3300 block of e street at 11:15 this morning. live at the scene "action news" reporter john rawlins. john, what's the latest there. >> reporter: jim, the folks on this block are reeling tonight. a couple that have been a fixture here for more than 20 years are in critical condition at temple university hospital with burns and other injuries. their four-year-old grandson is also hospitalized at saint christopher's. it was about 11:00 a.m., smoke was pouring out of the second floor of this house. neighbor rashean pinder ran to help. >> i saw the little boy inside the door with the phone shake. >> reporter: he told pinder his grants wer grandparents were upstairs. >> he almost fell down the steps got back up ran in. i think he was trying to get water to put the fire out. >> reporter: when firefighters arrived they found the four-year-old's grandparents 57-year-old

joveno franco and 70-year-old alagita roman. immediately crews began cpr. that continued as the couple was moved to waiting ambulances and taken to temple hospital. >> those folks were transported with cpr in progress. we believe our medics were able to give a better chance for one of those folks but again, we're hopeful for a positive outcome. >> reporter: fire officials do not know wha what sparked the blaze that appears to have started on the second flood watch neighbors say the couple were raising four grandchildren. three were in school at the time of the fire. they say that the couple went out of their way to help everyone along this block. >> nicest people in the world. they very good. >> yes. >> yeah. >> yeah, when my son broke his arm he drove me to the hospital. 'cause i didn't have a car. so, he was like come on, let's go o you need a ride back, call me, i'll bring you back. so, yeah, they will do anything for everybody. they really will. >> reporter: el on.>> reporter:n

described mr. franco as a father figure. others say he was a helpful nice guy to deal with all the time then say that both he and miss roman are in their thoughts and prayers tonight. live in kensington, john rawlins channel6 "action news." jim. >> john, thank you. we have got a developing story from the pennsylvania statehouse in harrisburg. somebody has hacked the computers of the democratic state senators and has infected those computers with ransom wear. that means the computer and the information systems are unusable. we talked to drexel professor rob di video. >> the only thing you'll be able to access is the screen in front of you to pay a ran so to my unlock to decrypt your computer you'll need to pay within a certain period of time if you want to get the key to unlock it. >> democratic leaders have been in contact with law

enforcement to try and find the offenders and they've been in contact with microsoft to try and restore the system. still big traffic troubles at this hour along i-95 in philadelphia. a multi vehicle crash has now closed all southbound lanes approaching cottman avenue. the wreck happened at 3:00 p.m. but crews are still working to clear away that wreckage. let's go live to the scene and you can see what a problem this is now. two trucks and a car were involved. one person was injured, taken to aria torresdale. state police don't have a timetable for when they'll be able to reopen the highway. it's a mess there. a car caught fire dangerously close to gas pumps in the wynnefield heights section of philadelphia. firefighters rushed to the sunoco gas station on city avenue near conshohocken avenue at 10:30 this morning. there is no word what sparked the blaze. fortunately nobody was hurt. but you can see once the flames are out, the vehicle was nothing more than a metal

shell. in east mount airy an open mic night turned to gunfire last night on germantown avenue and four people were shot. let's go live to the 7100 block of germantown avenue and "action news" reporter bob brooks. bob, what are police saying about this? >> reporter: well, jim, the victims all young people in their mid-20's and the gunman is on the run right now. behind me is where it started the 7165 bar and restaurant it's closed now and the owner says it's going to remain closed. they have no choice. take a look at that. it was shot out overnight. but it gets worse w detectives say four people were shot here. one victim was shot while trying to drive away, lost control and smashed into a light pole. a witness says it was chaos. >> we look out we see people scattering the streets running hiding behind cars and the doorways of the building. >> reporter: his name is moses and he lives in the

apartment next door. >> i hear another man scream i have all bullet holes in me bro', i have holes in me. >> reporter: it started inside 7165 that it was an open mic night with about 20's people inside that went wrong. >> and that's when there was an argument. the argument turned into a physical altercation and that's when somebody pulled a gun and fired. >> reporter: the gunman fired multiple times. three men in their mid-20's were shot. they're listed in stable condition. the bar owner says a female employee was also shot in the knee trying to break things up. she, too, is listed in stable condition. the neighbors say this typically doesn't happen here. >> i've never heard any problems out of there as long as i've been around here. >> oh, my goodness, i just -- i just don't want this to become the norm. >> reporter: local business owners like greg lock say this is still a safe part of town. >> it's too many innocent people being shot. too many. and it needs to stop. it really needs to stop and that's the aggravating part because this is a beautiful neighborhood. >> reporter: okay, now

police say they're confident they're going to catch the shooter. there's plenty of surveillance video according to them of this caught on tape. now, again, the owner of 7165 says he feels so bad about this happening he's a neighbor here in east mount airy and he's going to have it closed for the foreseeable future. reporting live in east mount airy bob brooks channel6 "action news." jim. >> thanks bob. investigators are trying to determine whether an incident in the grays ferry section of philadelphia was an attempted arson. firefighters say it appears somebody tried to throw something at the window of a home on the 2900 block of wharton street. they responded at 6 o'clock this morning. some kind of fluid splashed on the glass but the window didn't break, the fire didn't start and the house was vacant. police in that collingdale are still trying to locate a gun after a 13-year-old and student brought it to the harris school yesterday. needless to say members of that community are anxious about this. "action news" reporter gray hall has the latest. >> and the bottom line is we

have over 900 people in harris elementary between staff faculty and students and there's a gun somewhere. >> reporter: collingdale police desperately want to track down a stolen gun. a 13-year-old student took it from his mother's dresser and allegedly gave it to another students at harris elementary thursday. police didn't find out until a little after 11:00 p.m. when the boy's mother discovered the weapon was missing. friday morning investigators searched the school with no luck. >> maybe a kid at harris will step up and say this is where it's hidden. we searched out back the school. the other problem is the trash has been emptied so if it was in the trash can it's gone. >> reporter: parents received an automated alert about this incident. those we spoke to say the news was unsettling. they're thankful no one was hurt. >> i just prayed that we pull together and again speak to our kids about these issues and gun safety. >> it's always a concern for your children but, you know, i can't be with them 24/7. i have to believe that they'll be safe. >> reporter: when we stopped by, no one was at the home

where the gun was stolen but police say that family is cooperating but tell us the other family involved is not. >> the confrontation i had with the boy's mother and father, that was just unbelievable. and we went through it back and forth about five or six times i kept trying to say it's a gun, it's kids, seventh grade in the school. they didn't want to hear that. >> reporter: for now we can tell you that both students involved in this are out of school. we did reach out to the school district. they did not return our phone calls. the police department tells us they are in touch with the district attorney to see if any charges should be filed against the mother who left that gun unattended. in collingdale, gray hall, channel6 "action news." >> members of the delaware black caucus celebrated the grand opening of their new headquarters today. they cut the ribbon at the offices on the 600 block of east 11th street in wilmington this morning. the caucus says the new space establishes an official headquarters where staff can

work to affect positive sustainable change in the african-american community. coming up on "action news" tonight, after weeks in quarantine, puppies sickened at a south jersey pet store are now healthy and some went to their forever homes today. she is 10, she is a wrestler and ahead we'll introduce you to the pottstown middle schooler who is more than holding her own against the boys. cecily. >> snow squalls moved through earlier. sky6 showing clearing skies, temperatures are tumbling tonight and they really won't recover much over the weekend. we'll talk about wind chills in the accuweather 7-day forecast. >> those stories and much more when "action news" continues tonight. >> ♪

>> ♪ >> all right. ice cream, fudge, sprinkles, cherries and whipped cream. those are the perfect ingredients for ice cream sundays. the students at chesterbrook academy elementary school in west chester doused their principal and teachers with all the fixings today. the messy fun a reward for the students reading more than 100,000 minutes during national reading month. and there has been a lot of love at the burlington county animal shelter in westampton today. dozens of puppies got a very rough start in life but they are healthy now and finding loving homes. new jersey correspondent nora muchanic has the story. >> healthy. she looks like a different puppy. >> reporter: this is the face of chelsea a golden retriever puppy who almost didn't survive after contracting parvovirus.

chelsea's owner bought her at the now closed puppy barn on route 206. once home the dog became sick. >> it was heartbreaking to bring her home and then immediately having to bring her back but i could not be happier that weary united. >> reporter: chelsea is the first of 77 dogs removed from the puppy barn much they were quarantined treated and now adopted out by the burlington county animal shelter. they were put into a lottery. they could request the breed they wanted but it was not guaranteed. >> we were back and forth from the hospital four or five timessism jordan was adopting a dalmation after the one she bought at the puppy barn had to be put down. >> they closed down, so that's the best outcome i guess, no more dogs no more people will have to go through what we went through. >> reporter: parvovirus is highly contagious and can be deadly. >> they get this virus and start to become symptomatic if treatment is not initiated right away this can be one and three days of life and death.

>> reporter: those selected pay a $300 fee for puppies that cost three times that at the puppy barn. some of that money is being used to offer free adoptions for any other dog or cat at the shelter. >> and all the animals that come out of the burlington county animal shelter are spayed and neutered and chipped and have 30 days of health insurance. >> reporter: the shelter is located on academy road in westampton. i'm nora muchanic channel6 "action news."

>> to you erring over shoppers harlem globetrotters zeus entertained acme goers. his appearance promoted the new partnership with entenmann's. he posed for pictures and encouraged the young ones to spin the ball with their fingers. sixers tonight entertain those new york knicks.

>> even though joel embiid is out there's still plenty of drama with this team. the sixers set to host the knicks tonight. don't jahlil okafor if he's a bit tired. he spent the morning defending himself. you've probably seen this sequence. okafor not giving max effort on defense during wednesday's loss to miami. he did a lot of standing around. okafor's lack of hustle has been a topic all season. he offered this explanation for this specific play. >> i understand visually it looks bad because i was fatigued i played the entire first quarter and i was tired. i'm not making excuses. these are what the facts were. i did do what i was supposed to do and that's retreat. my job was to not allow either one of them to get behind me and then of course mcdermott from the heat gets an offensive rebound and that was my fault as well supposedly.

>> six months weigh from the season opener but the eagles have already scored a victory. the birds won a coin flip against the colts. they will pick 14th next month nfl draft. this is part of that sam bradford trade. there are more rumors surrounding brandon cook. news reports that the birds are the favorite to land him. of course the saints are asking for a first round pick in return. phillies and twins in clearwater. sometimes the ball has a mind of its own. check out where this one lands. in the garbage can. first souvenir. would you dig in there to get it. jeremy hellickson tosses three innings allows one run striking out four. phillies lose four-three. the professional in college ranks get a lot of attention but what about the younger athletes. perhaps even younger than you might be thinking. jeff skversky found a promising young starly inin

pottstown. [applause] >> reporter: savannah richards gives new meaning to the same fights like a little girl. >> come on baby girl, come on. >> reporter: the 65-pound, 10-year-old from pottstown middle school started her wrestling career 51 and o. >> and i started to where he is tell i knew that girls can do what boys can do and i was happy that i can prove that. >> reporter: savannah is proving it all right. and she's only been wrestling for two seasons. >> i was a little scared because i thought i was going to lose my first match and so many people were watching me so i got really nervous. >> i'm pretty much stunned i would say. you know, somebody that's supposed to protect her and now i see her go out there and do her thing, it's just amazing. >> reporter: you're probably wondering how did savannah get her start wrestling it started with her bigger brother bobby wrestling in a family living room and she told her parents she wanted to join a league. at first as you can imagine they were a little hesitant. >> she was so tiny we were like you know what, why don't you wait until next year, if

you still are interested so last year came about and she's like i want to wrestle and i'm like, oh, no. >> reporter: savannah fought her parents on it and won and now the fifth grader is dominating with her head lock move putting a hurting on the boys in one way or another. >> when the boys cry it makes me sad. they have their face all red. when they cry i feel bad. >> reporter: she's already 10 years old and she's already breaking hearts. jeff skversky channel6 "action news." >> do not mess with savannah. >> darn right. [laughter] >> thank you ducis. cecily tynan with the accuweather forecast when we continue in just a moment. >> ♪ ♪

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>> after a sunny start, snow squalls moved through parts of the region this afternoon. this was the scene right outside channel6 on monument avenue in philadelphia. it's march, it's a squall, we're not going to go that far away. >> it was funny when that moved through 4:45. there was a flurry of activity so to speak in our news room everyone running to the windows like we'd never seen snow before. >> looked like a blizzard for a minute. >> and it's two minutes and then the sun is back out and we still have a few out there. storm tracker6 live double scan showing now that the sun has set they are not that all widespread. the most robust snow squall right now is moving across south jersey. it's heading towards chats ford. it's really just going right along route 72 moving southeast at about 35 miles per hour. we got some over the garden state parkway right now and there's another area not quite as intense up across the

lehigh valley. allentown also one heading towards quakertown crossing the northeast extension of the blue route and these are really quick hitters but they did drop a coating of snow in some areas. michelle tweeted this to me from reading, pennsylvania. it didn't stick on the roads, the ground too warm for that but it did stick on the grassy surfaces coated some cars and also some back porches and i love this photo. this was sent to us from deptford, new jersey, tonya and this shows that you have the dark clouds, the snow and then the sun is right back, it's almost like in the summer when we get those pop-up thunderstorms, they're very scatter not everyone sees them and they're fast moves. behind this system we have some very cold air. the wind chill currently 23 in philadelphia, 22 in allentown, eight in the poconos. atlantic city airport 25 degrees and wind chills will really be dropping as we head through the overnight hours. satellite6 and action radar showing skies are beginning to clear behind those snow squalls.

so, tonight clear skies. it will be a little bit on the breezy side and temperatures really tumbling. the average high for this time of the year -- or lows for this time of the 82er is 32. average high is 48. we're not going to be anywhere near that. overnight low philadelphia 23, allentown 19, trenton 21. winds will be gusting up to about 35 miles per hour tomorrow so wind chills pretty brutal. at 6 o'clock it will feel like 15 in philadelphia and despite all the sunshine wind chills will only be rising into the mid-20's tomorrow so you really do want to bundle up. we have high pressure building in but there's quite a bit of a gradient from the departing low pressure so that means winds gusting up to about 35 miles per hour, so 36 degrees will feel more like the 20's. lots of sunshine, though. that's the good news. and the sunshine will be with us again on sunday. this high pressure building right over us. still a chilly day but not quite as windy with a high of 39 degrees. so s-the exclusive accuweather

7-day forecast, tomorrow the coldest day since february 10th. the high only 36. wind chills in the 20's. sunday less winds, 39 degrees but look at next week. a quick rebound with temperatures by monday 52 degrees. 66 on tuesday with a possibility of some showers. still mild on wednesday, 60 and temperatures begin to step down thursday, 52 and friday partly sunny with a high of only 49 degrees. so definitely bundle up this weekend. check out your dr. dentons and all your warm stuffing you will need them. >> thank you cecily. >> uh-huh. >> abc's "world news tonight" with david muir is next on channel6. "action news" continues at 10:00 on phl17 with brian taff, sharrie williams adam joseph and ducis rodgers. then please join us at 11:00 on channel6 for an "action news" investigation into the potential safety hazards in some of the cars driven by philadelphia city employees. wendy saltzman has a preview. >> reporter: our two month long investigation exposes open recalls on hundreds of city cars used by philadelphia

police, fire and medical response teams. we even found a vehicle in the mayor's fleet with a potentially dangerous recall. >> you have a car that can catch on fire. i mean, i don't think you can get any worse than that. >> reporter: so why are these scars still on the roads? we go to the city for answers. >> the federal government, they -- they did not say that we need to park these vehicles or remove them from service so we decided to keep them in service. >> reporter: don't miss my exclusive investigation only on "action news" tonight at 11:00. >> and for cecily tynan, ducis rodgers and the entire "action news" team, i'm jim gardner. we hope you'll join us for "action news" at 11:00. >> ♪

tonight, several developing stories. president, now calling it a witch hunt. new questions over contact with the russians. first, michael flynn, now jeff sessions recusing himself. also tonight, the 25-car pileup on a major interstate. 30 people rushed to hospitals. the rescues, and the pictures coming in tonight. the multistate manhunt. the desperate call to 911. the stunning moment in the heartland. the drive-by in broad daylight. new action after this