44 up there at 8:00 a.m. with

53 at 8:00 a.m. through the day, you will see they continue to move through the core of the viewing area. not impressive by noon. and then it looks like we will get into a lull late afternoon with the next round of rain wrapping into the mountains and it will become snow sunday. the showers are likely for the st. patrick's day parade. for the rest of you, noon, 4:00 p.m. temperatures in the 50s. and then most it moves out but wrap around snow late sunday. there it is up in the high country. the wetter day will be saturday. 58. and the mountain snow sunday. and then the temperatures start coming backup into the 70s next week. it looks like a beautiful week and dry as well. back to the studio. >> thank you. next, the man accused of killing his own baby goes to trial. but cannot deliver an opening statement.

>> and next, 50 cities across the u.s. at risk for a zika outbreak including charlotte. we have what health experts expect for our area. >> and all new at 6:00, the ordinance labeled by some as the bathroom bill goes into effect in two weeks. there are renewed calls for an emergency session in raleigh to repeal t we are hearing from

both sides tonight. >> new research estimates 50 u.s. cities may be at risk of zika virus outbreaks including the queen city.

for anyone to panic. take a look at this map. as you can see, the most at risk cities are in the southeast. miami and orlando face the highest risks and charlotte faces a moderate risk experts say if the u.s. does see outbreaks they will not be on the scale of what brazil is seeing. zika can cause a birth defect that causes abnormally small heads in babies. >> not even the ocean is safe from pollen. it's causing a site in north mirabel beach. the yellow waves were spotted. the warm weather has brought the menace to the carolinas this week. not pretty. >> we have heard a lot of sneezing in the newsroom. next, a store clerk saves a child while his mom suffers a medical emergency. >> and a warning after thousands

room. wendy hates dirty lawn furniture. that's why she uses scotts outdoor cleaner plus oxi-clean. it cleans all of wendy's lawn furniture without damaging any of wendy's lawn.

>> announcer: wbtv on your side. wbtv news starts right now. >> now, at 5:00 this system happening over the middle of the country will bring us colder temperatures and some rain. find out when. >> first, we are learning more about the graphic brute at that time death of this young charlotte baby. welcome i'm molly grantham. >> i'm jamie boll. glad you are with us. in this charlotte hotel back in 2012, the baby was found dead and rushed to the hospital and had broken ribs and trauma to the head and bleeding on the brain. her father, todd bodrick was arrested.

statements where bodrick is representing himself. today, the attention shifted to the child who diedment we learned more about what she went through before she passed away. pamela escobar was in court today. difficict day. and a lot of what was said in court hard to hear. >> yeah, it was hard to hear. and i want to warn our viewers what they are about to hear prosecutors describe to the judge what happened is graphic. they are saying that this baby had their head stomped on and shaken violently and suffered from battered child syndrome. after years of delays, todd bodrick's trial began the prosecutors laid out the evidence. he said bodrick beat and killed the 6-month-old. >> it is consistent with jumping on the ground. her head being stomped.