across most of the area. it's a little colder start thist morning becaure's a little less of a breeze. yesterday morning, temperatures opposed he low 30s as to the upper 20s, but the wind was howling yesterday. still enough of a breeze to keep windchills this morning in the uppe teens and low 20s. layer up if youe waiting at the bus stops. have your winter coat ready to go. highemratures this afternoon still quite a bit cooler than average, but without that howling wind to contend with, it won't feel quitead so afternoon highs mostly in the low to mid-40s. day's high in gaithersburg, 41 degrees. good morning, melissa. >> a lot warmer than the 27 i sa in my c on the way in this morning. d.c., northbound 295 at suitland parkway, still that middle of the roadblockedy a disabled vehicle. 395 aftria, southbound king street, two left lanes are getting by that work zone. 66, 95 in virginia, overall no problems right now. everything is rolling smoothly.

same s earlier roadwork is now gone. >> melissa, thank you. 4:31. developing in the district this morning, this was the intense scene firefighters saw when they were called to suma's west african neighborhood in the shaw neighborhood. this is on 7th street northwest. you can see the flames shooting out of the windows.rs firefighold us the strong winds made the fire much more intense. firefighters were able to put out the fire and stopt from spreading to any other buildings. up injuries were reported. an te now on an active shooter mistake that put walter reed medical center on lockdown this week. >> there never was a shooter, but now investigators are sayine the respoas for people who know the drill. >> reporter: someone atre walte thought there was a real active shooter on campus and did the right thing by notifying

security. >> activees shooternse was not a drill or an exercise. this was a real world response to what somebody thought was an actual threat based on the information they received in an alert. >> reporter: people were told there was an acte shooter. katherine, her marine husband, ed her daughter w in a crowded room. the door didn't lock, so her husband and another man held it shut, protecting those inside. >> we were absolutely terrified at that point. then, you know, knowing that one of the doors was an easy access point was just unbelievably frightening. >> reporter: maryland congressman, who was also in lockdown here at walter reeds launched an investigation to try to determine what went wrong. reporting from montgomery county, news 4. more than a yr after virginia teen was raped and murdered while walking to a mosque, her killer finally

confessed to the crime. darwin martinez torres ple ced guilty irt yesterday. it's part of a plea deal that will keep martinez torres off death row but keepso him in p for the rest of his life. he drove his car toward a group of muslim teens on their way to a mosque in june of 2017. the group scattered, but martinez torres caught the girl and police say he beat her, rapeher, killed her, and then dumped her body in a bond. another part of the deal is for him to answer questions about the case for the family. >> nothing i can do. she's never going to com back again. but i neverveorget her. ne ever. >> martinez torres was emotionless in court as tca case to a close. the commonwealth's attorney says he will be in prison for life. a judge will formally sentence him in march.

metroav transit police arrested the two people accused of assaulting a blind man on a metro train. this is 18-year-old darion rivers. a juvenile a was alsoested in the incident. this happened monday when the man and his service dog were on board ain re train. witnesses say the suspects pushed and yelled at the victim whencc heently bumped into them. the pair then tried tosu essfully grab the phone away from a woman who was calling police. the attack happened on a shady grove bound train and ended with the suspects jumping off at union station. 4:34 right now. time for a look at some of our other top stories this morning. a confessed serial killer ss he's responsible for a cold case murder in prince george's county. samuel little is already serving three life sentences in texas. last month he told detectians from mar about a murder in 1972. little knew previously unreported details about the case. a woman's body was found by the bw parkway that year. she still has not been identified.

openg statements begin today in the charlottesville murder trial for james fields. he's accused of killing heather heyern he drove into a crowd august of 2017. fields is a self-professed neo-nazi who traveled to charlottesville to support the rally.he right heyer was among the counterprotesters to the white nationalist rally. protesters say fields intentnally drove into the crow nbc news has learned some of the president's written answers to the special counsel's questions. the president reportedly denied knowing about the 20 trump wer meeting between his son and russians promises dirt on hillmiy clinton. up,ts news 4's tracie pot will explain what else the president denied in his written responses. it is beginning to look a lot like christmas outside of the white house. .e president and m trump lit the national christmas tree last night. the national chrtmas tree will ay lit until january 1st. you can visit it from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. daily and until 11:00 p.m. on fridays a

saturdays. well, if you're up right now, you may not have caught the major college basketball rivalry game from the university of maryland. >> last night the terps could not top uva. the cavaliers defeated maryland at home 76-71. it wasug close t the two teams were neck and neck for most of the game, but the fourth-ranked cavaliers were h g all night ae the terps their first loss of the season. so tough. maryland's next game is this saturday at homegainst penn state. hoping ter will bounce right back. >> i'm sure they will. coming u he's out of jail and on the redskins team. this morning, we're hearing how players are reacting to their newest teammate. plus, bank fault rescue. a teen trapped inside for hours until a simple solution saved the day. we'll explain what finally set him free.

the skins are trying to focus on a major game coming up next week. in practice yesterday, they prepared for their monday nightt matchup with eagles. the skins fell toec sond in the division after the thanksgiving loss to the cowboys. a win on monday could put them back on top. we'd like to be on top. betto be number one. >> absolutely. >> the pressure to once again lead the division is coupled with some mouing scrutiny over a controversial addition to the team. >> now you know the redskins have acquired erlineback rueben foster just days after he was released from the 49ers. that release comesfter being charged with domestic violence twice in a month. the redskins issued a statement about their decision andre said they waiting for due process. here's how somof foster's new teammates are reacting to this addition. >> lookibeing a human, well mak

mistakes. i have high expectations for when he walks into this onilding. >> i know what happened. i'm not condoning any allegations or anything. i know from what i had with him at alabama. people make mistes. can't really speak about that. >> head coach jay gruden says once the matter is cdared up foster is rehabilitated, he expects him to be an asset to the team. good morning, everybody. a very cold start again on your thursday morning. windchills are in the teens and 20s ac much of the area. there's milder air coming our way for the second half of the

welcome back at 4:44. wee seeing mor from president trump's perspective as it relates to the ongoing russia investigatioe >> details hen released about his answers to special mueller's bert questions. news 4's tracie potts is live on capitol hill with more on what the president said he didn't know and what it means for the investigation moving forward. >> say the president he did not know in advance that his son was meeting with aussian

wyer at trump tower, and according to our two sources, the president told mueller in those written answe that he hands on e-mails, democratic eir e-mails before they were released. that is what we know about t president's written testimony. we also know that his former campaign chair paul manafort is trying to stay out of jail, but now facing new questions about whether his leg w team feeding information about his conversations with the russia investigators to t trump legal team while he was cooperating. that's not illegal, but thered co questions about whether one side was trying to influence theot r, which would or could be either witness tampering or obstruction of justice. just raising in new questions at what was happening behind the >> always more questions in this case. tracie potts on the hill this morning. thank you. nancy pelosi is one step

closer to once again having the speaker's gavel. yesterday she won her party's nomination to be the nex speaker of the house. her role has been anything but a done deal since the midtermel tions when democrats regained control of the house. some in herarty are still lling for fresh leadership. the entire house will vote in january to confirm pelosi. an update this morning on the child hit by a pickup truck moffnts after getting her school bus in maryland. that 7-year-old is expected to survive, but she has a long road to recovery ahead of her. e was hit on tuesday night in bryantown, maryland. that's in charles county. the sheriff's officeays the school bus had activated its lights and stop sign. it's not clear what charges ter drho hit her is facing. a crowd funding page was kracred to help support her family. her m parents will have tos lork as she recovers at children's natioere in d.c. new video this morning, the fairfax county police chief says clearing his officers of any wrongdoing after a man died in

their custody. the body-worn camera video shows officers entering christopher paul's home last june. they say she was high on opioids, naked, a acting wherratically. en he fell over, they rushed in to w subdue himh handcuffs and leg restraints. that is when paul stopped breathing. when paramedics arrived, they administered n administered narcan, but paul did not respond. we reached out to the paul mily, but have not heard back. all six officers have been returned to active duty. the d.c. council taking a strong stance on gun control. a committee has passed a red flag law that allows police to removem guns f someone's possession who may be in crisis. the courtust find significant risk that the person might harm someone or themselves in order to cfiscate the guns. the bill also bans bump stocks and stiffens penalties for high-capacity magazineli c. this bill now goes to the full council for consideration. new details on that devastating overnight house fire

that killed six people in indiana. we've learned the father o of the children killed was found dead in a separate location. according to the nbc affiliate there, police say think went to the next county to tell him about the deaths of his children. that's where they found him dead. right now it's not clear what killed him or whether he died before oft the fire. officials say the kids ranged in age from 2onths old to 10 years old. two adults did make it out of the home.et no word y on what may have causedhis fire. chris lawrence at the live desk. right now people in southern a californ preparing for potentially dangerous rain. it's expected to come down in the same areay where dea wildfires scorched hundreds of homes. meteorologists are forecasting three quarters of an inch to twh ines of rain today. that's prompted authorities to order mandatory evacuations in about a dozes communi the big worry, mudslides. the wildfire burned away a lot t of the p and vegetation that normally soak up a heavy

rain like this one. but that vegetation is gone, and the water will flow right through wooded areas and possibly create a mudslide. several other communities have been told to be rea for an evacuation, for good reason. back in january, a downpour after wildfire killed 21 people in santa barbara. >> chris, thank you. it's 11 b the hour. you often hear about people trying to get into banks. vau a florida teenager had the opposite problem yesterday. he spent hours trapped inside a vault inside an abandoned bank of america near f lauderdale. that 17-year-old and his friends had been trespassing in the building when this happened. his friend was able to call for help. fire and rescue teams could not breakthrough that two-foot-thick concrete/steel rebar. police say a former bank employee remembered the old combination and that ultimately is whatot him out of the vault. there's a chance he could face charges for trespassing a ridicule from his friends. >> indeed. and he probably i can't even remember what i ate

for lunch yesterday. good job. >> it's now 4:50. the parents of a teen who died of a head injury after an uber driver let him ride on the roof of his car are speaking out about their son's troubling death. ouple of months ago, the 15-year-old fell off an uber in new york. the dri cr tookh from mullen and agreed to let him and his friends car surf the vehicle. eventually mullen fell off, cracking his skulld and die hours later. the incident was recorded and now his parents are sharing the video to raisewaness of the dangers of risky behavior on social media. >> you changene kid'slife, if we change one uber driver from saying, no, i'm not alldoed to that, that's what we have to do. someone has to do it. someone has t stand up. >> there will be more on this story later on the "today show. a maryland woman who was attacked by a pit bull used aun

ual tactic to fight back. she bit the dog. rosa told our sister station that she was mauled when taking out the trash in her langley park apartment complex. rosa said the dog let go after he bit and then she passed out. she was treated for an injury to her arm. police have not b able to track down the dog or its owner at this point. pit bulls are banned in prince george's county. two women have died in similar attacks in our area in the last few months, both times the dogs that attacked them were their own pets. 4:51.n we want to t our attention to chuck bell forea the stormm 4 forecast. another cold day out there. my goodness, chuck. i feel like this is the dead of winter. we haven't h december yet. >> i know what you mean. it was a cold day to spend any time outdoors yesterday. still plenty cold this morning. need to layer up for sure. but there's a warming trendmi

up, especially the second half of the weekend. >> we'll take any warmth. >> we've had quite a colder than avere stretch. 16 out of the last 21 days have been colder than a yrage. it's nr imagination if it's been feeling unusually cold recently. o theber will go down i books as only the fourth month this year colder than average. ade last time we a month colder than average was april. we actuallyee had t below average months in the first four months of the year. january, march, and april a colder than average. but we had the second warmest february on record. sort of up and down a bitie ea this year. it's been all downhill since we got intohe month of november. temperature right now only 32, windchill of 23 in washington. there's just enough of a breeze out there. plan foro windchills in the upper teens and low 20s as you get your day started today. you'll need the winter coat and

hat. may actually need the sunglasses for a while today before clouds thicken up. next chance for rain rolls in here tomorrow. no heavy rain isxpted. so there's your planner for today. after a frigid cold start,ge wel up into the low and mid-40s later on in the afternoon today. our rain chance tomorrow, it's coming from the west. you acn sort of see b to our west, there's not an awful lot of moisture with this system. we're reallyutust talking a the chance for a little sprinkle or light rain tomorrow during the's day. he look at future weather. dry for today. clouds thickening u mainly late in the afternoon, probably just as the s's going down, becoming cloudy overnight. could have sprinkles around early tomorrow morning. there might even be a sleet pellet or two. but themount of moisture early enough in the day tomorrow doesn't look like a mpact chance. by the time we get a chance for steadier rain, we'll be above freezing. here's the ten-day forecast. mid-h mid-40f today. mostsaturday's rain chance

comes in after noontime. sunday, the rain ends early. up might be in the mid to per 60s on sunday afternoon. 70s coulde as close by as richmond. >> that's crazy. i like that though. a littleg sprinkl of the warmth during these cold months is nice. inner loop and outer loop of the beltway, earlier stuff is out of the way. newn roblem heree district. inbound suitland parkway near sterling, right lane is the only thin getting by t work zone. hyattsville r westbound0 has some debris in the middle of the roadway. erp overything else lookiy right now. 270 and through prince george'sn county, every rolling along nicely. now, chuck has been warning us about cold temperatures all week. nbc 4 wants to make sure nobody is braving those temperatures without a coat. we're collecting gently used coats through our annual share the warmth coat drive. if you would like to donate, g

through thcloset. you can do so through december 15th at the salvation army's d.c. officee or any bu & herbert bank branch. the full list is on the nbc washington app. >> thank you, melissa. decking the halls can get pretty pricey. the hol cay lights add up on your electric bill. now a new jersey man says he's being forced to pay exto light up his lawn. the city of old bridge told the man he had to pay $2,000 every he says the mayor wants him to foot the bill for security since so many people visit his displays. he has 70,000 lights synchronized to music. wow. they're such a huge hit, they city traffic jams, and the actually shuttles people in to see them by bus. two councilmembers have organized an online fund raiser to pay his fees. see, yeah, what is theut sn

here? is it his responsibility to pay for security? >> yes. >> i mean, he has to pay the electric bill already. but he's not asking people to come. hey're coming on their own volition. >> he's asking people by putting up the lights. >> he can say it's out of the goodness of his heart to share the spirit. all right. the d.c. couple honored for their work with the deaf and hard of hearing community. >> over the last fewdecades, bill and tammy austin of e starkley hearing foundation have provided hearing aids to more than a million people. they traveled to more than 100s countrn hearing missions. that's why the alexander graham bell association for the deaf and hard of hearing honored them with this lifetime achievement award. >> we help people that need to connect to their families through hearing, and we bring that gift of hearing to thousands and thousands of people around the world every year. >> this year's special guests included author and psychotherapisec reb

alexander. she's also the sister of nbc news white house correspondent peter alexander. and still ahead on news 4 today, we're working for you. y your car's headlights may not be working as well as they should be. plus, a murder mystery nearly 50 years in the making. a serial killer who claims to have killed nearly 100 people now taking responsibility for a cold case in prince george. coun details when news 4 today continues.

good morning, everybody. 5:00 a.m. now on this thursday. i'm aaron gilchrist. >> and i'm eun yang.

if you're a fan of cold weather, why? >> what is wrong with you? >> seriously. see, we thought the same thing. >> no, more power to you. >> i just don't understand. but you know what, we're here for you. >> and this week has been a good one for you too. freezing yesterday. we're looking for another day inst like that today. melissa is stag by with a check on the roads and. rai let's start with storm team 4 meteorologist chuck bell. you like the cold, right, chuck? >> i'd rather be cold than hot. i can always get under a blanket. sometimes you run out of layers to take off on those hot summer days. temperatures this morning elow -- why are you laughing, eun? it's true. >> i understand, but i'd still rather be hot. >> all right, i suppose. 28 degrees in montgomery county this mning. 27 in winchester, virginia. 29z 29 in manassas. factor in what little bit of a breeze is still left, and windchills