announcer: now abc 7 news at noon, on your side. adrianna: the heat wave continues and it looks like maybe some wet weather is coming our way. chief meteorologist doug hill is here with a look at your forecast. hey, doug. doug: the wet weather won't be here until friday afternoon so we have a lot of heat and humidity to deal with. with that said there's an isolated thunderstorm this afternoon and a few tomorrow but the wet front will come on friday with a fair number of thunderstorms to deal with. right now we're in the upper 80's to lower

let's talk about our headlines this wednesday because the headlines deal with the combination of heat and humidity. it produce as heat index of 105 degrees. thunderstorms likely friday but lower chances today and tomorrow and less humid over the weekend, a little cooler but mainly less humid saturday and sunday. 89 at reagan national and frederick at 84 and 92 in fredericksburg but the feels like, 94 in washington and 96 in fredericksburg and leesburg feels like 98 degrees. the feel-like temperatures will rise this afternoon. periods of cloudiness and sunshine and hot and steamy stuff and looking at relief in the next 10 days. adrianna: thanks for the update, doug. prince george's county, a construction worker is dead after getting trapped in a trench. crews tried to rescue the victim around 10:00 this morning but were unsuccessful. this all happened alonghe

on oxen neptune avenue hill and the victim was doing utility work at the time. congressman steve scalise is out of intensive care. the majority whip is still in serious condition and still being treated for an infection. scalise has been receiving treatment since he was shot in june during a congressional baseball practice in alexandria. the gunman was killed in a shoot-out with police. developing now, an officer shoots after she's assaulted in alexandria. john gonzalez has what led up to her firing her weapon. john: a large police presence right in the heart of old town alexandria. several city blocks have been closed for hours. i'll step out of the way and you see that's the corner of saint asaph and king street where police say around 7:00 this morning one of their officers, an alexandria police officer, was assaulted, was injured. that officer

weapon. no one was hit but the suspect was quickly apprehended. >> witnesses had reported the subject was in the area with some sort of a hard object in his hand and he was striking vehicles and people were concerned about that and they had called us. our patrol officers in uniform were responding to the incident. the first officer that arrived on the scene encountered this subject. the subject immediately attacked our officer. our officer was brutally attacked by this subject. she received serious injuries and in fear of her life she drew her service weapon and fired at the suspect in order to save her own life. the officer is a 34-year-old female. the officer with one year on the job. there was only one shot discharged. john: right now police are still out here trying to piece it together and figure out what exactly happened early this morning. in the meantime, several blocks closed right now

get updates throughout the day as the investigation continues here in old town alexandria. that's the latest. john gonzalez, abc 7 news. adrianna: in fairfax county one person is in custody while the search continues for another suspect after bullets went flying through a neighborhood hitting a home and a vehicle. sam sweeney is in centreville with the details. sam: this was an all-out gun battle. the shots rang out around 9:30 last night. some of the shots were fired over here by this gold buick and the bullets actually landed in this home here by the second floor window. on the other side of that window, a young child was sleeping, so scared she went and told her mom. those were the first 911 calls. when police moved in they actually found the suspects, gave chase but didn't catch up with them until eight minutes later on hazel ferguson drive just off of louie highway. in the meantime, over here the investigation continued into what exactly happened. let's listen to

described the situation. >> i just was really scared. i was like oh, my god, i ran back in and immediately knew it battle, ype of gun some gunshots between some people and the guy looked really mean. he looked like he was really just angry and told some other guy, angel, let's go and i ran back in and called the cops immediately because i knew something was up. john: certainly scary moments for people in this neighborhood. as for the suspects, one person was caught but another woman is still on the run today. as for the child in the second story bedroom, the bullet got stuck in the wall and never made it inside. reporting in centreville, i'm sam sweeney, abc 7 news. adrianna: happening right now in prince george's county, yet another shooting investigation. shots rang out on easton treat and temple hills earlier this morning. police tell us a man was shot multiple times but was conscious when he went to the hospital. authorities now are

track down the gunman and just yesterday police announced all their officers will work 12-hour shifts in an effort to combat a spike in violence in that county. there have been 12 murders there this month. also in prince george's county, a couple is now out of their home after flames ripped through it. dozens of firefighters were called to willow hill place in hyattsville shortly after 5:00 this morning and a partial collapse caused them to have to fight the fire only from the outside for a while. the couple inside was able to get to safety. >> i was asleep and he was getting dressed to go to work popping sound and you could spell the smoke at the rear of the house. adrianna: investigators are working to determine the cause of that fire. now to the latest on the russia investigation. donald trump jr. speaking out about his meeting with the

presidential campaign. as emily rau reports, after initially denying any wrongdoing, the president's oldest son is admitting now it was a bad idea. >> it was literally just a wasted 20 minutes. emily: appearing on fox news tuesday night donald trump jr. claims it was a snap decision to take the meeting with the russian lawyer with reported ties to the kremlin. >> in retrospect i probably would have done things differently. emily: coming the same day done jr. released the email chain which began six days before the meeting and shows he was told the russian government wanted to help his father's campaign. the emails reveal how a trump acquaintance said the russian lawyer had, quote, official documents and information that would incriminate hillary and her dealings with russia. adding, quote, this is obviously very high level, sensitive information but is part of russia and its government's support for mr. trump. don jr. responds, if it's what you say, i love it.

russian lawyer, she said she never had any dirt on hillary clinton. don jr. was joined in the meeting by brother-in-law and now top white house advisor jerod kushner and then campaign manager paul manafort. >> ask if the president thinks it's right, if he feels it was appropriate. >> it's not illegal. i had the conversation with the president whether he thought it was appropriate or not. here's what i will tell you. the meeting that took place is not illegal. emily: on g.m.a. tuesday morning president trump's private lawyer claimed he had no knowledge of the meeting until days ago. this morning the president tweeting his support, saying my son, donald, did a good job last night. he was open, transparent and innocent. this is the greatest witch-hunt in political history. sad. the president leaves for paris later today. he hasn't been seen publicly since sunday. abc news has also learned that special counsel robert mueller plans to investigate this meeting. emily rau abc

adrianna: meanwhile a confirmation for trump's pick to head the f.b.i. is underway. christopher wray signaling he won't let politics get in the way of the bureau's mission. no one asked him to pledge his loyalty and anyone who thinks he'll pull punches doesn't know him very well. write will replace james comey -- wray will replace james comey who was fired in may. and all hands on deck, the senate is delaying its august recess by two weeks and hope to get something done before the break. it will begin the third week of the month now. g.o.p. leaders say they don't need that long to finalize health care. they claim a revised version of the g.o.p. health care plan will be in their hands by thursday and their hope is for a vote next week. and another lawsuit against president trump, this time it is because he's blocking people on twitter. the lawsuit filed by knight first amendment institute claims the president violates the first amendment when he blocks people who criticize him or his

policies. seven people so far are listed in that lawsuit, including a woman from d.c. >> it's about preserving a constitutional right. it's a principle. it's something that is guaranteed to everyone in this country. adrianna: the white house has admitted the president's tweets are official statements so the lawsuit argues the president's account is a public forum under the first amendment. new developments now, the search for the missing men who vanished in pennsylvania. what police have learned about the case. plus, just in the nick of time. where the elephant got stuck and who rescued it. and what if we told you there's a way to alter people's genes to stop genetic disorders? a look at the groundbreaking message straight ahead. first erik smith has a look at your traffic. erik: good afternoon. it will be a heavy ride on i-270 northbound to solid delays near clarksburg and narrowed to two lanes near the truck scales but we have a

lane and means one lane is available out of three so this will be a big trouble spot northbound past route 121 and we'll see more delays back towards father hurley boulevard heading this way and of course where things will begin. you see traffic is just crawling by with that one lane available, even for the midday, this is going to be a ton of volume headed this way. in germantown things look much better and delays don't stretch back this far. also looking at 395 northbound in virginia, not bad right now past edsall road with a mobile crew moving on with a pretty good pace heading in northbound in towards d.c. that's all for the traffic center for now. stay with us.

news at noon. on your side. adrianna: 19 people dead and 23 others hurt in a violent terror attack in nigeria. lice say four boka-haram targeted the city and where they began their eight-year insurgency. last year nigeria declared they crushed the terrorist group but deadly attacks continue to happen. look at this, an amazing rescue caught in the indian ocean off sri lanka, a group of naval personnel saved an elephant stuck in an ocean current and took several boats and a team of navy divers and the wildlife to rescue the animal and used ropes to safely guide the animal from water to dry land and was then handed over to wildlife officials. happening today at home, a chance for maryland voters to meet the 2018 democratic candidates for governor. a forum will be held

silver spring. candidates invited include prince george's county executive kiminets and ben gellis and john delaney will be there and the event starts 6:30 tonight at the silver spring civic center. take a look at this scary situation in fauquier county. a bridge collapsed and takes with it a ups truck and happened virginia off old dumpheys road. the limit is four tons and the average ups truck weighs less than that and luckily no one was seriously injured. so we've got some rain in the forecast later on in the week. >> we've seen storms pop in the metro area and today we'll have the chance and tomorrow slightly improved chance of

showers or thunderstorms and we'll get out of the heat and humidity but not today. look at what have for you now, a look look at nationals park a light breeze out of the west-northwest and normally out of the summertime a west-northwesterly wind is dry but given the way the atmosphere is set up, all those light winds are doing is recirculating the hot and humid air. no real relief from the humidity until we get the cold front by friday and by saturday and sunday it will be drier. plenty of sunshine out there right now. current noon time temperatures 89 at washington dumb es and manassas and reagan national and fredericksburgnd and charlottesville and give me another 38 years on tv and i'll figure out the difference between the two cities. at noon is feels like 96 in fredericksburg and 94 in washington and 96 in leesburg. everyone lagging behind will catch up. these are computer

will be and what it will feel like and according to models here we'll peak out 105 degrees in washington around 4:00 and doesn't mean the exact time or numbers but gives you a clue to where we're heading and even more so tomorrow the air tmps will be warmer and the break with light showers. right now the large area of clear skies have extended in metro washington and temperatures will rise. i don't think we'll see much more than an isolated shower later today and 30% chance tomorrow maybe but the jackpot comes with the cold front on friday. 97 degrees in the future cast for this afternoon on the thermometer and temperatures stay very warm and muggy tonight, upper 70's to 80. tomorrow mid to upper 90's and there's a representation of some afternoon showers and storms and even more so on friday when the front kicks into gear. as far as friday's storms, there is a slight chance of severe weather up towards the baltimore area and beyond, only a marginal risk in the metro area here meaning it's possible but not likely

here in the next 10 days for you, 96, 98 still, muggy and hot 94 on friday before the storm comes in. less humidity for the day on saturday and sunday with temperatures on 0 or so and then we'll kind of enjoy upper 80's for a few days and right back in the low to mid 90's for the bulk of next week. adrianna: it is summertime. thanks, doug. new developments in the desperate search for four young men missing outside philadelphia. police have named a person of interest but they did release him on bail as they scoured his family's property for possible evidence. we have the latest with eva pilgrim. eva: the search for four young missing men outside of philadelphia now centered on this field. f.b.i. investigators using a backhoe digging large holes, sifting soil by hand. appearing to measure and photograph what they're unearthing. >> i think that it's very important to hang on to hope until there is no room left for it. eva: authorities now naming the son of the property oer

20-year-old cosmo dinardo, a person of interest in the mysterious pearns of these men. 19-year-old jimmy patrick was last seen wednesday. >> such a good person, everyone deserved a jimmy in their life and now he's not here. >> tom meo, 21-year-old marge storm surge us and dean fe mneccharo all missing since friday. >> it's hard and we're shooken up by the whole thing. we're all scared. we just want to know, we want to know something. eva: authorities zeroing in on this farm following a cell phone ping, finding two of the missing men's cars nearby, one found in an abandoned garage neighboring the field, the other found in a shopping center parking lot and today investigators marching side by side combing through every inch of the field and then putting up a walled tent looking inside. >> we're looking

that connects the four men together and may connect them to the property we're searching and connect them to cosmo dinardo, perhaps. eva: dinardo arrested monday on an unrelated gun charge has a history of mental illness, released overnight on bail. adrianna: that was eva pilgrim reporting. straight ahead on abc news at noon there may now be a way to stop genetic disorders. we'll show you the new method and what diseases could be prevented

adrianna: 7 on your side health matters today, scientists at the university of virginia claim they have found a way to safely shut off genes. that discovery could potentially lead to some curing getet

diseases, gene editing, using something called the crisper system has been around for a few years but the team at u.v.a. found a way to silence the genes without harming the surrounding cells. that discovery could eventually help doctors turn off genes making people sick. >> for the love of the genes in our body we still don't know their functions and now we're able to go an enact vate these genes and study what the gene is doing. adrianna: among the diseases doctors could possibly treat with this gene silencing method includes cystic fibrosis and hemophilia. there's a new way kindness is inspiring others, the ask arlington app in texas lets you report potholes and messy yards but there's another option, people can report random acts of kindness and each dot tell as different story, someone mowing a neighbor's lawn or a colleague picking up a check at lunch and many more. >> see what other people are doing and maybe can you do it,

hand. adrianna: the city has had more submissions since that program began but that's just a start. officials hope to have more than 400,000, one for every resident in arlington. abc 7 news at noon will be right

adrianna: bobo set a record for biggest unboxing. joe jovine was asked to help open this 80 foot by 14 f

18 foot box. inside is volvo's new long haul truck. to be official, guinness wanted volvo to have it completely installed in a box and it had to be opened by hand and truck removed without destroying the box. all right. well, former nasa engineer mark rober has constructed the world's biggest and most powerful supersoaker. it can fire water at 270 miles an hour and instead of using pressurized air like the toy version, this one uses pressurized tanks of nitrogen gas. it fires hard enough to slice a watermelon and shatter glass. so you might need to cool off today. doug: let's take a quick look at the forecast. it will be hot and humid and it could feel close to 100 this afternoon. adrianna: thanks for joining us this midday. watch abc 7 news at 4:00 and we'll see yoto

from fields and factories they came looking for opportunity. they worked hard. we helped them work harder. they are the students of strayer university. for 125 years, we've supported as they've rewritten the future.

we say, let's get it, america. >> welcome, everybody, to celebrity week, las vegas. today, we've got one of the biggest stars from the strip. ventriloquist, paul zerdin playing for his favorite charity. this guy's amazing so don't you move. >> hey, this sounds fun. from bally's las vegas, let's play "who wants to be a millionaire." [dramatic music] ♪ hey, everybody, welcome to the show. it's celebrity week: las vegas on "who wants to be a millionaire." [cheers and applause] [dramatic musical flourish] ♪ ♪ this is terrible. the rest of the show i have to speak for myself. today's first celebrity contestant is is a ventriloquist who has brought his hilarious an