section of philadelphia. they came to grieve for 57-year-old kevin cullen beaten to death sunday night. they came to give each other support, neighbors, friends and family. it's wednesday night. the big story on "action news" is a candle light vigil for a victim of murder while police try to track down the killers. "action news" reporter christie ileto is live at the scene of the crime in mayfair. christie? >> jim, you can see the candles, flow tereflowers and cards are o mark the spot kevin cullen was beat to death sunday. his family said he was an easy target admitting he had demons like most people but didn't deserve to die like this. >> this means so much to our family. >> they greeted friends and even

strangers where their brother was beaten to death. >> it doesn't matter if it was a teenager. to be that vicious -- my brother wouldn't harm anyone. >> surveillance video show him walking down the street. a group of teens follow. several minutes later, bludgeoned. >> someone started calling and theianswered it and they hung u. >> this happens all the time around here. it's not reported because it's small crimes. >> right now, no arrests have been made. that's left many who live here on edge. >> that could have been my dad or me. >> the residents are forming a

block watch. kevin's family sa want the kills to do the right thing. >> a go fund me has been started but his family has asked that, that be donated for a reward to find the killer. >> police are investigating a pedestrian struck on the septa line. >> there is new information tonight in the deadly confrontation near drexel university's campus when a man intervened in a spat between a boyfriend and girlfriend. detectives charged joseph with murder. he shot and killed 21-year-old

murlos on the 2100 block last night. he was arguing with his girlfriend, a drexel student and the two men got into an altercation. he stepped back and fired three times saying it was self defense. >> homicide detectives identified the suspect arrested for the grizzly murder of a woman in west philadelphia. cole swarringer herring is accused of stabbing a woman 50 times and setting her body on fire. she has not been > identified. herring has been accused of murder and several other offenses. >> they call him the king of

television but he's dethroned in disgrace. >> matt lauer has been ousted for inappropriate sexual behavior. co-host guthrie explained has happened. we received the following note. dear colleagues, monday night we received a detailed complaint from a colleague about inappropriate sexual behavior by matt lauer. >> how do you reconcile your love with someone with the fact that they behaved badly. >> a current nbc employee accused lauer with misconduct starting at the winter olympics in 2014.

lauer has had no comment yet. hours after nbc fired lauer, long time radio host garrison keeler noted he had been fired. the 75-year-old tells the minneapolis star tribune that his hand once slipped up a woman's shirt while trying to console her and he apologized at the time. he was known for creating the show, a prairie home companion in 1974. >> the president trump has provoked muslims by retreating a video. they purport to show violence committed by muslims, reports they say are fake. >> teresa may says it was wrong

for the president to do this, that the group seeks to divide through hateful narratives which stok tensions. >> sarah sanders defended what trump did. >> it's important to talk about national security and threats. whether it's a real video, the threat is real. that's what the president is talking about. that's what the president is focused on, dealing with the real threats. >> the tweet from the aclu, trump's prejudice against muslims reveals itself at every turn. >> investigators in croighten say a fire happened in front of the fire house. annie mccormick is live tonight. fill us in? >> jim, that's right. they didn't have far to go to fight the fire.

the firefighter only suffered minor injuries. there is a lot of activity out here five hours after this happened. >> the battalion chief crashed into a utility pole sparking the blaze. >> i saw the utility car come down the street with its lights on, then fireworks. >> the suv had croighten fire and rescue on the side snapped the pole in half. they say firefighters on every apparatus were headed to a call. it happened at 5:30 this evening. >> i have seen it come down the road. he skidded and he went around there and hit the pole. >> hours after dousing the

flames, peco worked on the lines. no one was taken to hospital. 50 back out here live, jim. you can see the road closure roads went up by penn.near cedar road. we are told there are a lot of questions around what happened. police are investigating. reporting live, channel6 "action news." back to you. >> thank you, >> cyclists are renewing calls for the city to provide more protection for them. the crash is under investigation. a man that sucker punched a man with cerebral palsy will

head to prison for three to six years. barry baker pled guilty to hitting the man. he begged for leniency today but the judge called him a bully, predator and coward. after baker was identified as the defendant, he fled from police to avoid apprehension. >> cool air for the last day of november. let's get the first look at the accuweather forecast with meteorologist cecily tynan. >> our taste of spring in late november will be ending. ten degrees above normal, today, 64-degrees in philadelphia. wilmington, 67. allentown, 63. trenton, 64. the atlantic city airport, 66-degrees. a cold front slipped through this afternoon. this has opened the door for high pressure in canada.

that's cool flow of air. 46 in philadelphia. syracuse 27-degrees continues to pull the cooler air in as we head through the overnight hours. the accuweather highlights show you temperatures back to seasonal levels tomorrow. another front will bring us showers late tomorrow night. i have all of the details in the seven-day forecast. jim? >> thank you, cecily. >> an american airlines mistake could put your holiday travel plans up in the air. a bizarre scheduling glitz allowed several pilots to take leave at the same time. american, which is the largest airline in the world plans to fill the holes by offering overtime pay to take the routes and using back up reserve

pilots. the union has filed after grievance. that solution may never get off the ground. we'll keep track of that and let you know. >> in wilmington tonight, school officials and governor carney met to discuss a controversial plan to consolidate five schools into two. parents said it doesn't address safety concerns or quality of education for their students. still to come, stunning video from inside a courtroom as a criminal conducts one final outrage. >> and tampa, florida takes its serial killer off of the streets. >> meteorologist cecily tynan comes back with a weekend out look from accuweather. ducis rogers and the sixers taking on the wizards when

"action news" continues

>> it is a huge feeling of relief in tampa, florida after police caught the serial killer terrorizing the community. 24-year-old howell donaldson is being charged in all o four of the deadly shootings taking place since early october. a coworker at mcdonalds gave them a tip that led to the killer. they don't have a motivate. a convicted war criminal pulled out a vile of poison and swallowed it in front of everyone. it happened after the judge gave the judgment. he said, i reject your verdict.

he swallowed the liquid from the bottle and died shortly after. >> u.s. ambassador to the u.n. nikki halee says if war comes from the result of yesterday's launch of a ballistic missile, make no mistake, the north korean regime will be utterly destroyed. >> republic leaders are hoping to get a final vote on the tax plan thursday or friday. 42-58, meanwhile conservative lawmakers and groups are lining up against a plan to trigger automatic tax hikes. if the plan doesn't boost the economy as much as they expect. >> a south jersey carpenter has found himself a victim of a crime for a second time.

donald haynes lost his leg 17 years ago after being shot by an armed home intruder. yesterday he was working and someone stole his wit equipment. anyone with information should call police. >> the pont i have used these vehicles to get around during the world meeting in 2015. the first was auctioned off last year for $82,000 t. new auction that opened today for the archdiocese will run through december 20th and proceeds will benefit the 2017 catholic charities appeal. philadelphia is in full holiday mode. so is channel6. earlier tonight, rick williams and cecily tynan welcomed the crowd for the annual

philadelphia celebrates the holiday special at dilworth park. lyings and animation was projected on to city hall showing off the historic building as never before. we are pleased to be part sponsor for the deck the halls light display. >> one of the best parts about it, we hear tim's voice announcing it in the beginning. i heard you three times. >> you can't go anywhere. >> i'm hearing you all around. it is pretty nice. a great night for it as well. chopper six was taking flight on the clear, calm night over the philadelphia museum of art and art museum christmas tree. we are in full holiday mode. this is live on sky 6 looking alt the christmas tree dilworth park, 15,000 lights, clean

energy 100%. nice out there. starting to feel like the holidays. 46-degrees, allentown dropped to 37. trenton 42. cape may, 47-degrees. temperatures tonight, cooler than last night. last night, 44. we'll be dropping into the 30s overnight, the average low this time of year, 35. seasonably cool and temperatures down toward the weekend. we are in the clear, but we are gibbinbeginning to see clouds advancing through late tomorrow night. if you look across the midwest, you see a few showers. we'll get a bit of that likely around midnight tomorrow night when people are sleeping. tomorrow morning, you want a coat, sunshine, chill in the air, 31-degrees. philadelphia, 38. seasonably cool, a mix of sun and clouds 10-degrees cooler

than today. the normal high tomorrow drops to 50-degrees, philadelphia, 54. allentown 50, cape may 54. reading and lancaster, 55. if timing of showers, while most of us are sleeping, midnight, tomorrow night. a band of light showers across the i-95 corridor. it's out of here pretty much by sunrise, the sunrise is back and temperatures cooling off for saturday, the colder air lagging behind. if you are ready for true chill, the climate prediction center shows december 7th through the 13th with a ridge of high pressure across the west. here in the east, we have the opposite, below normal temperatures, th. temperatures likely in the 40s,

maybe a few days with highs in the 30s. the seven-day forecast, cooler but nice. partly sunny. friday, mostly sunny after overnight showers, 53. 49-degrees, but we bounce back to 55-degrees sunday. monday, the sun mixed in with clouds. tuesday, we cloud up and warm up to 58-degrees ahead of a cold front. that front will likely bring us raid wednesday, 54-degrees. the front behind it, cooler air arriving for next week. >> thank you, cecily. >> for a sixth year in a row, cindy bass is partying with a purpose. the councilwoman held her party in mt. airy. guests stacked toys on the table before enjoying food and music. the toys will be donated in time

for christmas and hanukkah. >> interested researchers and innovators were given a close look at the new facility and how it will be used. the new location the 3600 block of market street, two blocks from the current location. central high school is planning a $42 million renovation and expansion. the city's oldest public high school and second oldest in the country has out grown its space. the expansion means a new performing art center on the north lawn and new s.t.e.m. classrooms thanks to a $10 million donation from joseph m. field. the rest will be up to fundraising. ground breaks is scheduled january 19th.

>> a celebration at the

chick-fil-a in east northen, for a donation, the chain is giving to a charity. for petes sake has received a $75,000 granten allowing the nonprofit to continue providing care for cancer patients and their families. good work there. sixers, washington at the wells fargo center. >> sixers are fun to watch. that's double when they perform like they did tonight against the wizards. joel embiid played tonight, not tomorrow night in boston. end of the first half, embid with the block. 25 points, 14 rebounds, sixers up 18 at the break. ben simmons third quarter, sixers score 31. fourth quarter, the wizards score half a shack. simmons follows him.

29 foul shots, one shot of the franchise record. now down to the three point game in the fourth. sixers win 118-113. the team reacts to the strategy. >> i never want to have a situation like that. >> you can't do nothing about it. you step up to make free throws with the great job of doing it. >> it wil three straight road gs await the eagles. the first is sunday night in seattle. jersey shore is back. get happy about that, jim. alshon jeffery limited in practice today, deal withing a foot issue. seattle is a great place to

play, they lost there last year. a lot of respect for them. they'll present a challenge. their stadium is loud. it's quite the atmosphere. it's a good atmosphere for them. >> it's a playoff type atmosphere. we have to prepare for that environment. >> still ahead, plenty of college basketball including villanova looking to

>> a busy night in college basketball, unbeaten villanova facing penn. amari scores 14. nova up 18 at halftime. second half, bridges. shoaf va improved to 7-0, 19 straight wins. st. joe's and bucknell, someone found the leftover halloween candy. newkirk adds 19. st. joe's wins 83-70. >> a big night for austin williams, 15 points. drengs el takes it by one,

68-67. that's sports. >> thank you, ducis. a military hero returned home in time for the holidays. sergeant roman received after police escort home tonight. he's been deployed in the middle east since january. he arrived home just hours ago. he rushed to his understandably emotional family. again, welcome back. "jimmy kimmel live" next followed by "nightline." "action news" continues at 40:30 with pamela edwards, matt o'donnell, meteorologis. for ducis rogers and the entire "action news" team, i'm jim gardner. goodnight. ♪ ♪