battle here as evidenced by the numerous yellow evidence markers which pinpoint bullet casings here on the sidewalk as many as 25 that we counted. it was just after 3:30, the 22nd district officers arrived here after reports of gunshots. they found four people had been shot. one of the victims was shot multiple times including twice in the head. two of the victims later died one at hahnemann another died at temple. two other shooting victims, including a 26-year-old survived and is being treated a -- a the both hospitals both in critical condition. what precipitated the violence. we don't know t initial police reports indicate it may be drug related because they found drug paraphernalia here on the scene. the violence happened across the street from saint maliki catholic school which was immediately placed on lockdown. here's what some students were telling us. >> we were in the school and all you hear is gunshots like multiple gunshots and it just got silent for a second and

then all we hear is we're on lockdown nobody can get in or out. >> we had to stay in our classroom. we couldn't lock out. we had to stay in the class we were in and we couldn't move that much. we just had to sit down and stay calm. >> reporter: crime scene investigators continue to collect evidence from the sidewalk here in the grass area and this public housing property belonging to pha. again four and people shot two dead two critical at this hour. live here in north philadelphia, i'm dann cuellar channel6 "action news." >> dann thank you. police are conducting a desperate search for three teenagers who sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl. this happened yesterday on the 1300 block of west butler street in the hunting park section of philadelphia. the teens forced the girl into a vacant house late in the afternoon and attacked her inside. "action news" reporter bob brooks -- make that sarah bloomquist, sorry, sarah, is now live at the police special

victims unit with the full story. sarah. >> reporter: and jim, we're getting few details from philadelphia police on the status of this investigation. as far as we know at this hour, they continue to look for three young men wanted for abducting and sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl. >> it's just terrible. >> i only have one word its terrible. >> reporter: neighbors here in this hunting park neighborhood are hoping to hear word of arrest in the abduction and sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl last evening. >> people are just scared. people don't know what these kids are capable of nowadays and i don't blame them. >> reporter: were police say around 5 o'clock, the victim was walking in the area of the 1300 block of west butler street. three boys approached her and took her to an abandoned house where they sexually assaulted her. >> she's 13. she don't really know much you know what i'm saying so now she exposed to something she probably didn't know about. >> reporter: neighbors said unsecured abandoned properties have become hot spots for

criminal activity but that alone does not explain the suspects' actions. >> i don't know what to say about kids these days, i really don't know. >> keep up with your children the best you can. got to be involved. got to be involved. >> reporter: some wondered if somebody might have witnessed at the very least the abduction but did not call police. >> i can't help but wonder who was around and why they would allow it to happen because i personally think that there's always someone around that sees it and decides to turn the other -- turn the other cheek. >> reporter: philadelphia police would still like to hear from any witnesses. if you have any information, contact the special victims unit. live in hunting park, i'm sarah bloomquist channel6 "action news." jim. >> thank you, sarah. more alleged teenaged crime. two teenagers charged with murdering a 13-year-old boy during an argument in tioga-nicetown.

khisser davis-papther died after he was shot inside a takeout restaurant on west hunting park of a march tenth. today police announced the arrest of 19-year-old tymear johnson who is accused of pulling the trigger and 18-year-old christopher sutherland who is also charged with murder and related offenses. opening statements came today in the trial of three teenagers charged in the howard high school fight in wilmington, delaware. 16-year-old joyner -- amy joyner francis died after she was attacked in a school bathroom. an autopsy found that she had a preexisting heart condition and that she died of sudden cardiac arrest triggered by the fight. one of her alleged tormenters is charged with criminally negligent homicide. two others are charged with conspiracy. bill cosby's defense attorneys are trying to block his old testimony from being heard at his upcoming sexual assault trial in norristown. at a hearing today, the judge was asked to ban the decades old testimony in which cosby

admitted giving quaaludes to women before sex. the defense says the testimony is irrelevant because the drug was banned years before the alleged assault at the center of this case. the the judge is still weighing that request and did not issue a ruling yet today. bill murphy the latest democrat to file a petition necessary to run for new jersey governor. today is the deadline for the democratic and republican candidates to file those petitions. murphy is facing a number of challengers on the democratic side. including former u.s. treasury official jim johnson, state senator raymond lezniak and state assemblymen john wisniewski. the primary is set for the sixth of june. we're three and a half weeks away from the nfl draft in philadelphia. but preparations are moving into high gear. "action news" reporter john rawlins is live on the steps of the art museum which will become the focus of the football world on april 27th. good evening, john. >> reporter: good evening,

jim. well, folks were thinking about running the steps tonight they can forget about it. work has begun. fences are up on a project that's expected to attract 200,000 people. in hard hats workers swarming the art museum steps setting the underpinnings of what will be a temporary structure part of a and outdoor theater to house the draft. drone6 showing trucked in materials waiting to be part of the nfl showcase the city says will generate nearly $7 million in state and local taxes. but to do that will require a four phase lane and street closing plan that starts weeks before the three-day event's april 27th kickoff. some neighbors dreading parking restrictions on pennsylvania avenue that will isn't that right a couple days. >> three full blocks of parking is going to be closed down on wednesday for that period of time. the people who park in those spots, where are they going to park. >> reporter: parking and road restrictions at parkway events hold down visits to

nearby museums. this time the academy of natural sciences has an idea. free general admission during the draft. >> hoping that people that are here for the draft with their families will come and visit our dinosaurs. >> reporter: and if they come in nfl team gear they'll get a dollar discount to see the live frog exhibit. in nearby fairmount, mixed feelings about mega parkway events. at the bishops collar pub. >> people stop in so for us it generally tends to be a better thing. it is an inconvenience as far as the street boeing closed off the parkway being closed off for the neighborhood. >> reporter: joe nicholson loves his neighborhood. >> he thinks big events on the parkway can be a good thing but street closings and parking issues -- >> i think i feel that sometimes too much avenue good thing can be too much of a good thing so you've got to get things in balance. >> reporter: well, some in fairmount think that maybe it's time for city hall to consider holding mega events elsewhere in the city. one suggestion here, the nfl draft might have been a good

fit for south philadelphia in and around the linc, plenty of parking and a subway station. all made as a sign of share the wealth suggestions. john rawlins channel6 "action news." >> our coverage continues at 6abc.com/nfl draft. there we have a list of road closures and transit changes for the event along with a preview of the parkway's transformation. you can also take a look at the history of the draft in philadelphia. philadelphia school superintendent william hite took a sledgehammer to murrell dobbins high school today. it is getting an extreme makeover. dobbins high school will undergo $39 million in renovations. it will include a cyber cafe fitness center and dozens of classrooms will get new lighting paint and new furnishings. and coming up on "action news" tonight a burlington county middle school remembers a student killed in an atv

crash over the weekend. two women made history today in the philadelphia fire department. cecily. >> storm system bringing severe weather to the southeast will bring us rain and thunderstorms overnight. i'll have details on when and where the heaviest will fall. and what it means for your morning commute in the accuweather 7-day forecast. >> ducis rodgers with the latest on the phillies opener. that and more when "action news" continues tonight. >> ♪

>> schoolmate have been leaving mementos and items of remembrance at the locker of 14-year-old nykolai cunningham today. he was the student from

southampton middle school killed in an atv accident over the weekend. new jersey correspondent nora muchanic has the full story. >> just kind of a character at times. >> reporter: southampton school officials are fondly remembering 14-year-old nykolai cunningham an eighth grader who was killed saturday afternoon in an a the. v accident while riding with two friends. >> nick was a spirited energetic student, very -- always had a smile on his face, very popular well liked by his peers. >> reporter: she was evident at the memorial set up by his locker today where friends and classmates left messages for nick adopted by his family from ukraine. a team of crisis counselors because brought into southampton middle school to help children deal with their grief. in addition to the memorial on nick's locker at school, flowers have been placed here on remote patti bowker road. this marks the scene of the crash. >> we waved and they were not raising. they were just driving by. >> reporter: gail corey had

seen nick and two of his classmates on their atvs less than five minutes before the crash. when she looked down the road again she could see one of two vehicles on its side. she called 911 for help. >> one of the young men told was that the young driver that was killed hydroplaned and when he hydroplaned he lost control and turned and that's when he fell out. >> reporter: contrary to some reports corey says two of the boys did have helmets, cunningham did not. one of the boys is still hospitalized after surgery on a broken arm. nick cunningham's family declined to comment today. funeral arrangements have not been announced. in southampton, i'm nora muchanic channel6 "action news". >> students in west chester saw the potentially tragic consequences of drunk driving. police staged a fake deadly car accident outside the high school today. the teenagers watched as their classmates pretend be to the seriously injured or dead. the school organized the mock crash to show the dangers of

drinking and driving before prom season. two women made history today in the philadelphia fire department. linda long was promoted to be the city's first female fire battalion chief and crystal yates became the first african-american woman to serve as chief of paramedic services. yates long and 22 other candidates were sworn in to their new ranks at the fire academy in northeast philadelphia. [applause] >> i am so excited and proud to be able to be a representative of all the women in the fire department. 'cause i may be the first female bat at a i -- battalion chief but i doubt i'll be the last. >> there has been a deliberate effort to recruit women firefighters and paramedics.

>> opening day for your philadelphia phillies. >> just one game but so far looking pretty good, jim. >> good. >> we'll take it. opening day should be a national holiday.

in that regard happy new year. phillies open the regular season with the reds in 14 that was last in runs scored last season. phils bats are showing some life. this is the firings game -- first game of a three game seven. phillies strike first in the first inning with the first batter. that's cesar hernandez leading off the game with a home run off scott feldman. later in the inning one of the new faces michael saunders smacked a double from the gap. maikel franco trying to score all the way from first base. we've got a play at the plate. i thought he was out. but he's safe. it's two-nothing. second inning they keep it going. freddy galvis no longer a surprise he hit 20 homers last season number one this season. right now the phillies are leading this game four-one in the sixth. last night reality smacked the flyers in the face. they will not make the playoffs this season. flyers officially eliminated with last night's loss to the rangers. they can point to a stretch in late december and january as

for the reason why. they dropped 12 of 15 games back then. the captain claude giroux though still believes in his guys. >> the attitude of the guys on the team is great. you know, it's -- the character and -- it's -- we're that are a position where we're right now 'cause what we did really harmed by -- something we have to look out after the season. >> the sixers are off tonight but one of their players is still winning. dario saric has won the nba's eastern conference rookie of the month award. he takes the hon no are for the second straight month. in march saric had seven 20-point game. it's the first time a team has had two players win the award multiple times in the season. the men's ncaa game tonight. north carolina is slim favorite over gonzaga. women crowned their champ none last night. south carolina took it all and

the gamecocks have a huge philadelphia connection. jaime apody reports. >> reporter: last night's ncaa championship win by south carolina was also one for philadelphia. after all in the end it was dawn staley holding up that trophy. >> the fact that she's from 25th and diamond and went to dobbins from north philadelphia and talks about it when she's on television its a wonderful thing when one of our own does well and makes us proud. >> reporter: sure enough, staley took the first chance she got to remember her roots. >> i got to go all the way back to my temple days. those are the gooiest that really believed in our vision and we took that vision to south carolina and that vision was we will be national championsism the north philadelphia native spent eight years serving the sidelines on north broad street before moving on to south carolina. temple men's head coach fran dunphy saw this coming. >> whatever the it fact is, dawn staley's got it. it's so tremendous to see her success and obviously the success came almost immediately when she went to south carolina. she was very, very successful

here at temple as well. the reality is she's been so successful throughout her life. >> reporter: here at dobbins high school where staley was the national player of the year they have a mural outside the dawn staley gymnasium and they couldn't be more proud of their most famous alum. >> she's always been tall in stature but she's biggest in her heart and her personality she's a giant. >> reporter: with the a national title even more larger than life than ever. in north philadelphia, jaime apody channel6 "action news." >> plenty of reason to be proud much that's sports. >> thank you ducis. meteorologist cecily tynan with the accuweather forecast when we continue in just a moment. >> ♪ hi

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>> the weather i s not good where the phillies are playing today, cincinnati. is that the system that's coming our way. >> that's the same system heading our way. yeah, grab the umbrella you'll need it. storm tracker6 showing this evening we are dry for the moment so a great day for drone6 to take a flight above fort washington, pennsylvania. this is above upper dublin high school where looks like there was a baseball game going on. we started the day with sunshine but clouds rolling in. but a pretty nice day to get out and play some baseball. temperatures mild. 63 degrees currently down from our high of 68 whichs 9 degrees above normal. reading 63, allentown 64, not a nice beach day, though. you get that wind off the ocean, the ocean temperature 48, that pulls in a lot of cool air. cape may currently only 49. satellite and radar showing this system i'm tracking, the low pressure, this is what has been bringing the showers across the midwest. that's lifting up into canada

and then it's got a trailing cold front. this is the cold front that brought about a dozen tornado reports to georgia and this is the system that will be clipping us overnight. as we zoom in we're looking at some rain, perhaps some thunderstorms but that severe weather will be missing us to the south. so, future tracker showing around 11 o'clock when we're on tonight we'll have some rain around, some areas of some heavy rain south of wilmington. it really fills in overnight around 2 o'clock in the morning, don't be surprised if you hear a rumble of thunder with some embedded thunderstorms but this is a pretty progressive system. it moves out pretty quickly. by 7:30 in the morning, just a few leftover showers and we will see some sunshine tomorrow. we'll be in the warm sector of the storm so with the sunshine and temperatures in the mid 70's, there will be a scattering of some afternoon thunderstorms. not everyone will get them. i think we have a better cabs of some of those thunderstorms areas up to the north and future tracker showing how much rain you get really

depends on your location. philadelphia and areas to the south generally around a half inch. you get up to the north around the poconos mercer county the lehigh valley this is where we could receive more than an inch of rain, perhaps two. the national weather service has issued a flood watch for these locations from midnight through tomorrow evening for the potential for some localized flooding with that heavy rain. the good news is we do dry out on wednesday. we had a pattern through the winter and the spring where wednesdays are typically beautiful, bubble of high pressure building in bringing us loads of sunshine it will be warm with a high of 70 degrees but don't get used to it. i'm tracking a system for thursday. this is a lot more powerful than tomorrow's system bringing us some showers, some thunderstorms perhaps severe weather and this will also pull down much cooler air and unsettled weather on friday. so, our weather is going to be going downhill as we head through the week. so, the exclusive accuweather 7-day forecast, tomorrow morning clouds in the morning, some lingering showers.

we get some sunshine around midday but again, in the afternoon with temperatures in the mid 70's, some of that instability we will get a few pop-up thunderstorms. wednesday beautiful, 70 degrees. on thursday, rain with a potential for strong or severe storms, 63 degrees. and friday the phillies opening day, it's going to be cloudy, cool with some scattered showers and wind, 51 degrees. not a great day. saturday we bump it up to 55. sunday should be beautiful 64 and next monday nice and warm with a high of 73 and i will have an update on the timing of the overnight rain on "action news" tonight at 11:00. >> thank you cecily. a farmer from papua new guinea who found a class ring belonging to a graduate of audubon high school is in for a surprise. school ring supplier herff jones has made a ring just for him. it has the date 2013 that's when the farmer unearthed the

ring belonging to the late edward dodds. dodds son said he spent time in new guinea during world two. the new ring the farmer will receive as a thank you on the right the ring belonging to edward dodds. 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 for "action news" at 11:00 here on channel6. 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 as we come on the air. the showdown in the senate over president trump's supreme court pick, neil gorsuch. democrats voting tonight to block him. preparing for the so-called nuclear option. changing the rules to push him through with a simple majority. our team standing by. the deadly terror attack in russia. you will see the video from right of the attack. tonight, the death toll and news on a bomb in a second location. in this country, the deadly storms at this hour. tornado watches up right more than a dozen tornadoes reported already. a mother and child killed. blinding rain right up in the northeas