a dying man denied help just steps from a d.c. fire station. tonight his family and friends look back on his life, and demand changes to keep something like this from happening again. and controversy on the eve of the opening ceremony, and why a local athlete is stepping in to defend sochi. >> "news4 at 11" starts now. >> tonight the crime scene tape is still up as concern resonates through this quiet community. a man with gray hair and a beard knocks on the front door, then opens fire on two women who answer. one woman is dead, a second is recovering, and the manhunt continues for the person who pulled the trigger. >> we have team coverage of this story tonight, including reaction from people who knew the music teacher who was murdered. we begin with chris lawrence, who is at the scene in alexandria. chris? >> reporter: hey, jim. yeah, neighbors here are shocked and scared. and tonight we're learning that the alexandria police department has stepped up patrols not only on the street behind me, but across the area.

alexandria police on the hunt tonight for a man and a motive. >> it's kind of scary that it happened really close by. but i know that there are policemen out there. >> reporter: literally right outside. police still standing guard in her neighborhood. risi dupont was in her fifth grade class. >> we said lockdown. we went under a desk. and we were all just quiet. >> reporter: ruthanne lodato was home with her elderly mother and the woman who helps take care of her. police say a man knocked on the front door. they answered. he shot them, then ran away. police are looking for an older white man, balding with a full beard. >> we are concerned and the citizenship should be concerned. >> reporter: concerned because ruthanne's shooter is still out there, and they don't know why he killed her. >> we just don't have a motive at this time. >> reporter: what they do have is a striking similarity to

another high profile murder less than a mile away. in november, a top regional transportation planner ron kirby was gun down in his home. it's a case police have yet to crack, but one they are now comparing. >> we will have to look to see to those similarities and whether or not we're dealing with a similar homicide. >> reporter: here again, this is an extremely low crime neighborho. but police have been able to talk to that caregiver, and it's really her firsthand account of what happened that is being able to jump-start their investigation into the search for this shooter. live in alexandria, i'm chris lawrence, news4. >> thanks, chris. our team coverage continues tonight with shomari stone. he has new details about the murder victim, a well-known music teacher and a mother of three. she had strong ties to the community as well. shomari? >> reporter: well, jim, ruthanne lodato touched the lives of hundreds of people here in alexandria over the course of two decades. she actually played an organ behind me on sundays at this catholic church. and a lot of folks tell me that

god gave her the gift of music. 59-year-old ruthanne lodato, a married mother of three, a beloved music teacher, murdered inside her alexandria home. >> it's right here in our neighborhoods. >> reporter: linda is a member of del ray methodist church. she taught music lessons here for nearly 20 years, and she sometimes played the organ in church on sundays. describe how she played the organ? >> beautifully. and she made us all sound good. so, yeah, very well. >> reporter: how are you dealing with this? >> i'm totally shocked. just totally shocked. >> reporter: tonight church members had a private prayer service for her inside these brick walls. people who would shoot such a sweet, well respected woman, the daughter of a prominent judge who passed away years ago. >> such a nice lady. just a beautiful woman really did a lot for this parish.

>> ruthanne was a parishioner at blessed sacrament sacred church. he will miss her warm spirit and musical talent. >> she definitely played with passion. it was part of -- she was a huge part of our celebration. >> reporter: now, no word when both churches will celebrate ruthanne's life. as for the community, well, they're still trying to come to grips with what happened. they wonder if she was targeted or was this random. live in alexandria, i'm shomari stone, news4. >> thanks, shomari. we invite you to stay with news4 for complete coverage on air and online of this story. we have posted the entire news conference with alexandria's police chief on our website. that's nbcwashington.com. now to prince william county and news of an arrest after another manhunt in virginia. wendy reiger is at our live desk with developments. >> reporter: the search for accused killer in manassas is over. police have not told us exactly

where they found earl mitchell or how they caught him, but he is in custody now. here is what we know about him. he is 20 years old. he was wanted for shooting and killing another man in johnstown, pennsylvania just last month. that's according to our affiliate in johnstown. chopper 4 was over the search scene this afternoon as the helicopter flew over prince william county. police say he bailed from his car, ran into a wooded area with officers in pursuit. nearby schools, they had to be put on lockdown for hours as a precaution. police don't know why mitchell came to virginia, and they haven't if or when he'll be sent back to virginia to face the murder charge. tonight dozens of people gather to remember a local man who was denied help after he collapsed just a few steps away from a fire station in d.c. erika gonzalez has more now on the family's calls for change in the midst of their tragedy. >> reporter: tonight in northeast, a family huddles

together to remember a man -- >> a loving man, a father, a husband, a grandfather, a friend. >> reporter: this a vigil where medric mills ii collapsed, directly across the street from a fire station last month. family say the77-year-old went into cardiac arrest outside this computer store on rhode island avenue. >> there are so many things that i wish i could have told him that i haven't said. but right now he knows how i feel. >> reporter: his daughter maria, who strayed away from cameras tonight said she ran to engine 26 and was denied assistance by a rookie firefighter who claimed his direct supe couldn't. >> change has got to take place here and now. >> reporter: d.c. fire chief kenneth ellerbee told our mark seagraves lieutenant killeen davis would be held accountable for her actions. we since learned she has applied for retirement after being given desk duty. the family is calling for the firing of all those involved. >> we asked mr. gray, mr. gray, mayor gray, let this not go, let

this not go unpunished. >> reporter: chief ellerbe says there is nothing in protocol that would stop an employee from rendering aid when needed, adding firefighters take an oath. they put on that uniform. they are required to respond when needed. live in northeast, erika gonzalez, news4. now to our weather. power companies are telling customers it could be saturday or even sunday until the lights and heat are back on. pennsylvania seems to be the hardest hit area with more than 350,000 customers still in the dark after this week's ice storm. one company called this the second worst storm for them just behind hurricane sandy. here in our area, potomac edison has about 10,000 customers without power across frederick county. out to our west, slick roads caused hundreds of accidents around dallas, texas. check out this near miss as a speeding car almost hits woman

and then smashes the door of another car after an accident. about 40 miles away a news photographer almost became the story when a car slid dangerously close to him. temperatures here continue to be on the cold side, but we have more than one storm that could impact us over the next week. doug kammerer has more on that from storm center 4. what's the word, doug? >> rather chilly across the area. you step outside right now, and that's exactly what you get. take a look at the numbers across the area. 35 degrees in washington. 27 in gaithersburg. 27 in frederick. 33 downowards fredericksburg. storm team 4 radar not showing anything reaching the ground here. we do have a little bit of a storm. the same one that brought dallas the snow is actually moving over us right now. but the atmosphere just a little too dry. would not be surprised to see flurries down towards the south and east. that's about it. here is the next storm. this one coming to us this weekend. and this one will bring us some snow. i'm going to talk about who gets what. and just what you can expect this weekend. if you've got weekend plans, you don't want to miss this

forecast. and again, this is just one in a series of storms in the forecast. >> thanks, doug. tonight the police in waynesboro, virginia, say they are waiting to confirm the death of one of their own. reserve captain kevin quick who disappeared on friday. police source tell our affiliate in richmond that quick was shot and killed. his suv turned up in manassas on saturday. and this afternoon, police found what they believe to be quick's body northwest of richmond. neighbors there were stunned by that news. >> you don't see that out here. i mean, the past couple of months, we've really been put on the, you know, the mat kind of if you want to say. but you don't see this out here. >> three siblings were arrested in alexandria on tuesday. they're accused of stealing quick's suv. today a judge ordered them held without bond. police say there could be some more arrests coming up soon. next and new at 11:00, a

popular grocery store shut down after a major health violation. what investigators found inside. a pr nightmare at the winter games. tonight alex ovechkin weighs in on the drama that has nothing to do with the competition. the box office is open for tickets, and they are lining up here at olympic park. >> live report coming up from sochi.

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a popular safeway in northwest washington has been shut down because it failed a health inspection. officials closed the store. it's at george avenue and tuckleman street in the brightwood area. they closed it after finding evidence of mice inside. safeway officials tell us the building has since been cleaned. they hope to reopen in the next couple of days. safeway officials say it is more common to find mice this time of year when the mice are looking for some place to get warm. >> we're all looking for some place to get warm lately it seems like. what is this -- >> what are you tweeting? >> i said i'm next, and after me comes jim handly, live from sochi. did row know that? >> we did know that. >> check your twitter. >> it's all in here, doug. >> oh, you guys have scripts. i don't know what is going on. across our area, on the school side. we have a couple of storms making our way through the next couple days. most of us have really missed out on the worst of these

storms. this is up towards pennsylvania. at one time, nearly three quarters of a million people without power. i have a lot of friends in this area, and they're all telling me power will not be back on until saturday or sunday at the earliest. they are really dealing with a mess up towards that area. for us, not nearly the same mess, although out towards frederick county, washington county, even jefferson county in west virginia, still dealing with that there too. 36 degrees the current number. winds out of the southwest at 5 miles per hour. the temperature just went up one degree. that's the result of the cloud cover that we have coming through the region. and we really haven't fallen all that much. 27 in gaithersburg. 30 in manassas. 33 in fredericksburg right now. this is what is going on on the radar. notice some snow trying to show up here on the radar. i don't think this is reaching the ground just yet. but if it is it's down around the northern neck and extreme southern maryland. maybe a flurry or two. once again the atmosphere a little on the dry side. you definitely see the cloud cover. satellite and radar together showing the clouds moving in. this is actually the same storm

that we showed you earlier coming through dallas. it came through portions of louisiana today with a little bit of snow. even snow down around atlanta. but it did not cause any problems. this is a very small storm. that's moving through right now. low temperatures tonight, 26 in washington. i do think we'll clear out later. so that will send temperature downs to 19 in martinsburg. 25 down towards fredericksburg. as we move on through the next couple of days, tomorrow morning just on the chilly side. we will be kind of chilly, but with some sunshine early. i'm actually thinking friday is going to be a pretty nice day. we'll call it cool, but not cold. temperatures reaching the 40 degree mark for most of us. here comes the next change. cold on saturday morning. and look down here. we've got snow early saturday morning. and look what happens across the area. snow develops for just about everybody on saturday afternoon. not going to be a lot, and it moves out fairly quickly, but some locations can pick up maybe an inch or so. 36 on saturday. let's go ahead an talk about that. how much snow can you expect? well, maybe a coating to an inch. that's really about it.

i would not be surprised, however, for some locations to pick up maybe an inch and a half, 2 inches. but i think the roads should be okay. if you have plans this week, don't cancel them. 43 degrees on sunday. another chance for rain and snow late in the day. then it gets cold monday and tuesday. high temperatures 34 degrees on monday. 35 on tuesday. then watching that next storm that could be a little more potent next wednesday and thursday. temperatures 37 degrees on wednesday. 40 degrees coming up on -- what day was the next one? >> thursday. >> i wasn't sure if you guys knew what was next. that in your script? >> probably on tweet. >> the hits keep on coming this winter, don't they. thank you, doug. well, now to the olympics. the countdown to the opening ceremonies is down to just a few hours now. this is a live picture of the olympic village where they'll be hosting the skiing events, and the sun has just come up there. >> jim handly is enjoying that. he is in sochi with all today's

headlines on the eve of these winter games. jim? >> reporter: two big development here is from olympic park tonight. we've got new restrictions on americans still trying to make it here to sochi. also, alex ovechkin, russian rock star is now weighing in on the controversy surrounding this host city. now first up, those security concerns. a security move from the tsa after warnings that terrorists might use toothpaste tubes to smuggle bombs into russia. the tsa tonight is now banning gels, aerosols and powders on all flights from the u.s. to russia. intelligence officials stress there is no specific threat. this is just a precaution. also today, some of the images going viral out of sochi not what the olympic committee wants to see. this is a twitter picture of a yellow colored glass of water that a reporter in the olympic village claims came out of her tap. today the russian deputy prime minister claimed there is surveillance video inside hotel rooms of people turning on their showers, pointing the nodl at the walls and leaving the room.

another official immediately denied that. that along with complaints about unfinished hotels and security got alex ovechkin into the fray. he told nbc washington capital games blog quote, nobody said something bad about vancouver and torino. why do you guys always try to find some bad things about sochi? just settle down. ovechkin will leave d.c. after his final caps game on sunday for sochi here. now the problems are not overshadowing the excitement here in olympic park. we've talked to some americans who are making the trip and have just started to trickle in. and we caught up with a lot of fans in line to buy tickets. the box office just opened. these fans are waiting, hoping to get into the high profile sports like figure skating. >> but it's very much been some events are available, some around. >> so like figure skating you run from $800 down to $200. >> wow. >> but then you also go up to the extreme park to some of those events, and you can get a ticket for $50. >> reporter: now you can't get

tickets to the opening ceremony at this stadium behind me at any price. they are sold out. organizers are being very tight-lipped about the big night, which is just hours away. now that big celebration from the rehearsal a few days ago. well can tell you that things will suddenly turn cold. you might feel a chill at home back in washington. i'll be back live from 5:00 to 7:00 a.m. tomorrow on news4 today. until then, back to you from sochi, jim and doreen? >> a man who never sleeps. he is going to be updating us about his behind the scenes experiences at these winter games. you can follow jim on facebook and on twitter, or you can read his blog. we invite you to nbcwashington.com. once you're there search handly in sochi. tonight jay leno prepares to hand off the reins to jimmy fallon. for his last broadcast tonight, jay will have billy crystal as his guest, one of them there is significance there. crystal was his very first guest

when he took over "the tonight show" in 1992. >> you are america's night life. you helped us through good times and bad. the country would stay up for the night to hear the monologue. when it was announced recently that america's number one terrorists had been captured, who told us it was justin bieber? you did. >> country music superstar garth brooks will perform, and we understand there will be a few surprise appearances. this will be the last taping of the tonight show in burbank, california. when fallon takes over, the show will move to new york. you can watch leno's goodbye program right here after news4. today we're going to play a little game.

which 4g lte map has the most coverage? this isn't real difficult. pretty obvious to me. i'm going to have to say verizon verizon. the choice is obvious. verizon is america's largest and most reliable 4g lte network, with data plans starting as low as $45 monthly access including unlimited talk and text. plus free world messaging unlimited for three months. that's powerful. verizon. act now and get a free droid mini, plus $100 to spend.

okay. let's i think i forgot to it's race dapay a bill. what's up ted? yep, paid that one. what about your mortgage? yep, paid that too. alright we're good then. man i feel like i'm forgetting something. eh, it's probably nothing. you worry too much ted. alright, hammer down! bank from almost anywhere with the citi mobile app. citi, with you every step of the way. ths the xfinity sports desk, brought to you by xfinity. your home for the most live

sports. >> a good news lady. >> i'm a buff. i'm a buff. >> talk about the caps, right? >> the caps tonight, i was watching bob costas, he had the pink eye. and then you hear about the caps, the starting goalie was supposed to be michael neuvirth, he's got the flu. >> thank you. >> give me the purell, because everybody. the caps, they won tonight for the fourth time in 14 games. the road to valor is built by adversity. that seems to be troy brower's motto. he walked the talk tonight as the caps hosted the winnipeg jets. secretary of state john kerry stopped by verizon center to drop the puck and wish the guys well as eight players from the two teams are going to sochi. caps have one more game after tonight. troy brower tonight let the play do the talking. brower in front. game tied at 2.

the caps shot deflected in front of the net. alex ovechkin sweeps in to clean it up, take another look. a big mess in front of the goalie. ovi, his league leading 40th goal of the season. caps up 3-2. later on it's marcus johansson, and troy brower in the zone. brower, the backhand, his second of the game. and the caps go on to win it, 4-2. big two points for them. they host the devils on saturday and then it's off to sochi. the 2014 olympic games have begun. opening ceremony is tomorrow. today the competition got under way. it was a disastrous start for the u.s. in team figure skating. jeremy abbott representing the united states, his teammates cheering him on. and look what has happened. right out of the gate, four-time defending champion, he didn't get enough height and slid into the boards. and then later not much better. he is supposed to do a triple. it's only a one. tough day for abbott. earned the lowest score he has

received in competition in years, finished in seventh place. paris team skating. americans marisa castelli and simon skated a beautiful team but suffered a sizable point deduction when castelli put her hand down there. side by side triple sachows. they were on it, weren't they? they said the home crowd really helped them. ten points ahead of the second place team. they said again it was the russian fans that made them skate better. john wall is getting even more love from the league this valentine's day weekend. wall is expected to participate in the slam-dunk competition. before you say oh, wait, wall is a 6'4" point guard known for getting to the hope instead of just memorable throwdowns, wall says he is not about to turn down any opportunity to showcase his stuff. his teammate bradley beals in the three-point competition. we have got the beat.

college b-ball scene tonight. ramgs look for their sixth straight win. vcu up eight. one-handed slam. game high 14 points. this is even better. after the turnover, vcu, webber. vcu wins their seventh straight game, 68-52. all right. back to the wizards. they have game tomorrow night against the lowly cavs. that's scary, right? you have a bad team coming in. that's right. >> can you dunk? >> oh, my gosh. i can't touch that. never really have been able to.

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winter festival in rochester, minnesota. it features seven outdoor bars that sculptors carved entirely from ice. this weekend, bartenders will serve up drinks with different themes, including one in honor of the winter olympics. people can also relax on benches and couches that are also made of ice while they enjoy both hot and cold drinks. what they don't want to do is spill the hot drinks. >> hot buttered rum? >> it makes a hole. >> in your bench. yeah, we got it. >> you don't want to do tha every day i spend three hours on weights. four hours on the slopes. and two hours doing this stuff. which leaves me approximately two minutes to get my banking done.

so i use the citi mobile app to quickly check my accounts and pay my bills. which leaves me about five seconds to kick back. that was nice. bank from almost anywhere with the citi mobile app. citi, with you every step of the way. which 4g lte map has the most coverage? this isn't real difficult. pretty obvious to me. i'm going to have to say verizon verizon. the choice is obvious. verizon is america's largest

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>> announcer: it's the final "tonight show with jay leno," featuring rickey minor and "the tonight show" band. tonight, jay welcomes special guest billy crystal, and garth brooks. and now, jay leno! [ cheers and applause ] ♪ [ cheers and applause ]

>> jay: thank you very much. thank you! thank you! thank you very much, thank you. thank you. you're very kind. very kind. thank you. thank you very much. folks -- thank you. thank you. thank you very much. please sit down. thank you, thank you. thank you very much. thank you. thank you. thank you everybody. i don't like goodbyes. nbc does. [ laughter ] i don't care. i don't care for them.