sign up. at this hour, we have a much better idea how this happened. thousands of pounds of concrete blocking route 123. our crew has been on the scene all morning and spoke to the truck driver involved in this mess. and you can't call it warm, but you are seeing a big improvement out there from this time yesterday anyway. the sun is out, and in some places temperatures are above freezing. yeah, you can go out there and feel it. storm team4 will let us know exactly how much longer we will have to experience this cold weather.

we'll see tom in a minute. good morning, welcome to "news4 midday," i'm barbara harrison. it's wednesday, march 5th, 2014. and we begin with breaking hill in oxen hill. angie goff is at the live desk for us. angie? >> in the last few minutes, barbara, we learned a lockdown at potomac high school in oxen hill was just lifted after prince george's county police say shots were fired near the school. now, this apparently happened around 9:15 this morning in the 1400 block of southview drive. this is in oxen hill. officers saying that when they got to the scene, it was clear there was a shooting, but that no one was shot. the shooter fled the scene, and because potomac high school, which is on boyd dale avenue, so close to where this happened, police say they were keeping the students and the faculty inside as a precaution the last hour and a half or so. as i mentioned before, the school is now back open. tracee wilkins is on the way to the scene. stay with news4 and nbcwashington.com online for developments in this breaking story. barbara? >> thanks, angie.

and it is day two after the latest winter storm and some school systems remain closed today. but warmer temperatures this morning should help with the melting. storm team meteorologist tom kierein joins us with the first forecast. tom? >> barbara, that was the live view from the city camera. you can see there's still a lot of snow on the ground. we did have some melting yesterday. we'll get more, now that we're getting above freezing. a live view from the storm team4 sky watcher camera overlooking t tenley town, you can see the roofs on the northwest horizon, bethesda and montgomery county with some sunshine. and now, it's continuing to heat the pavement up. so whatever did freeze up overnight on pavement is beginning to melt now. it is near or a little bit above freezing in our nearby suburbs, including prince george's, montgomery, fairfax counties. much of virginia in the mid-30s.

shenandoah valley a little above freezing there, and around the bay, mid-30s. a breeze off the bay. bay water temperatures are in the mid-30s. and we are counting down now springtime is coming, the flowers will be growing, and the countdown toward the first day of spring, march 20th. it's only 15 days away. barbara, we'll look at a warming trend for the weekend in just a few minutes. >> oh, i love that little preview of spring there, tom. thank you for that. and a rare sight in fairfax county. these big blocks of concrete -- see them out there? -- they are from a construction truck that lost that load this morning. chopper 4 was high above as the 10,000-pound slabs blocked traffic on route 123. news4's zachary keith shows us the work to clear them and get the drivers moving again. >> reporter: there's nothing worse than feeling like you're starting your day behind schedule, and that's exactly what happened to drivers here on route 123 headed northbound today when a tractor trailer

dropped three giant cement slabs, causing major delays. >> i'm supposed to be at home, my work at 7:30. >> reporter: the slow start had a lot of drivers visibly frustrated. a flatbed headed to herndon with three concrete slabs, each weighing about 10,000 pounds, ended up in the road when the driver says someone pulled out in front of him. >> when it happened, i tried to see what happened with the guy, he run, he never stop. >> reporter: the driver of the car did not stay, but for the better part of two hours, the concrete slabs used for building construction sat there on route 123 as a crane operator, police, and the driver worked to get it cleaned up. police told me there's a lot of truck traffic in the area, and random inspection showing major issues with safety are concerning. >> just check every day before i left. >> reporter: the load was eventually cleaned up, but not without derailing morning plans. >> yeah, going to work right now, and i'm running late, about 30 minutes, which i have to call and let them know.

>> reporter: reporting in lorton, virginia, zachary kiesch, news4. many of you ranked d.c. as one of the worst places for traffic. the average person wastes about 40 hours a year sitting in traffic the study says. that's about the same time most of us spend at the office every week. los angeles ranked number one on the list, with 64 hours wasted in traffic every year. and right now, montgomery county police are looking for any possible trail of a person who shot a man in germantown. police blocked off the neighborhood last night and brought out k-9 units and a helicopter. the specially trained dogs tried to track the gunman's scent and look for any weapons possibly dropped but had no luck. police have a vague description of the gunman and did not release that description. detectives say the victim is a man in his 20s. police reopened the streets around the scene on ox bridge drive, not far from route 355

and germantown road. it is reopened. extra security is patrolling rockville's campus, taking precautions after someone threatened a campus shooting. derick ward spoke with students on the campus, and he joins us live with their reaction. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, barbara. you know, it's probably a safe bet that ever since they developed an organized system of writing things down, they decided to write them on walls. it's what was written on the wall here that's prompted a modern day response. as students began the day of classes at montgomery college's rockville campus, some were mindful, even a little stressed, about a message found scrolled on a wall in the stairway of a campus center building. the message mentioned a shooting and gave today's date. >> of course, you think a little bit, you know, like you're nervous or something. but we all have things to do. i have two tests today. you know, it just has to be aware. >> reporter: the message was

painted over but not overlooked. college officials took it seriously. montgomery county police, rockville city police and the maryland center for school safety were brought into the investigation. they're working closely with campus police, and there's a visibly higher security presence than usual. >> but understandably, hearing the news about a threat can be worrisome, can be troubling, and actually even scary for some members of our college community. and that's why we're doing everything we can to be understanding, to be accommodating. >> reporter: they stopped short of closing the campus, but are urging instructors to allow some leeway for those who are staying away today. muhammad muhammad was almost among that group. >> i came, because i said if it happens, it happens. hopefully, it doesn't happen. sooner or later, we'll find out, because i know that it's safe. >> we take it seriously. the chances are so, so, so slim, and we've got work to do. >> reporter: back in january, a similar incident, graffiti was found in a men's room on the germantown campus, and the message read big school

shooting. these students decided to overcome any fears they may have, it doesn't mean the threat hasn't changed their routine somewhat. >> so just going to stay around outside and stay away from, you know, large amounts of people. >> reporter: now, college officials say that this increased police presence won't just be for today. it will be here for sometime, and it's in all of the montgomery county college campuses. meanwhile, they're looking for who drew this graffiti, the message on the wall. they said it seems to be written with a charcoal-like substance. live in montgomery county, derek ward, news4. >> thank you, derek. we're keeping a close eye on the crisis in ukraine. angie goff has the latest. >> new video just into the newsroom of a crowd waving russian flags storming ukraine government headquarters. look at this new video. it's where ousted ukrainian president yanukovych lived.

2,000 people were gathered here before some peoe bypassed the police and broke into the building. the latest development comes as secretary of state john kerry meets with russia's foreign minister in paris. up until this point, hasn't appeared much headway was being made in kerry's mission to get russia to stay out of the ukraine conflict. earlier this morning, kerry and the british foreign secretary tried to get the ukrainians and russians at the same table, but russia didn't show. >> we are missing one member, and hopefully we'll be meeting this afternoon. and in the meeting happening now, kerry is expected to push his counterpart to withdraw troops from the crimea region, an act the president calls an invasion. meantime, vladimir putin continues to deny an intention to take over that part of the country. back here in washington, we have just learned that the house could vote as soon as tomorrow on a $1 billion aid package for ukraine's new government.

back to you, barbara. >> thank you. now, target is making more changes after the security breach that affected millions of people. coming up, the announcement made just a few hours ago. and on this ash wednesday, the pope is talking about the possibility of civil unions and gay couples in the catholic church. woah, this kitchen is beautiful!

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