woman in her 60s. it is still unfolding at this hour the area of 18th street in northeast washington, just a few blocks off south dakota avenue. >> pat collins has been at the scene all day and live with the latest. pat what are you hearing? >> reporter: chris, i'm on 18th street northeast. on this side of 18th street is the brookland neighborhood. (street, the wood ridge neighborhood. itm(0ñcl i8 some of the s.w.a.t. team7-0 members, some other they c:avd& insidahér hours. jtj place. nd 11 this9ó"rning vap÷ au1sywx7 woìc shot and killed ing(ú front of house in the 3700 block of 18th street.

coming up at 5:00, i will have more about the victim and remember, this is the 99th murder in our city this year. i will have more about that, too, coming up at 5:00. now back to you. developing right now, d.c. police are hoping you can help identify the caregivers of a little boy found early this morning on benning road in northeast near the hecken jer mall. he is believed to be the between the ages of 2>7á and 4678 faf]jo found wearing mickey mouse pajamas and carrying black

canvas gym shoes. you should call police right away if you haveç@y$p'y information. 1d station is due4ñ in court any%( minute now. news4 was the first to report himself in for a shooting that left an innocent by stander dead. before he surrender, king spoke mark picks up this developing story with what we are learning about how he became a suspect. >> reporter: according to newly released court documents, as zrtj four people opened fire shaw metro station anddimñ as many a shots were fired. service informant who led them to marcus ' suspect. ?$ñ king is !(/2 afternoon and then throwing his gun in the trash can as he0vçñkp away. king tells news4 that he is

inspect but he does admit he was at the shooting scene that afternoon. he turned himself in just before dawn this morning. he is expected to make his first appearance before a judge later at d.c. superioreeb>a +uhqcour segraves, newsó4vp high-profile murder case from pmsentenced. degree murdervi"h teb messerschmitt. teb rendezvous withp5ç man. gal answered that add,q4pñk&tzq as a man ande;bo!uz rob messerschmitt messerschmittc!n%u(j robbed. dominique johnson will serve six johnson will serve five years

2035. at d.c.v8 superior court, derri ward, :p27znews4. some more breaking news this y:il÷fear. stock also plummeted to their ñ 528 points today. here's a live look at the big vi1lpóg 16,462. this is wrapping up the worst week in6qx nearly four.9udñ ye stocks started falling last week when="(rr'a announced it was >bq devaluing its[y currency. of this selloff is the price$te crude oil has dropped below $40 gas. wi west. firefighters are souu)shoverbel, of volunteers. officials ordered more

evacuations today. strong winds fueled theá!li fir we will have a live report from the fire lines coming up in the xcaaff. you spot smallf;bdñ aircraft fl low over downtown d.c. sunday r(t&háhp &hc aerospace defense command is ex that will take place between 9 and 11:00 sunday÷s9morning. the goal is to test norad's ability to track low-altitude and slow-speed aircraft. as you might guess the exercises were prompted by that incident back in april when a florida man flew over the national mall in a gyrocopter and landed on the wf'idp lawn of the capitol. storm@ñcoás meteorologist amelia segal is in the storm center. be behind us, forókmx tonight. yesterday2zbnevening, a cold fr thatladñ movedue@ñ through the brought lower humidity, heading out this evening>3w it

77. 9ñy,z.xm

they will be]d÷ç running on the rails, the platforms,m(dlp=ac es and thñ4 s and the mass he is going to f1 o $ and just a few hours s]sqago,w%t tart popezth"'z÷fr,d wil⌝k2dñ 1 -ññ(d,vinside. it weighs 450 pounds two weeks to bu

you're a parent. we're both busy people. so pick up my new hand prepared $20 family fill up meal.

eight pieces of original recipe chicken, two large mashed potatoes and gravy, a large coleslaw, and 4 biscuits. i'll get back to ya. (door squeaking) it's finger lickin' good.

in fact, start to weaken as it moves to the west northwest. right now though the maximum winds are about 115 miles an hour as it makes its way toward the caribbean sunday morning, likely downgraded to a tropical storm, as it continues to impact puerto rico by monday morning, about 8 a.m. so the most interesting thing i think about danny is how small of a storm system it is, burr now, it's a category 3 hurricane, so this is considered a major hurricane and this is the first named hurricane in the atlantic for this year, guys. >> all right, thanks, amelia. a former ravens cheerleader collapsed to her niece and cried when she was sentenced today for the rape of a 15-year-old boy. >> yeah, molly shattuck pleaded guilty a couple months ago. now, she has to register as a

sex offender and spend 48 weekends in jail. the victim went to school with one of shattuck's children at owings mills, maryland, but the rape took place at a vacation home on bethany beach. new at 4:00, how a man explains his actions in an interview you will only see here of making meth on the job. graduation day the big honors for the first two women to complete army ranger school. you saw it here on nbc4, rg3 suffered a concussion after taking a hit

a former federal police chief accused of making meth and setting off an explosion inside a highly secured government lab today pleaded guilty. we accept sent you a breaking news about this on the nbc washington app as soon as it happened. >> news4's scott macfarlane broke this story and caught up with the former chief in court today. >> reporter: here at the federal courthouse in green belt, christopher bartley pleaded guilty today to making meth on the highly secured campus of the national institute of standards and technology and he admitted it exploded and that he tried to conceal the evidence. after his court hearing this morning, bartley declined to speak with news4 when we came to ask him questions. when prosecutors say that meth experiment exploded inside a lab inside building 236 on the campus. they say the windows were blown 20 to 30 feet. the temperature in the room got up to 180 degrees, but the real debate here after the court

appearance, why did he do it? he is saying that it was an unauthorized training experiment, but the prosecutor said that story is bogus. >> there's no evidence that there was any training exercise. he hadn't gotten permission from anybody. it wasn't his job to do experiments or to be trained in the production of drugs. in fact, drug enforcement wasn't really part of his job. >> his goal was to let people know how easy it is to manufacture methamphetamine and the police officers should be aware of that. >> reporter: christopher bartley at one point was the police chief for nist. he quit his job the day after this meth exploded. he will be sentenced here in greenbelt in november, facing up to six years in prison. in greenbelt, scott macfarlane, news4. construction workers hitting a gas line are being blamed for a powerful explosion at a high school in the bronx. three workers are being treated for very serious burns. they were working on renovations in a science lab. it happened around 8:00 last

night. a cleaning crew was in the building at the time, but that crew was not injured. the blast left a hole in the side of the school. some neighbors thought it was an earthquake. >> the whole house shook, completely. i thought the house was gonna fall down. >> heard a large explosion, saw a quick flash and the alarms sr"tp#t >> right now, engineers are making sure the building is structurally sound and can be fixed before school starts next month. civil rights activist julian bond will be remembered this weekend. family members say it was his wish to be cremated and have his ashes spread in the gulf of mexico. before that private ceremony, there will be a memorial for bond here in the district, happening at 10:00 in the morning at the tidal basin in front of the martin luther king memorial. eleanor holmes norton and bond's friends will spread flowers on the potomac. there is a growing movement under way to get former daily show host jon stewart to moderate a presidential debate. nearly 160,000 people have

already signed a petition on change.org. they include former maryland governor, martin o'malley and democratic presidential candidate, of course. the petition cites stewart's experience interviewing heads of state and members of congress. the debate commission has not yet commented on the petition. carol maloney is getting some new information on rg3's latest injury. carol, we gonna see him on the field any time soon? >> chris, there's a good chance, according to multiple reports, robert griffin's concussion is not considered severe. and there's a lot of speculation that he will be able to play next saturday in their preseason game versus the ravens much the team has yet to make an official announcement. griffin was knocked out of last night's game after a lions player landed on him as he attempted to recover a fumble a scary moment he's laid on the ground for several minutes. nfl rules require grieve top pass a number of tests before being allowed back on the field. the point of controversy today

is why griffin was allowed to play in the second quarter when the skins had struggled to protect him all night. coach jay gruden defends that decision coming up on news 4 at 5:00. >> thanks, carol. a lot of folks already looking ahead to the weekend. much a lot more comfortable, talking two good days, amelia? >> yeah, ex-exactly, two very nice days. humidity remain let entire weekend and for the most part, on into the upcoming workweek. here are your weather headlines, beautiful weather this weekend. if you like today you will love tomorrow, sunday, a little bit more cloud cover, a touch warmer, the most part, still really nice. monday is going to be the day the warmest of the week band a little bit humid, that on the seven-day forecast, but after that, cooler temperatures return, lower humidity, plenty of sunshine, garden might need a little bit of watering the next seven days. temperatures right now generally in the low to middle 80s. 85 in washington, 82, martinsburg, 83, annapolis, here is the latest check of the satellite and radar, the most

part, see high, thin clouds in place across parts of the area right now. overnight tonight, we will be mainly clear and because of the humidity, that means the low humidity, air is very dry. temperatures tonight will fall nicely. washington, 67. look at the suburbs, low there is around 60 degrees. 59 for a low in gaithersburg, 56 in frederick, as well as luray. 59, culpepper. you have the early morning tee time, playing tennis early tomorrow morning, you might want to layer, because it's going to be chilly in some spots early tomorrow morning, but we will warm up quickly, tomorrow, the weather having a low impact on your day mostly sunny skies, a great day. sky cast going to show mostly sunny skies throughout the day tomorrow, talking about the humidity forecast for the weekend, in that pleasant range. monday, becomes slightly uncomfortable, we can't consider it sticky yet. after that, tuesday, right on through next friday, we return back to those pleasant humidity levels. here is your storm team4

four-day forecast, high temperature tomorrow, 86 degrees, mostly sunny sky similar to today. sunday, high temperature around 90. still plenty of sunshine. mostly to partly sunny skies on sunday. for monday, partly sunny, high of 93, very weak cold front moves through the area monday night into early tuesday morning, maybe sets off an isolated shower. more importantly, guys that's going to bring lower humidity back to the area and high temperatures in the mid to upper 80s. >> all right, thanks, amelia. prosecutors weighing in on whether or not to charge kate lynn general. a legal expert explains the three keys to the case. she calls herself kayla

now you see her, now you don't. shania twain was performing in los angeles last night when an electrical problem cut power for everyone in the area. the backup power kicked in about five minutes later. staying out west, caitlyn jenner could soon face a manslaughter charge. >> this is in connection with a deadly car crash in california. the los angeles county sheriff's department found she was driving her suv at an unsafe speed for the road conditions at the time and caused a chain reaction crash in malibu. this happened back in february. another driver was pushed into oncoming traffic and was killed.

investigators will present the evidence next week. prosecutors will look at all the facts and then decide whether or not to charge jenner. >> there's three main factors in the d.a.'s office is going to look at, three sets of facts. number one, kate lynn's conduct. number two, cait lynn's speed and number three, what was the flow of traffic and other people doing on the road at the same time. >> if convicted, jenner could spend up to a year in jail. she describes herself as an escort and porn star and she certainly put on a bizarre display in court. i shared this on my facebook page and it is getting thousands of views online. her real name is susan surret, the fans of her movies know her as kayla cupcakes. she had to go to court for being disorderly and intoxicate and she told the judge her arresting officers rough herd up. she showed bruises and a whole lot more by lifting her top and flashing the courtroom. >> and also this, too. >> well, i guess that kind of --

>> yeah, it does. the judge kept his cool, ordered surret to undergo a mental health evaluation. america's first female army rangers. we will take you to the historic graduation day. i'm jim handily on the news4 live desk. we are following developments in a shooting on board a train in europe. we have just learned two americans were able to pin down the gunman and prevent him from continuing to fire. the gunman opened fire on a train traveling from amsterdam to paris. three people were hurt, two of them critically. anti-terror police are investigating right now. the gunman is believed to be a 26-year-old from morocco. his motive right now is unclear. his motive right now is unclear.

i was at my shop tied up with a customer when i realized the time. i had to get to the bank before it closed, so i made a break for it. when i got out it was almost closing time. traffic was bad.

i knew i was cutting it close. but it was ok. i use td bank. it's got the longest hours and stays open an extra ten minutes every day. i'm sid. and i bank human at td bank.

right now at 4:30, a woman has been gunned down on her front porch on the district, happened on the 18th street of the brooklyn neighborhood and people reported hearing shots around noon. police officers have been in a standoff with a man barricaded near her house. the woman is in her 60s and becomes d.c.'s 99th homicide of the year. new documents show as many as 18 shots were fired when an american university graduate was killed outside the shaw metro station last weekend. the suspect in this case, 19-year-old marcus king, turned himself in early this morning. we have learned a secret service inform map the led police to king. a d.c. teenager is being

charged as an adult, accused of murdering a mother who was trying to defend her son. kevin lee is 17 years old, accused of shooting tenika fontanelle in her southeast apartment tuesday. lee will remain in jail until he goes back to court in a couple of weeks. the man in custody for an armed carjacking near american university is now charged for a similar crime in potomac. news4 was there as police took the man into custody on massachusetts avenue wednesday. he is now accused of carjacking a woman at knife point at the islamic education center on montrose road on monday. he just had been released from a nearby jail half an hour earlier. it is graduation day for the two women who just broke through one of the biggest barriers in the military. >> big day in the military and congratulatory messages are still flooding our facebook pages for these soldiers. the first women ever to graduate from the army's notoriously grueling ranger school.

nbc's dave wagner bring us more from the ceremony today. >> reporter: they are the freshest faces of hist tray, military base steeped in tradition. ♪ and the home of the brave >> reporter: today, captain kristen griest and first lieutenant shaye haver graduated at fort benning, becoming the nation's first female army rangers. it is definitely awesome to be part of the history. >> reporter: both women are west point graduates who completed the same two months of grueling combat training as their male counterparts. >> i went to school with shaye and i knew she was a physical stud. >> reporter: but the army still doesn't allow women in direct combat roles. >> i think it's just a matter of time before you find women in combat units and principally as a result of these women getting through ranger school. >> rangers! >> reporter: more than a third of those who start ranger training don't make it past day five. >> we, ourselves, came to ranger school sceptical, with our guards up. >> reporter: it is a rigorous test of physical and mental

strength, through mountains, woods and swamps. >> i was thinking really of future generations of women that i would like them to have that opportunity so i had that pressure on myself. >> reporter: as these rangers write a new chapter in military history, the barriers at fort benning have been broken. two trailblazers with bold determination and bright futures. >> please remain standing. >> reporter: dave wagner, nbc news. student at johns hopkins university are starting the next sell mess we are a new sexual misconduct policy in place a three-person panel will now review every case and every complaint of sexual misconduct. the policy also clarifies that sexual consent can't be given by anyone who is unconscious, asleep or unable to make a rational decision. it is one of 30 schools under investigation under the federal title ix statute for the way it has handled past sexual assault complaints. d.c.'s department of health confirmed this year's first

human case of the west nile virus. the patient was treated and released from a hospital in the district. earlier this week, maryland health officials reported the state's first confirmed case of west nile in baltimore. mosquitoes carried this virus and people over the able of 50 are most at risk for developing serious complications. amelia, you have been taking a look at the beach? >> yeah, escaping to the beaches this weekend, lookless nice there, high temperatures generally in the low 80s, both day the water temperature at ocean city coming in right around 79 degrees. now,s here the thing, maybe an isolated shower or thunderstorm at the beach on sunday, a very small chance, only 20%, i think if you're heading to the beaches this weekend, overall, looking good, mostly to partly sunny skies, highs around 81 on saturday, 82 on sunday. back here at home, in washington, a high tomorrow of 86, pretty asch repeat performance what we saw today 84 for a high temperature in culpepper tomorrow and luray as well. so your weather outlook this

weekend, looking good, great for exercise, pool, lawn and garden, you may need to water. if you are heading to the montgomery county fair tonight or this weekend, also looking good for that doug is at the fair and he will be joining us for news4 at 5 and 6. chris? >> thanks, amelia. first at 4, gone, not forgot. today, veterans in northern virginia are paying tribute a sailor who was killed by terrorists back in 1985. this summer marks the 30th anniversary of robbery steed ham's brutal torture and murder on board twa flight 847. >> it's been over 30 years but he is always in our mind, always talking about him. i mean, it's never forget. >> you will see what one local church group is doing to remember the fallen sailor while honoring others in the community. northern virginia bureau reporter david culver is working for that story for you ahead at 5:30. a complex wave of out-of-control wildfires in washington state has exploded in size and now, with new mandatory evacuations in place, many towns

are starting to empty out. today, the president has declared a state of emergency, freeing up federal help. leanne gregg is in washington where the weather suspect helping the fight. leanne? >> reporter: crews are facing extreme fire conditions, the winds expected to get up to 40 miles an hour and gust and that is pushing flames toward more communities. firefighters in washington state fighting an uphill battle to get a handle on wildfires that have scorched nearly 400,000 acres. overnight, high winds caused the fires to grow and shift directions, forcing new evacuations. >> there's a very real possibility that those current evacuations could need to be expanded today based on what the fire is wanting to do. >> reporter: the problem, heat, coupled with extremely dry conditions brought on by years of drought. even veteran firefighters say this is an extraordinary season.

>> i've never seen this much fire that that's big in washington state before. it's just hard to get a grasp on it. >> reporter: high winds are fueling the flames and also 00ering the response. >> it makes it very, very difficult, if not impossible to utilize aviation resources on a day like this. it's just a very challenging day. >> reporter: one bit of good knew the 14-day outlook calls for cooler weather conditions, but with 100 wildfires burning in the west, resources are thin. firefighters workingiksr 16-hou days in rugged terrain and heat. now, the department of natural resources is recruiting civilian volunteers while experienced firefighters are coming from australia and new zealand. a relentless wildfire season with no signs of letting up. and fire managers here say that

an unstable atmosphere coming in will make this particular fire extremely dangerous for the next several days. chris? >> as if it wasn't hard enough, thanks, leann. raid at the home of a rock 'n' roll legend. new information this afternoon on what investigators were doing inside gene simmons' house. a major airport tracking your phone without your knowledge. why official there is say it's a good thing. you exercise.

you choose the salad. occasionally. but staying well - physically, financially, emotionally - its hard on your own. so cigna's got your back, and your knees, 24/7. cigna's there to answer your questions. or when you need some coaching. in sickness and in health, cigna's there, helping you to get well and stay well. that's having a partner, who's with you all the way. cigna.

the last night's game, we did have rain around the starts, storms in the area, that was a cold front that lowered the humidity and providing beautiful weather for this weekend, tomorrow and sunday, two great pool day we have a lot of students heading back to school on monday, so, maybe you are trying to get the pool in the last few times as summer starts to come to an end. this weekend certainly cooperating. monday, hot and a bit humid. something to do this weekend, get the car washed, we are looking at dry weather in the forecast for days. now air the quality tomorrow, good, by sunday, moderate.

means risk only to highly sensitive groups. >> thanks, amelia. the lapd has been tight-lipped about this case but now sharing details about what prompted a search of gene simmons' home. police say a task force is investigating internet crimes against children, but, this is very important, investigators say simmons is not a suspect, nor is anyone in his family. one of simmons' reps says police told them a crime may have been committed on their property last year while simmons was on tour with the band, kiss. if you have gone through security recently at jfk airport in new york, your phone may have been tracked without your knowledge. the airport has adopted a program called blip track. it monitors the movement of phones that have bluetooth or wifi turned on. the information is used to calculate wait times that are posted on screens for passengers. blip track officials say the data collection process is anonymous and that airports use the information to cut your wait times. a local school district

losing teachers by the dozens. the reason and how leaders are trying to stop it. and doctors think they have pinpointed the

i'm jim handly with bad news from the live deck. those of you who invest in the stock market, it has been a rough week and just turned brutal. dow plummeting 500 points today

to its lowest level since last october. it has also declined 10% from its all-time high this year. that's what's known as a market correction, which is basically a leveling out of the market when it becomes overvalued. it can be a sign that recession is coming but experts say in this case it is a reaction to a slowing economy in china. companies that depend heavily on business in china, like am, saw some of the biggest drops today. the good news meant the price of oil plunged below $40 for the first time since the 2009 financial crisis. at the live desk, i'm jim handly. well, the kids have to go back to school, summer vacation is just about done. >> yeah, thousands of local teachers already are back at work getting ready for when those doors open monday morning, but a review by news4's scott macfarlane reveals a growing problem for one district. >> teachers are leaving their jobs by the dozens. >> reporter: some of the

elementary school teachers have already lined up the chairs and the papers and folders. at this elementary near i-270 in frederick, teachers stage strategy meetings this week, before the kids arrive. down the road, liberty elementary third grade teacher casey keenan is starting her sixth year in the district but says at her school, and so many in frederick, there's a big change this year. about 100 colleagues have bolted for jobs elsewhere. and the kids, she say will notice immediately. >> they come back after a summer and it is a whole new environment and maybe their trusted teacher that normally would be there has left. >> reporter: in public records requests with all local school districts, we found local schools lose hundreds of teachers each year, teachers taking different jobs in different places but over the past few years, the turnover has been relatively steady at all local districts, except this one, in frederick county. frederick has been hemoragging teachers. more than 300 left the district

since 2012. >> when you start to lose those folks that is a lot of valuable experience walking out the door. >> reporter: where are they going? district human resource records show other districts, montgomery county, howard, washington counties for better paychecks. i can truly drive 20 minutes in one direction and make $17,000 more? >> yes, you can. >> reporter: county officials say a budget crunch has hammered the district over several recent years, delaying teacher pay raises. frederick county teachers' starting spay 23rd highest out of 24 in maryland. as home values rise, especially near i-270 and the transit into d.c., the teachers union says it is the veteran educators bolting, not the newcomers. is this hurting academic performance or academic achievement? >> we are not doing for all of our students for all of our students. >> reporter: frederick schools say despite this s.a.t. schools

are above average and the dropout rate is among the lowest and the graduate rate among the high nest the state. they admit they are fighting a an uphill fight this year because kids won't be the only ones getting used to a new classroom. scott macfarlane, news4. >> officials tell news4, in recent months, they bumped up their school budget to boost teacher pay and try to stop the bleeding but the superintendent says state budget cuts made all that moot. pay increases again have been delayed. a heated turf war over college credits is now settle and it seems the students came out on top. a few months ago, we told you how northern virginia community college challenged loudoun county's rock ridge high for hosting a dual enrollment program with richard bland college. it allowed students to earn credits a the no cost. nova wanted the commonwealth to stop the program so it could create one of its own within the school, but students would have to pay for those credits. nova is saying they will drop the costs, making free for

students, however, rock ridge high school plans to stick with richard bland for at least this next school year. health officials say that deadly legionnaire's outbreak in new york city is officially over. now, that outbreak killed 12 people and got more than 100 other people sick this summer, but now, officials say they know the source of the bacteria that triggered the outbreak. it's the air conditioning cooling tower on the roof of an historic hotel in the bronx called opera house. hotel officials say the system is only two years old and they followed city and state maintenance regulations. i wish the bears were in someone else's yard, not ours. >> yeah there is someone else in your yard. this video is getting hundreds of views on our facebook page. a mama bear and her five cubs decided to beat the heat in one new jersey family's backyard pool. they don't know it's family pool. you know? the bears took over for about an

hour. they played with the pool toys. they even slid down the slide and got ahold of the hose. you can head to our website to watch entire clip it is pretty amazing. just search bears. they were having a ball in that pool, the pool a good place to be this weekend. temperatures tomorrow will warm generally into the mid-80s and you're around 90 degrees on sunday. here are your weather headlines, a beautiful weekend, hot and a bit humid on monday, after that we return to gorgeous weather, low humidity and plenty of sunshine. temperatures now are in the 80s, 87, rockville, one of the warm spots, 81, rockville, and 82, manassas. here are the temperatures you can expect, temperatures around 82. 9:00, temperatures dip into the 70s, upper 70s at that point. by 11 p.m., in the mid-70s, out late tonight or early tomorrow morning, it is going to be comfort tab tabably cool, 8 a.m., temperature of 67. if you are out early this

morning, you know what i'm talking about, that hint of fall in the air, but with plenty of sunshine, we will warm up nicely. by the midday hours, we are already at 80 degrees, mid-80s from 2 to 5 p.m. beautiful evening for your saturday night. mostly sunny skies in the forecast and low humidity stick around through sunday as well, continuing to feel pleasant. by monday, just slightly uncomfortable and a little bit more cloud cover. monday is going to be the warmest day on the seven-day forecast. a weak cold front moved through the area monday night. guess what that does tuesday, right on through next friday, it drops the humidity levels back down to that pleasant area. wonderful weather for this time in august, so make sure to enjoy it. kids heading back to school on monday, temperature of 93 for the first day of school for many of them. plenty of sunshine. good recess weather. tuesday, perfect. 87. plenty of sunshine. on wednesday, still mild, temperature, 86 degrees. thursday's temperature still in the mid-80s, plenty of sunshine.

and next friday, a high temperature of 88. mostly sunny skies, chris, i can't remember the last time you have had a forecast like this where every single day out of the next seven is dry, mostly sunny skies and for the most part, pretty low humidity levels. >> if could you duplicate it every week, i think we would all take it. thanks so much, amelia. you know, we are working several developing stories in the newsroom right now including this one. a former federal police chief just got out of court. christopher bartley pleaded guilty today to making meth in a highly secured government lab. now, he admitted to trying to make drugs at the national indianapolis taught of standards and technology campus in gaithersburg. prosecutors say his experiment sparked an explosion. now, bartly's lawyer is talking about why he did it. new details in the next half hour. the woman who pleaded guilty to killing a d.c. lawyer inside an upscale hotel now knows her fate. today a judge sentenced jam maya galman to 24 years in prison for the death of 30-year-old david

messerschmitt back in february. another woman, dominique johnson, will spend six months in jail for conspiracy. johnson's father talked to news4 about this case. his reaction coming up in a few minutes. an explosion rocks the bronx and residents thought a bomb had gone off. we have new witness accounts and what

we have got a consumer alert for you regarding sandals.

more than 15 made well sight sears are being recalled. the company is owned by j crew and says metal shank can breakthrough the sole and cause you to trip. no one's been hurt yet, bought least ten styles of made well sightseer sandals have this problem and they are offering a full refund. this is a situation no mom or dad even wants to think about, but prior planning did pay off for a las vegas couple when their three kids were home alone and two burglars broke in. the oldest child is 14. he heard the burglars and ran upstairs to protect his two younger siblings. >> it's pretty intense. like, once i heard that thud on the door, like my heart was just racing. >> this is the closet we hid in. >> taught me what to do i had a rifle, i had a cell phone, called 911 like i was just prepared for it. then he see mess with my rifle in my hand and he just takes off running. >> yeah. andrew had a rifle, a cell phone and a very, very calm demeanor. the burglars got away, even with the police in close pursuit. but his mom and dad say they are

confident police are going to find the guys who broke in. two people are recovering after an explosion at a high rise in downtown l.a. the blast came from the electrical generator. it ignited a fire that knocked out power to the 19-story building and about a dozen others, including the staples center. it briefly enter resulted a shania twain concert. engineers checked out the building today and they say it is structurally sound. right now, engineers are making sure a school in the bronx is structurally sound after a massive explosion there. >> yeah, construction workers were fixing a chemistry lab when they hate gas line. katherine craig reports on the concerns from students and their parents about the first day of school fast approaching. >> reporter: buildings inspectors and fire marshals walked carefully over the debris, the ruffle left behind after an explosion at the jfk high school in the mar bell hill neighborhood. >> i think it coming in. >> reporter: this incoming freshman says the destruction

makes her worried about the first day of school on september 9th. >> i don't know how ber supposed to go back to school, because these an entire floor that exploded. >> reporter: the explosion happened after 8:00 at night, blowing out windows. it sent bricks flying. residents thought there was an earthquake. it's believed workers making repairs to the chemistry lab classrooms hit a gas line with a blow torch. paramedics transported three severely burned construction workers to the hospital. >> i told my son, you see, that's thunder. >> reporter: nearby residents also to see the damage for herself. >> today, like oh, my god, littles littled disaster there. >> reporter: officials didn't want to make comments yet. the incoming sophomore wonders how safe the school s >> little incidents, gas leak or something, stairwells and stuff. >> news4 at 5 starts now with jim and wendy. a live look at a police

barricade in the district. police surrounding a house. this is 18th street in northeast. they believe the person inside shot and killed a woman earlier today. it was a domestic attack. 18th street is still shut down. we will have a live report how this got started in about 15 minutes. now only on news4 tonight, our first look at the former high-ranking federal official who admitted to trying to make meth on the job. the former police chief at the national institute of standards and technology pleaded guilty today. our scott macfarlane was there when he stepped out of court. scott? >> reporter: jim, christopher bartley admitted he tried make meth inside the national institute of standards and technology, headquarters in gaithersburg, montgomery county and admits today in court, it went all wrong. after he pleaded guilty, a can of soda in his hand, christopher bartley walked out of federal

court in greenbelt. you are admitting making meth on the campus. why were you doing that? >> i would refer to you my lawyer. >> reporter: his lawyer in court today bartley admits trying to make meth in july inside building 236 of the highly secured nist gaithersburg campus. prosecutors revealed it all went sideways, it exploded. temperatures in the room reached 180 degrees and bartley was burned on his arms. when the fire department respond, bartly admits he tried to dump some of the evidence in the dumpster. his defense attorneys says bartly, the former agency police chief, was trying to an unapproved training exercise to show the simple blitz of making meth fromby fellow officers could learn. >> his role with the nist police involved being a supervisor in charge of training. so he has a history of training on the premises. it is certainly unauthorized training. >> reporter: u.s. attorney for maryland says this was no training