also guilty of armed robbery, and he was found not guilty by this jury of raping colleen ritzer in the woods behind danvers high school. those were the four indictments. those were the verdicts returned by this jury. the then 14-year-old, just backing up here, was found guilty of raping, strangling and stabbing his math teacher, colleen ritzer, back in october of 2013. colleen ritzer's mother peggy who testified earlier in the trial broke down after the jury returned those verdicts late this afternoon. the ritzer's speaking >> this guilty verdict or the beginning of justice for colleen is certainly no cause for celebration as there can never be true justice for the crime committed. there remains a tremendous and painful absence in our lives, one that sadly can never be replaced. >> one of colleen's favorite quotes was there is something good in every day, to

her and recognition in many lives colleen touched, we will carry on and do our very best to find the good in every day. reporter: from opening statements the defense in this trial had suggested and maintained that philip chism did it, that he committed the murder but it was their view with their expert witnesses throughout this trial that he was insane at the time of that crime. prosecutors said it just wasn't possible this was pre-meditated and in the end the jury didn't buy that insanity defense. as for the sentencing here, that will happen in a few weeks, but the possibility here is philip chism would be sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole some time between 15 and 25 years. that's up to the judge on the first-degree murder charge. he also is facing life behind bars on the two additional guilty charges as well. that's the latest live in salem tonight.

the mother of philip chism has been in court every day of the trial and she broke down after the reading of the verdict. reporter: her name is diana chism and she was a fixture in court. we saw her every day. she was flanked by supporters. we never saw her interact with her son. today as the verdict was read, you could tell the trial has taken a toll on her as well. go ahead and take a look at this video. diana chism really doubled over, her long dark hair covering her entire face. at one point during this case we thought we would hear from her, she would take the stand in her son's defense but she never did so we never publicly. when she left the court house today, she ran away from reporters. his grandfather took the stand in when i defense talking about a long family history of mental illness.

of course if you've been following the trial, prosecutors argued chism was not mentally ill and knew exactly what he was doing when he was killed his teacher. >> jonathan hall joins us with reaction. reporter: good evening. district attorney says he is congratulate tied by the jury's decision in this case even though it was a split verdict with the jury going for not guilty on one of the aggravated rape counts in the philip chism murder trial. the d.a. remembered colleen's spirit and he commented on the use of video cameras at the danvers high school. he said the video evidence was important in this case. >> i said to you that colleen ritzer was a beloved figure in the community, and nothing has changed. as you heard throughout

her dedication to goodness, her outlook in life has only been enhanced. we put together all of the evidence we can in the case and certainly it's not an under statement to say the video cameras were a tremendous help for us in terms of the timeline in making our case and used extremely effectively by the prosecution team. reporter: i asked for comment on the defense's use of insanity, defense in the commonwealth that almost never works, he said he wouldn't go there, didn't want to talk about the defense strategy. he says he knows the prosecution put on a very good case and won. he called it a good day for justice in the commonwealth. live in salem, jonathan hall, 7 news. >> thank you, jonathan. because which i see as many a juvenile it really changes how the case proceeds. >> 7 legal analyst tom hoopes joins us. tom? >> we're going to have the sentencing. it's different than he

if he was an adult the judge would have sentenced him today, or tomorrow and it would have been automatic. there would have been life without parole, some input from victim impact sentences. it's changed. discretion. that means the defense is going to present everything they can on behalf of their client so that it will be life and some rain believe of parole in there. prosecution is going to want to make that the highest number. the defense is going to lowest number. we'll get to watch not only the victims giving everything that anybody can think of on behalf of the defendant in this case. >> we spoke about this earlier, tom. but for our viewers just joining us, this law about giving them sort of a second chance, what kind of defendant do you think that that is meant to apply to? do you see philip chism get getting a chance for

sentenced to the 15 to 20 years. >> when the supreme court ruled on this over the last ten years and changed it, they were looking at different cases, some of them were murder cases, but there were more mitigating chances there. maybe somebody punched somebody and they died in the fall. maybe the person was along for the ride and somebody else committed the murder. this defendant not only committed the murder but this is an horrific sort of scene. this is a 14-year-old student killing a teacher in a school with rape on top of that. i just think it's going to be very difficult to see any kind of parole any time soon for this defendant. >> tom, all along the defense was trying to push the fact philip chism was insane at the time of the murder. why did that not work? >> he might have been insane at the time but the problem is there were prosecutors, witnesses who said he was sane, defense

the facts in this case were so bad, they were so horrific, as horrific as anything i can remember seeing. i think a jury felt a lot of pressure inside and outside to make sure a defendant like this doesn't see the light of day again, that he be found guilty. as much as they might have thought he had, to pick a phrase, he had a screw loose, they felt like they didn't want to take a chance with their life or anybody else's life ever again. >> the sentencing will happen, we'll hear the victim impact statement, the judge will decide how long philip chism should spend in prison, but what about the appeals process? is that automatic and how long would something like that potentially go? >> there's going to be an automatic appeals process. that process depends on how many motions are involved. it could be over in a year or two or five years. probably somewhere

>> so tough for the process. >> thank you, tom we do have more breaking news. the man who was supposed to be at the controls of that runaway red line train has been suspended without pay. >> byron barnett is live in boston with the latest on that story. reporter: according to sources familiar with the discipline hearing today, the driver of that runaway train got a 30 day suspension and a recommendation for discharge. 7 news has learned that david vasquez, the operator of the runaway red line train has been suspended without pay pending his term nation. according to a source at the boston carman's union which represents "t" workers, vasquez can still appeal but hasn't decided if he will. >> i haven't read the investigative report, i wasn't at the ahearing,

is they moved quickly on this so create some closure an clarity. reporter: the employee was supposed at the at the controls of a red line train leaving the braintree station last week. but when he got off the train to correct a signal problem, the train took off without him. dozens of passengers on board traveled through several stations until other "t" workers stopped the train by cutting electricity to the third rail. "t" officials also say vasquez did not set the hand brake before he got off the train. now the ultimate decision on firing vasquez will come from the mbta general manager. as we said vasquez does have the right to appeal. that's the story live in boston, i'm byron barnett, 7 news. also breaking e-mail

to close more than 1,000 schools today. a member of the house intelligence committee believes it was a hoax. >> and it's believed there was a similar hoax in new york city affecting their public schools. let's go to tim caputo live in our control room with more on this. reporter: it seemed real at the time. the threat said students would be massacred mercilessly and they didn't want to take any chances. >> please be advised all schools will be closed for students today. reporter: all told to stay home today after the school district received an e-mail threat. terrorism. >> based on past circumstances, i could not take the chance as it relates to one student or our staff that serve our students. reporter: the e-mails specifically mentioned pressure cooker bombs and machine guns and the anonymous rider said he

>> he was worried about my brother. reporter: another threat from the same ip address with the same wording was sent to new york city but early on authorities there thought it was a hoax. >> what we would be concerned with is overreacting. reporter: boston schools did face a cyber attack that shut down the system's internet for about 20 minutes this morning but they say it was not connected to threats e-mailed to school districts in l.a. and new york. >> at this time we have no reason to think there was any threats towards boston or our schools or agencies. i want all of our parents and teachers to know our city is safe and our schools are safe. reporter: live in the control room, tim caputo, 7 news. we continue to stay on top of breaking news in the philip chism trial. >> hethe jury returning that verdict just after 4:00. we'll be back after

and we continue it stay on top of breaking news. philip chism found guilty of murdering his math teacher at danvers high school two years ago, and now we have just received a statement from the superintendent of danvers public schools. lisa dana has released

that a verdict has been reached we hope our community, others affected and most especially the ritzer family continue to heal. we know colleen's message no matter wh happens in life, be good to people. being good is a wonderful legacy to leave behind. that will live in the hearts and minds of those who knew and loved her. so we will continue to have emergency on the chism verdict and more on colleen ritzer on-line and on-air. also on 7 a close call for a baby and a mother of a facade came crashing down in malden. several people rushed in to help with that rescue. 7's jonathan hall has more from malden. reporter: a security camera captures the temporary facade toppling over several people in downtown malden including a family of three. >> one of the pedestrians was a child

think the carriage helped keep the baby out of harm's way. so we're thankful for that. reporter: wind was a factor according to police. within seconds of hearing that thud, jewelry store owner paul frazier ran outside to help lift the wooden structure off the five victims. >> it was falling apart as we were trying to lift it. it was enough to get everybody out. reporter: sky 7 shows two women being loaded into ambulances before being rushed to a local hospital. one of them, the mom of that little boy who hear is being helped by the dad, he's here in the red jacket. >> to get everybody open up an get the front of the building done. it wasn't secured of they took the roof off and that's what kind of let that happen.

wood and aluminum has all been now. in all three women were injured, two went to the hospital. one refused treatment. in malden, jonathan hall, 7 news. winter is making a little stop through new england as we head into this weekend. i'll cover it in the forecast next. from first sniffles to endless runny noses. they help soothe irritation by locking in moisture better a nose in need deserves puffs indeed.

mild temperatures going down in the book as our highs today, even though these numbers occurred in the wee hours of this morning. 61 in boston. just to put it in perspective for you, normal high for this time of year is 41. so 20 degrees above normal. that's significant. and it was windy for us today but right now we're just talking about a pretty stiff breeze. still a bit feisty in worcester, gusts up to 30 miles per hour. 18 miles per hour gusts in boston and those temperatures are slowly crawling closer to 50 degrees. upper 40s for worcester. it will take a while to really cool off tonight because the winds are going to keep on pumping, at least a little bit. breezy through the night tonight into the early hours of tomorrow morning. then once the winds make that shift and you can see through tomorrow, we've got the light wind coming out of the northeast. it's just pumping in

lighter winds tomorrow. that system is pulling off. didn't mean any snow for us. just about a half an inch generally speaking of rainfall last night and even some thunderstorms. can you see light showers trying to work into the western part of the state but they won't make it here. dry overnight tonight, into tomorrow as well but we will keep a few clouds around. 36 to 42 for those lows. tomorrow 43 to 48, so this is much cooler than where we're at today but it's still above normal for this time of year and we get the sunshine along with it. next system, you can see it, in the upper plains and that's going to make its way for us as we work into thursday and friday as well. you'll notice this is the same scenario, different day, just like we've been seeing. mild air comes with it. it's not snow for us. it is rain. now we do see some colder air coming in behind this that will carve out a preview of winter but it doesn't stick around long. that is our best shot at

look at that colder air that sneaks in for the weekend just saturday and sunday. it doesn't stay here and we're back into the upper 50s by the time we hit next week. i'm telling you recollect long range models look like maybe mid to upper 60s for christmas. have a good evening. their two-game losing streak is history, rob gronkowski is back in the mix and they wake up as afc's champions for the seventh straight season thanks fought dolphins loss to the giants last night. for a second straight year dominique ainsley is headed to injured reserve. the team's first round pick in 2014 done for the season with a thigh injury testing their depth in the front seven. the pats addressing the running back spot today

garrett blunt is reportedly done for the season. the patriots signing former bronco to the practice squad. he's still just 25 years old. the former heisman trophy finalist was cut in denver before the season began. a chance at getting a little revenge tonight at the garden hosting lebron james and the cavaliers who swept them last season. >> we hope they get it, joe. all right.

before we go the big breaking news today, danvers teenager philip chism found guilty of murdering his math teacher at danvers high school. sentencing is next. chism faces life in prison with a possibility of parole after 15 to 20 years. also we did get an announcement, an official statement from the danvers public schools saying now that a verdict has been reached we hope our community, others affected, most especially the ritzer family, can continue to heal. we heard a couple times today from the family of colleen ritzer that colleen's favorite saying was there's something good in every day and the ritzer family will try to hold on to those words as they move forward. >> at that press

them all wearing pink, her favorite color. thank you for joining us. i'm ryan schulteis.

red 97! set! red 97! did you say 97? yes. you know, that reminds me of geico's 97% customer satisfaction rating. 97%? helped by geico's fast and friendly claims service. huh... oh yeah, baby.

woo!