>> i mean, 20 rounds were shot off and i heard people screaming and there was a pause, i stuck my head up and more shooting happened and i assumed he changed the magazine or something like that with his handgun or whatever he had. a teenager describes the terrifying scene inside a colorado movie theater, where a man opened fire on the crowd, killing at least 12 people. and, good morning, everyone. welcome to news 4 midday. i'm barbara harrison. it's friday, july 20th, 2012. we begin this morning with that breaking news in aurora, colorado. this is what we know at this hour. 12 people were killed when a gunman opened fire in a crowded

midnight showing of the new batman movie "the dark knight rises." at least 50 other people were hurt in that shooting. police say they took the lone gunman into custody shortly after the shooting. again, this shooting took place in aurora, colorado, which is just east of denver. and we're hearing more about how this mass shooting happened from people who were at that colorado movie theater. news 4 erikas good goods has be been following developments all morning. >> as you said, we are learning more about what the suspected lone gunman in this attack, 24-year-old james holmes allegedly opened fire on the aurora theater shortly after midnight, but the biggest question, the motive. why? remains unanswered at this time. >> it was a shootout scene. there were guns firing and then a loud bang came from the right of the theater and smoke took over the entire theater. >> reporter: witnesses say they

were minutes into "the dark knight rises" when a man walked into the theater. >> i saw a tear gas can fly over the audience. i was with two friends and i told them to get down and we got on the floor in front of our seats. >> reporter: hundreds scrambled to find their way out of the theater as the suspect allegedly went on a shooting rampage. holmes was just feet away from her. >> then he shot the ceiling and right after he shot the ceiling he pointed the gun right at me and that that point i dove into the aisle. >> reporter: at least 12 people are dead. 10 of them still inside the theater, two others died at area hospitals and at least 50 have been injured. the youngest being a 6-year-old. holmes was taken into custody on site. he told police there were explosives both in his car and home. detectives did not find anything in his white car, but they are still searching his apartment. and we want to show you, this is

a live chopper look at the suspect's apartment and the reason why it has taken authorities so much longer to access this apartment because they have confirmed it is booby trapped to use their words, their terminology this morning. authorities taking extra time in order to access this apartment. in one of the most terrifying things, barbara, that we heard from a lot of the witnesses this morning is that this is very much so anticipated movie. so, you had a lot of people that were dressed in costumes and you really couldn't differentiate who was there dressed in costume just to enjoy themselves that evening and then how to differentiate them from this lone gunman. we're live in the newsroom this morning, erika a gonzalez, back to you. >> thank you very much, erika. the shooting in colorado is on everyone's mind as they head to theaters.

a theater from northwest d.c. richard, what is the mood like there now? >> barbara, the majority of people coming out to the movies today are not going to let a shooting stop them from watching a film they had been anticipating. this is the theater in cleveland park. a line of people just went inside for the next showing of "the dark knight" barricades were even set up to hold the crowd. the poster promotes the most anticipated movie of the summer. tickets for "the dark knight" are selling at some theaters, even hours after a shocking midnight movie massacre. >> for someone to come in a theater through an emergency exit. a little scary, a little frightening. >> reporter: but some people were out early for the latest in the batman franchise. >> i'm not going to stop doing what i'm going to do because somebody shot people. you have to go on with your life. >> reporter: the flick billed as an action-packed thriller.

drawing big crowds for the premiere showings but the hype for the movie is tainted by tragedy. an audience covered in blood and so many killed and moviegoers are going to the theater with shootings on their minds, but they won't let fear get in the way. >> i hope it's not like a pattern and doesn't spread all over, but just like one isolated incident. >> take away your liberty because some nut did it somewhere. if you're going to start searching everybody. nobody want to go to the movies any more. >> reporter: d.c. police say they will pay extra attention to theaters this weekend. movie goers say that's fine with them, but what they don't want to see are metal detectors or security inspecting people just to go to the movies. reporting live in northwest, washington, richard jordan, news 4. >> thank you, richard. that film's premiere in paris has been canceled. warner brothers issued a statement saying "warner brothers is deeply saddened to learn about this shocking incident. we extend our spathies

to the loved ones of the victims at this tragic time." more on the mass shooting at "news 4 midday" in our next half hour. a former fbi criminal profiler will weigh in on this case, as well as a psychiatrist. you can also follow the very latest on nbcwashington.com. turping to the weather now and cloudy skies this morning. tom kierein joins us with the first forecast for midday. good morning. >> good morning, barbara. we had light rain approaching the metro area over about the last hour or so. right now, where you see those areas in green, we are getting light rain in fairfax county and into loudoun county and farther south prince william and then it breaks up a bit further west and then those areas in yellow and orange, moderate downpours just north of winchester and frederick county, virginia. and north of there, panhandle of west virginia and a few other pockets of heavier downpours, as well, now showing up in the

highlands of west virginia. all of this is advancing towards the metro area and later today, these areas in yellow could get some downbursts. those could produce some wind damage. that would be areas south and east of the metro area from strong thunderstorms. but the main threat is flooding around much of the region. we have a flash flood watch in effect noon all the way through this evening and includes northern virginia, the district, most of region and heavy downpours that might cause localized flooding. we'll keep you posted on that and improving news for the weekend, your seven-day outlook in just a few minutes. barbara? >> thank you, tom. we'll take a look now at our mid-day traffic. our first look at midday. here's danella sealock. >> good morning, barbara. a couple things to watch out for. if you're traveling in glendale, downed power lines because of an earlier accident. power lines are still down and right now eastbound, green belt road all those eastbound lanes are blocked. please avoid the area.

let's head over to the beltway. old indian head, excuse me, indian head highway. crash in this area causing big delays. in fact, as you make your way from branch avenue, you're slow on the inner loop. i'll show you what the scene looks like. earlier all of the lanes were blocked on the inner loop and now just the local lanes are blocked. you can get by in the express lanes, just slow. barbara, back over to you. >> thank you, danella. as pepco works to restore power. the utility has requested a 4% hike to be improved by the service commission. for pepco customers that means an extra $5.50 on every bill, but state lawmakers are calling on the commission to deny that hike. they say the utility doesn't deserve it. pepco has been under fire for taking more than a week to restore power to hundreds of thousands of customers fwraum storms earlier this month. and today in apalaxandria, a judge will sentence a former

marine who fired shots at several military buildings in our region. the 24-year-old pleaded guilty to charges of destroying u.s. property. he fired at the pentagon, the marine corps museum in quantico and two recruiting centers back in 2010. police arrested him near arlington national cemetery last june. a plea agreement calls for a 25-year prissaon sentence. mayor gray says the media to blame for low poll numbers. a new "washington post" poll shows 54% of d.c. voters want mayor gray to resign. 61% felt he is not honest and trustworthy. the mayor is being treated unfairly by the media and elected officials, too, who call for him to step down. mayor gray urged people to allow the investigation to play out before passing judgment. >> you know, you're dealing with perception and i understand that. that's what polls are, they're

perception. the facts are different than some of those perceptions. >> three aides have pleaded guilty this year to conspiracy charges related to gray's 2010 may oral campaign. 11:10 is our time. coming up, we continue our coverage of the shooting inside a colorado movie theater. we just heard from president obama on the tragedy. stay

i'm barack obama and i approve this message. [romney singing]: oh beautiful, for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain, for purple mountains majesty, above the fruited plain, america, america, god shed his grace on thee, and crowned thy good, with brotherhood...

we're continuing to follow breaking news in aurora, colorado. a gunman opened fire inside a movie theater, killing 12 people. 50 others were hurt. it happened during the midnight premiere of the new batman film "the dark knight rises." federal law enforcement says the suspected gunman is 24-year-old james holmes and he is in custody at this time. witnesses say the gunman was wearing a gas mask when he set off some sort of gas canister in the theater and then shot anyone who tried to leave. and right now, president obama is in ft. myers, florida, earlier today he released a statement on the mass shooting in colorado. it reads in part, "michelle and i are shocked and saddened by the horrific and tragic shooting

in colorado. it goes on to say, federal and local law enforcement are still responding and my administration will do everything we can to support the people of aurora in this extraordinarily difficult time." just minutes ago he spoke in front of a crowd of supporters. >> we're going to stand by our neighbors in colorado during this extraordinarily difficult time. i had a chance to speak with the mayor of aurora, as well as the governor of colorado to express not just on behalf of michelle and myself, but the entire american family. how heart broken we are. >> and the president has decided to cancel a second stop scheduled today in florida because of that mass shooting. first lady michelle obama also canceled her events for today out of respect for the victims in colorado. mrs. obama was scheduled to travel to the university of mary washington in frederick, virginia. she was planning to talk to grassroots supporters. the first lady was also

scheduled to go to charlot charlottesville as part of an event to get out of the women's vote. meanwhile, mitt and ann romney canceled their scheduled events today. they released a statement saying "ann and i are deeply saddened about the news of the senseless violence that took the lives of 15 people in colorado. we are praying for the families and the loved ones of the victims of the families at this time." >> we are recovering from some pretty nasty weather last night. >> we had heavy downpours last night and it does look like, unfortunately, more later today. right now, don't have any severe weather threat or any flooding threat as we take a look at the sky over washington, though, it certainly does look rainy. got some heavy, dark clouds rolling over the metro area now. that's a live view from our hd city camera. right now reagan national is at 79. dew point a steamy 71 and high humidity and a light breeze and

as we take a look at the july rainfall so far, we've had it national airport just a little over two inches. a quarter of an inch below average. we have caught up a little bit, but still running six to seven inches below average around much of the reejen for the year. now, storm 4 radar showing some light rain generally across northern virginia, but these are heavier downpours we're getting in frederick county, virginia, and into the panhandle of west virginia and those areas in orange and yellow pass well north of the metro area. closer to washington, getting a few sprinkles and starting to show up here in the district. these areas in green sprinkles of light rain and fairfax county and farther south along and getting some other light showers now and st. mary's and these are advancing to the north and east. this is the zone, too, in yellow that could get stronger storms that might produce some wind damage south and east of the metro area, including southern maryland and eastern shore and northern neck and much of virginia. that would be later today, but then generally around 3:00 p.m.

to around 8:00 p.m. that might happen. much of the region, the main problem is going to be flooding from heavy downpours. that's not going to occur until perhaps late afternoon into this evening. flash flood watch up and all these counties in green, including just all of northern virginia and the district and all of maryland and eastern and west virginia. the temperatures now around the region, generally a in the suburbs and these areas in the low 80s and mid-80s across southeastern virginia and out of the mountains, right around 70 now. and the rainmaker is this stalled front that yesterday was to our north and did slowly sink south last night triggering those strong storms and now an area of weak pressure formed along that front and rolling over us later today and when that happens, that's when we'll get our increasing chance for heavy downpours as we look here going forward over the next several hours. these areas in color, these are the zones that could get downpours.

we still might have a passing shower during the day on sunday, but only a very small chance and then on sunday, things will be improving and only a small chance of an isolated thundershower on sunday afternoon. how much rain? well, some areas, all these areas in, you see it lavender and red, they could get up to two inches or more. generally right around washington. we could pick up anywhere from about an inch and a half to two and a half inches and that may happen very quickly and that would be enough to cause some isolated flooding. so, that's going to be the story for the afternoon. have an umbrella handy and some passing showers, just some light showers initially, but then by late afternoon, when we could get maybe some thunder and li t lightni lightning, a chance of flooding and reaching low to mid-80s in the next few hours and then dropping back to the 70s tonight. tonight generally from 6:00 p.m. all the way until 10:00 or so we could get the heaer showersay p and watch out for high water and when it's dark, that's when it's more dangerous because you don't know how deep it is. don't ever attempt to drive

through high water. tomorrow looking better. small chance of a shower and sunday partly sunny, mid-80s and only slight chance for an afternoon storm and then lower humidity moves in. cooler wednesday, thursday. >> tom, thank you. and we're going to head off to the roads and see how things are looking out there. danella a, good morning. >> good morning. still seeing problems if you're traveling the inner loop of the beltway. express lanes are opened and inner lanes are blocked and you can expect delays starting right around branch avenue. let's head over to i-95. you know how it goes if you're leaving on friday thinking of heading out of town very slow as you pass the occoquan. no accidents, just slow past the occoquan river bridge. back over to you. >> thanks, danella. still ahead on news 4 midday, we'll have the latest on what we know about the suspect in a colorado movie theater showing the new batman movie.

right now police are still going through his apartment looking for a clue to the motive. and the normal heart is now playing at the arena theater. we'll talk to two of the stars of the show about the timing of the production and more. but, first, here's a look at [ male announcer ] where did all the obama stimulus money go? friends, donors, campaign supporters, special interest groups where did the obama stimulus money go? solyndra: 500 million taxpayer dollars. bankrupt. so where did the obama stimulus money go? windmills from china. electric cars from finland 79% of the 2.1 billion in stimulus grants awarded through it went to overseas companies. [ romney ] i'm mitt romney and i approve this message.

>> proclaiming its superiority see i am trying to be proud. you only find yourself normal. i beginning to think that you and your straight world are our enemy. this is a scene from the "normal heart" now playing in the arena stage. a look at the early '80s when aids ripped through the gay community.

two stars of the show join us this morning with more on the production and a special benefit performance that's coming up. good morning, thank you, both, for coming today. >> morning. >> this is a real moving play and it's being performed during the international aids conference. it's significant that it's being here in washington and tell me why you think so. >> well, i think it's significant that the aids conference is being held in the united states for the first time in 22 years, which is a huge deal. and we're just very lucky the play is about the, like you were saying, the initial time of aids and how everything began and what the state of being was at the time. so that it insides with the national aids conference incredibly exciting to us. >> do you think this is a complacent topic that we don't feel the need to fight as hard as we were, let's say 10, 15 years ago? >> less about complacency and just understanding the fact that the aids conference is finally

allowed to come to the united states because the government was so afraid that, in fact, that people were going to come into the united states and no one wants a disease in their country. so, this, this play is really a about actually about how little we knew at the time and how little we still know at the time. >> tell us about your character that you play. >> i play felix turner who is a "new york times" journalist working, the very fancy paper in 1980s and, ultimately, about how i fall in love with a man and his ultimate sort of infected by the horrible disease. >> you play a doctor, patricia. >> dr. emma brookner. >> you treat these pients. again, this is back in the '80s before we made some of the strides that we made so far. so, and it's a part in the play where you actually break down and it's very moving part of the show. how hard is it to do that night after night? >> actually, the part i almost look forward to doing every night because it is so, such a powerful part of the play and

it's a chance, finally, where my character has been dealing with so much, has a chance to express her point of view, which is anger at how little the government has been helping with the aids crisis that's taking place in new york and how much it had been ignored and treated like a tabu and she finally rages against the government's slow response and it's actually incredible piece of writing. i feel privileged to be able to do it, actually. >> again, taking place in the '80s and you still feel a significant message here for the public to hear. >> a message to be heard and a lot of laughs to be had, as well. i feel like we're sitting here talking about how horrible and angry it is, but like any great piece of theater, more than tears and ang aer and laughter and joy and hope, as well. we want people to move out of the play with that, as well. >> the play ends beautifully. it just -- >> we've been hearing that. and i know you both want

everyone to know "the normal heart" runs through july 29th at a arena's krieger theater and a performance taking place this monday that benefits the washington's aids partnership and the arena stage. thank you so much for coming in. >> thank you. >> remind us that this wonderful event is going on. thank you so much. 11:27. coming up in the next half hour of "news 4 midday" a rush to escape a shooter inside a colorado movie theater. victims who lived through this life-threatening situation. plus, how much more rain we can expect today. tom kierein is back w

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we're following breaking news in aurora, colorado. a 24-year-old man is in custody after a deadly mass shooting at a movie theater. police say james holmes, an american, killed 12 people when he opened fire inside the theater. a crowd was there to see a midnight showing of the new

batman movie "the dark knight rises." at least 50 other people were injured. and right now president obama is in ft. myers, florida. he just spoke to a crowd of supporters. he said the shooting is a reminder that we are united as one american family and he then asked for a moment of silence. the president has canceled the rest of his day's campaign stops. for the dozens of people inside the theater when the shooting started, they paint a terrifying picture. witnesses talked to "today" show and described the chaos around them. >> he went ahead and shot his gun in the air a towards the ceiling and everybody freaked out at that point and right when he did that, he pointed his gun straight at my face and i got terrified. i didn't know what to do. like deer in the headlights and just jumped into the aisle and curled up in a little ball. he started shooting people right behind me and i thought, you know, gun shells were touching my forehead and burning my forehead and all i could smell

was smoke and massive amounts of screaming and panic and chaos. >> after the shooting was over, there was a period of quietness and everyone started to run up towards the top of the theater to get out of the top exit. i actually went to a row behind me, i slipped on some blood and landed on a lady. i went toward the exit and waited in the exit for my friends and saw a guy with blood across his face and on his shoulders and just got out of that movie theater. >> police say the shooter opened fire in theater eight. but movie goers in theater nine reported bullets flying through the wall. it's unknown if anyone in any of the other theaters were hurt from the shootings. the family of the suspect in this case lives in california and says their hearts go out to all those involved. the danger may not be over. police evacuated what is believed to be james holmes' apartment building early this morning after the gunman claimed

that he had stashed explosives there and in his car. nothing was found in the car, but the bomb squad is still working to find a way inside the apartment without setting off what could be booby traps. former fbi profiler clint van zandt joined the "today" show why he would tell police about the potential explosives. >> sometimes it's to have the situation continue, matt. he sees it short lived. he sees his involvement at that second has ended, but if he gives a little more information, in his mind, it makes it that much more dramatic. matt, i would suggest at this moment he probably doesn't know how many people he actually killed and injured. so, he's even building his story up to make it more dramatic for law enforcement. >> it's unclear at this hour whether any explosives have been found in that apartment complex. and as we learn more about the suspect in this case, the

victims and their families will have a long road ahead of them. dr. joshua weiner joins us this morning with more on that trauma that they're facing and good morning, thanks for coming in to talk about this. >> sure, thanks. >> what about those people who were there? the ones who were injured and the families of those who were killed. tell us a little bit about what they must be going through right now? >> they're probably experiencing a flood of so many emotions hard for them to even identify any one single emotion. in fact, probably many of them are feeling this term called dissociation where what occurred wasn't real, a bad dream. some of them will start feeling pretty soon some element of survivor's guilt. why was i okay when the person next to me got shot and was killed. so, the flood of emotions is just going to be incredible for these people. they have a long hallul ahead o them. some of them are going to have

problems with sleep, nightmares, just getting depressed, feeling numb, going through grief. they may have lost friends or other loved ones there. it will run the range of emotions and take a lot of time for these people to heal. generally when people experience a major trauma, statistically, about 15% of them will go on to develop post-traumatic stress disorder. >> very often in these kind of situations, particularly when it involves young people psychiatrists and psychologists are brought in to help them deal with this kind of tragedy. is this what you can expect to happen out there? >> absolutely. i'm sure they're bringing in a number of mental health providers trying to give everybody an opportunity to process what happened. you want to have people to have the opportunity to talk in vivid detail, second by second about what happened to allow them to process it and not have it end up having a long-term detrimental effect for them. you're going to want to do that. now, with family members. family members and loved ones

will do with the survivors they will allow that person to talk about things in detail. i do not think it's a good idea for people, whenever they're experiencing a trauma and you're the person trying to help that person, it's not helpful to say, well, look, it's really great that you lived. you just have to be thankful that you survived. >> that's not a good thing. >> that's not helpful. the most helpful thing for people to help is just try to understand. that should be their main goal. ask questions and try to understand how that person is feeling. don't try to make them feel better. it probably won't make them feel better. >> let's talk about the suspect. this man apparently planned this. he had tear gas or some kind of gas canister and weapons, four weapons they're saying. what would be his mental state of mind, do you think? just trying to guess. >> right, so hard to know. but, clearly, this is a very, very, very sick man. and he was possibly psychotic. what i mean by psychotic, he's out of touch with reality and

doesn't really recognize the consequences of his actions. maybe that's because of drugs, maybe that's because of a mental illness like schizophrenia where you're hearing voices, having dilutions and being told by voices in your head telling you that you need to do this for some reason. i think it's also possible, maybe, that this person felt like their life was just worthless, meaningless. they had depression and ang aer and felt like they could make a difference, albeit a very sick difference by going out and creating a mastrocity. now, everybody is going to know who this person is and that may make him feel like he's important and his life has meant something. >> quickly, should there have been any sign of this kind of behavior coming for his family, for friends who might have known him? anything that we could have said, hey, this guy, we better watch him? >> i think that what you have to do is look back and find out whether this person has had a mental illness that wasn't being treated or acting in very strange ways and whether they've been talking and act aing as if they're talking to people who

aren't there. if they're stockpiling weapons and so forth. these are signs that something probably ominous is up ahead. >> dr. joshua weiner, thanks for stopping what you were doing and coming in to help us out with this today. we appreciate you being here. >> thank you. and stay with news 4 for continuing coverage of this mass shooting at a colorado movie theater. if there are any new developments within the hour, we will bring them to you here on "news 4 midday." also follow the very latest on nbcwashington.com. for the third time in the past week and a half, one d.c. neighborhood is mopping up this morning after strong storms caused streets to flood. check out this home video of water gushing from a manhole at first and v. streets in the bloomingdale area. homes could end up under water again tonight with the threat of more rain. news 4 megan mcgrath talked to residents in northwest. >> it's been a tough week and a half for the folks who live in the bloomingden dale neighborhood in northwest washington. they have flooded three times in

the last ten days it happened on thursday and it happened on wednesday and they were also under water last week. and, unfortunately, we are expecting more rain today, possibly one to two inches, a flash flood warning has been issued and it kicks in at noon and will last until 11:00 tonight. and the folks who live in this neighborhood, needless to say, are very frustrated. they are tired of cleaning up and having to air out their basements and are a little bit nervous about what's to come this afternoon. >> coming through the back door, through the front door, through the bathroom and it's happened three times in the last ten days. it's been crazy. >> what do you think of this? >> what can you do? i mean, this is just what it is. all you can do is prepare the best that you possibly can and, you know, have your premiums paid up and hope for the best. >> and some residents are taking precautions. they've raised things up off the floor down in the basement area.

and others are putting sandbags and towels down along the bottom along the door jam. they are trying to prevent water from coming in and everyone is keeping an eye to the sky and hoping that this afternoon's storm doesn't bring too much rain. in northwest washington, megan mcgrath, news 4. let's check in with tom now to see if we can expect any more of the same today. tom? >> unfortunately, we do have the threat of more heavy rain. now, yesterday, we had them sort of very isolated, heavy downpours and not very many of them. today, unlike yesterday, i think we're going to have more numerous isolated heavy downpours and that's going to begin, perhaps, in the next two or three hours. right now, though, right around the metro area, getting just a little bit of sprinkles right out here on the storm 4 weather patio and just getting a few sprinkles here right now and those areas you see in the yellow and orange and north and west of washington, they're getting moderate downpours and

northern shenandoah valley and in the district, northern virginia, northern maryland, just a few scattered sprinkles and those areas in yellow might get strong storms with damaging winds. that would be late this afternoon, early this evening and areas south and east of the metro region. and as we also look at this area in green, this is the flash flood watch. it starts at noon, continues all the way into tonight, covers northern virginia, the district and east and west virginia. temperatures right now in the 70s to near 80 degrees and reagan national now at 79 and highs reaching low to mid-80s and when we get in the next two to three hours and then after that some of the heavier downpours later this afternoon, tonight, improving news for the weekend. next week starting off, heat and humidity maybe afternoon storms but a break from the heat and humidity mid-week. that's the way it looks. barbara? >> thank you, tom. a member of congress thinks d.c. should be able to tax commuters who drive or ride into the city every morning. here's a live look at commuter

traffic this morning. house republican darrell issa says he wants to hold a hearing on the possibility of a commuter tax. because of home rule, d.c. is the only place in the country that can't levee that kind of tax. issa says he's not necessarily supporting the idea, but says he thinks it's a bad idea to give workers an incentive to live in maryland or virginia but work in d.c. and taking metro in or around the city this weekend could be tough with track work on all five lines. on the red line, trains will travel through the medical center and besthesda stations but will not stop there. on the blue line single track between van dorn and springfield. trains will single track between east and west falls church. green line trains will track between prince george's plaza. yellow line trains are only traveling between huntington and mt. vernon square. work starts at 10:00 tonight. we're going to check your mid-day traffic right now and

see how things are looking. here's danella, again. good morning. >> good morning. good news, i'm sorry, i just realized looks like, no, it's still shut down and i was hoping this accident would be clear. here's what's happening taking the inner loop of the beltway and still seeing local lanes blocked and express lanes are open, but you can see crews are still here clearing the earlier accident, so, just be aware of that as you're making your commute. let's head over to i-95 in virginia because still seeing delays, really, as you make your way past lorten and continuing to prince william parkway. barbara, back over to you. >> thanks. a 4-year-old's girl make a wish dream is blocked by her father. mu kenna may has been battling leukemia for two years and she beat the disease, but qualified for make a wish while she was in the hospital. makenna asked for a trip to disney world. the only problem, both parents need to sign off on that wish and her father is refusing. makenna a's dad says he has a

good reason why he doesn't want his daughter to go. >> make a wish is money and it should go towards terminally ill children. children that won't have the opportunity later on in life to experience things like disney world. >> her mother says her daughter is worthy of a trip to disney world. she plans on taking her daughter there as soon as possible. 11:44 is our time now and still ahead on "news 4 midday" how the markets will end the week and why michael phelps is

a trio of car recalls to tell you about this morning. honda is recalling more than 300,000 2012 crvs because of a malfunction on the door handles. they're also recalling around 7,000 2013 small luxury cars because of that same problem, which might not allow the doors to close. owners will start getting letters from the company next month and should take those cars to honda dealerships to fix that problem. and ford is warning owners of the 2013 ford escape to stop

driving those cars immediately. ford is recalling more than 11,000 2013 escapes because of a fuel line problem. the lines can crack and spill gasoline, which could cause the engine to catch on fire. ford is only recalling models with the 1.6 liter four cylinder engine built between april and early july. customers who own the affected car should contact their local dealers to get the fuel lines replaced. well, the makers of "the dark knight rises" make a bold decision in the wake of the deadly theater shootings in colorado. bertha coombs joins us with more on that and has the rest of the days news, too. bertha? >> good morning, barbara. the dow jones industrial average three-day winning streak looks to come to an end today. stocks are lower overall on continuing worries about european debt. interest rates on spain's debt have shot off to a new record

high above 7% after the valencia region. that region filing for financial aid from a brand-new federal government bailout fund after not being able to refinance some $3 billion in debt that comes due at the end of 2012. also adding to the downside disappointing news from zer ox a and microsoft. the mood on wall street also dampened by the tragic shooting in colorado. warner brothers the studio that released "the dark knight" has canceled a gala red carpet premiere in paris tonight. according to "hollywood reporter" they have scheduled interviews and those have been kar canceled. the studio expressed deepest sympathies to the family and loved ones. bringing mtv, nickelodeon, comedy central, b.e.t. and a host of other channels back on

the air for subscribers. so much sad news today, barbara, it's a good day to let the kids spend a little time with spongebob squarepants. >> good idea. have a good weekend. >> you, too. well, just a week until the opening ceremony at the london olympics. there are now some major traffic concerns in the host city. visitors and athletes are being warned there could be gridlock because of the games coinciding with the islamic holy month of ramadan. east london where many of the venues are located is home to 100 mosques. local politicians say nightly prayers at those mosques could disrupt traffic and overcrowd the subway system. another team usa uniform flap. this time over the swimming caps. michael phelps is annoyed with new restrictions on how many flags can be on a swimmer's cap. the flag can only be on one side

of the cap. the ioc introduced the new rule this year. phelps wore a double flag swim cap in beijing, where he took home a record eight gold medals. remember, nbc 4 is your home for the 2012 london olympics and be sure to visit the london 2012 section of nbcwashington.com. for updates throughout the games. 11:51 is our time right now. coming up, a chance to win $1 million. plus, meteorologist tom kierein will be back with another check on our weekend forecast. stay i'm barack obama and i approve this message. [romney singing]: oh beautiful, for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain, for purple mountains majesty,

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well, it looks like tom and katie are moving on in very different directions, but that tops our morning mcfly report. maybe he'll tell us something different. tommy mcfly, 94.7 fresh fm is here with the news. >> how's it going? >> really good. well, you know, a lot of things not so good today, but always great to see you with some fun talk. >> yes, so, tom cruise and katie holmes both making their way separately and going two different directions. so, we hear that tom cruise has a new girlfriend. >> what's up with that? >> a lot of speculation around this young lady that she was hand picked by scientologists.

if you believe the agreements with women to be married but a new lady in his life. >> that's not her, that's suri. >> he got some visitation with suri earlier this week where they went to gymnastics and all these shots of him carrying her. the last time katie holmes is on broadway. now part of a revival of "dead accounts" which is going to be coming back and she's going to be involved in that. >> she set up household now in new york city. >> that's her place. >> i heard she was looking for a house in princeton, new jersey. that's an inside, inside story. >> maybe she wants to commute to the city and suri is enrolled in one of the private schools that lady gaga and paris hilton went to. moving on to donald trump. he made a statement about his hair earlier this week. what did he say? >> he's such a knucklehead. a writer wrote about his hair in "vanity fair" magazine and he

tweeted that the failing magazine "vanity fair" because "vanity fair" is failing and he said his hair is once and for all real. everyone speculated it was a hair piece and he is saying it is real. >> he does not deny it is a comb over. >> no denying that. you can absolutely tell it is a combover. >> i believe it is real. certainly an interesting hair do. >> you can't make that in a factory. >> yeah, that's probably true. a potato chip contest you want to share with us. >> lay's potato chips on their facebook page is offering a $1 million prize for people to submit what kind of potato chips you think they should make. create your own flavor. that's what you're going to do. also give you 1% of the net profits of your chip for the first year that it's out. so, what do you like? what would you want to have in a potato chip? >> maybe cilantro and jalapeno and garlic.

>> cilantro sound good. >> tomato basil chip. >> maybe i just want to have some mexican food. >> that's true. let's go get some fajitas after the show. >> thank you so much. great to see you. >> thank you, barbara. and we are still monitoring the latest developments from colorado, at least 12 people dead, 50 others injured when a gunman opened fire at a movie theater. police have arrested a man they suspect as being the shooter. we'll have continuing coverage online at nbcwashington.com and this afternoon starting on news 4 at 4:00. and time now for final check on our forecast, here's tom kierein. tom? >> right now we have light rain now beginning to fall in the metro area as we look at the radar. some heavier rains farther north and west of washington, but right now around the immediate metro area, just a few sprinkles, but as we get into the afternoon hours, could get heavier storms south and east of washington in this yellow zone and some could produce some wind damage and generally the threat is flooding, flash flood watch out all these areas in green,

northern virginia, the district and east and west virginia and temperatures right now are near 80 degrees and heavier downpours later this afternoon and this evening that might cause some flooding. stay away from high water. that's the way it looks. >> all right, tom. we'll continue to follow the weather throughout this day and there could be some pretty bad storms. and we'll continue to follow our breaking news out of aurora a, colorado, as well. that's it for news 4 midday. we thank you for being with us and invite you to tune in for news at 4:00, 5:00, 6:00 and 11:00. news throughout the weekend