plus, severe coverage you can count on. this is abc 13 news. we begin this midday with a tense situation in lynchburg, a standoff between a man and police they just ended on lakeside drive. mona kosar abdi was there. she joins us live with the details. >> reporter: in the last 30 minutes, police have cleared the scene after surrounding that home over there for the last three hours. prior to that, it was very much an active scene. i want to show you video of what the area looked like at the time. seven officers surrounded the home with their guns drawn calling for steven elliott to come out with his hands up over the loudspeaker. this went on for about three hours. a man with a baseball cap stepped out with his hands up. officers went to the home to

probation violation. a woman named jamie elliott lives at the address on 2023 lakeside drive. i spoke with women who identified as jamie's friends and they said steve elliott is her ex husband. he has quite a history including child porn. abdi. police investigating after man was shot and killed overnight. officers were called to the 200 block of halifax street just after 12:15 this morning where

he was pronounced dead at the scene. his body has been taken to the medical examiner's office for identification.anyone with information is asked to call crimestoppers crimestoppers crimestoppers crimestoppers at 434-793-0000. grown up police investigating a homicide, the city's first of the year. officials were called to a house on westwood boulevard yesterday afternoon. when they got there, investigators say they found a man dead inside the home. no one has been arrested. this happened in the same neighborhood as the first two homicide in 2015. we are watching severe weather across our area. heavy rains and gusty winds has made for an ugly day so far. melissa le fevere has everything you need to know in the weather center. >> melissa: good afternoon. active weather continues for your wednesday up and down the east coast. we want to take you live to danville. clouds hanging tough. we are seeing the unsettled weather continuing.

steady rain continuing for most of us. south boston seeing the heavier downpours. we will see the trend continue into the afternoon hours. we have been talking about the wedge of high pressure influencing our weather. lynchburg, 43. 56 in danville. roanoke, 42. 47 brookneal. 44 in hot springs. we have an aerial flood watch in effect until 7:00 p.m. tonight. also, if let warning in effect for the indian river and roanoke river. those are in effect until saturday. a lot of wet weather to get to. we will time that out coming up. the sheriff's office and u.s. marshals service came together to a arrest a man accused of sodomizing a child. authorities charged david bocock with one count of forcible sodomy. the victim was a minor. bocock is being held without bond at this time.

charged in connection to the kidnapping and murder of waynesboro police captain kevin quick is in the hands of the jury. yesterday's deliberations followed 12 and a half hours of closing arguments on monday. jurors have 34 different charges to decide on. racketeering conspiracy is the big umbrella charge. if he is found not guilty of that, two thirds of the charges will go away. firearms charges can stand on their own. annie anderson is in the courtroom. stay with abc 13 for the latest. new at noon, a two car accident created traffic issues in lynchburg this morning. according to cruise at the scene, two cars collided on campbell avenue near florida avenue around 10:00 a.m. no word on any injuries or charges. campbell avenue was closed a while as crews worked to clear the scene. city officials say the area is now back open. donald trump is

the republican race. a 22 point victory in the nevada caucuses last night that sought record turnout. marco rubio and ted cruz remain locked in a tight race for second place. both hope to get republicans to come around to them as an alternative to trump. bazi kanani reports. >> reporter: the winner by a large margin, donald trump, celebrates hours before the runners-up in nevada were even declared. >> you know, i get greedy. i want money. now we are going to get greedy for the united states. for the second time in a row, marco rubio it just barely edges out ted cruz for second place. >> we feel good. we picked up a significant number of delegates. >> reporter: senator rubio racking up the most endorsements from governors and members of congress. >> i would rather be with the people and work with the people and get the kind of numbers we got yesterday.

hoping to regain momentum in the coming contest.>> the only campaign that has been donald trump and the only campaign that can be donald trump is this campaign. >> reporter: trump keeping up his attacks on cruz and ready >> rubio. who by the way i have been very nice too. i have been very nice people ask why i'm so nice and it's because he hasn't hit me. happens. >> reporter: rubio says he will not attack, but will not back down from a policy debate. >> anger alone is not going to solve our problem. you have to know what you're going to do about it. donald has not outlined what he's going to do on any issue. >> reporter: for the republicans, there's one debate in six days to go before super tuesday when voters in 12 states in one territory head to the polls. bazi kanani, abc news, washington. a big part of civil war history in lynchburg is under

lynchburg college just took over ownership of historic sandusky, the home near the college campus, known for its role in the civil war battle. they will own and manage the property and direct programming while the nonprofit historic sandusky foundation will continue to lead the restoration efforts and raise money for preservation. it also lets lc get new opportunities. a local civil engineering firm

department to sandusky. lynchburg, danville, bedford, roanoke, and the new river valley. the deadly storms now heading north and into the east and midwest regions. at least three people have been killed after more than two dozen reported tornadoes tore across the gulf state. elizabeth hur reports. >> look up. >> reporter: a monster storm system is on the move up the east coast. >> holy cow! >> reporter: along the way, leaving a path of destruction in this rv park in louisiana obliterated. >> i immediately took off running to help people. >> reporter: entire neighborhoods in pensacola, florida, devastated. all of this the work of 27 reported tornadoes in 24 hours across five states. >> it sounded like a train coming through here.

inside this golds gym in prairieville, louisiana, when a twister ripped the walls right off the building. >> employees and people working out.had about eight kids in the daycare. it was a scary situation. >> reporter: amazingly, no one was seriously hurt here, but elsewhere the heavy wind and rain flipped this tractor-trailer over and proved to be deadly. with dozens injured, the search is continuing for anyone trapped in the mangled mess of debris. >> we're hoping we could get down into those debris piles and find people. >> reporter: looking ahead, forecasters say from florida to maryland they could be hit with wind and hail this afternoon. from d.c. to where we are in new york, we are being told to brace for heavy rain and flooding later tonight. elizabeth hur, abc news, new york. we're seeing steady rain,

and so would her presidency. which is why, for every american who's not being paid what they're worth... who's held back by student debt or a system tilted against them- and there are far too many of you- she understands that our country can't reach it's potential... unless we all do. together.

a forecast you can count on from abc 13 weather experts. take a look. bad weather moving across our area. any of us are still under a flood warning. we have team coverage with will stafford and melissa le fevere. let's head you first. >> melissa: looking at the big picture, you can see this impressive low pressure system counterclockwise circulation brought the severe storms to the gulf coast last night and beginning to impact us in the heart of virginia. i want to start with north carolina. take a look at this. we have a tornado watch. that is the lighter color. we also had some severe thunderstorm warnings. we are watching for that tornadic capability. for us, it is all about the flooding as we head into the afternoon hours.

for our entire viewing area. we will have the flood warnings in effect for dan river, south boston, and roanoke river until saturday morning. zooming in right now, pretty quiet for most of us. steady rain to the east of lynchburg. have your downpours for the appomattox area down toward farmville and east south boston. expect the ring coverage to increase as we head into the afternoon.it is all thanks to the low pressure system. a wedge of high pressure has been holding onto us keeping temperatures in the 40s. the wedge will slowly begin to erode as the cold crosses the commonwealth bringing the chance for heavy rain. we could see other severe weather threats. this will clear out later on tonight. we are dry thursday. we have a lot of severe weather to get to.

what is the latest? >> will: they have been alternating this between what category we are in.if we take a look at the graph, the latest graphic has an enhanced risk. we're calling it a slight to enhanced risk of severe weather today, at least in our area. if you have plans, richmond down through i-95, back out through raleigh and the hampton road cities, a moderate to severe risk forecasted today. we are looking primarily at wind, hail, and flooding across our area. we think the tornado threat is pretty limited here. out toward the south and eastern sections, or through the state, is where the tornado threat is the highest. it is all dependent on temperatures. >> melissa: we will keep you updated. want to take you to our latest model and show you what exactly is looking like. stopping the clock at 1:30. you can see widespread heavy rain. expecting thunderstorms down to the south and east. that is where we're seeing

creeping close to the 60 degree mark. into the afternoon, you notice the line of storms developing. that is where the spc is highlighting those areas for severe weather. this will begin to clear out later this evening. lingering showers overnight tonight, but overall we begin to see drying conditions. we still have to deal with a lot of rainfall. take a look at futurecast. almost an inch in lynchburg. over an inch in bedford. an inch -and-a-half in martinsville. temperatures this afternoon all dependent on if we can break the wedge. we're mainly looking at mid to upper 50s and even 60s down to the south. where you see the 60s, expect stronger storms to develop. overnight, temperatures upper 30s, lower 40s. stay weather aware throughout the afternoon hours. in 100 percent chance for heavy

cooler and drier weather arrives. back to you. the president and first lady will honor rate charles tonight in washington. they are hosting a tribute to the iconic singer-songwriter and musician as part of the performance at the white house series.contemporary artists like yolanda adams, anthony hamilton, and brittany howard will perform some of charles's music.the entire event will

whitehto you by audiology aid associate danville-lynchburg and heritage funeral service and crematory. now to the major verdict in a big health battle. a st. louis jury awarded $72 million in damages to a woman's family after she claimed using talcum powder contributed to her development of ovarian

debra roberts reports. >> reporter: it is a stunning judgment. the jury blaming giant johnson and johnson for a 62-year-old missouri moms ovarian cancer. >> johnson and johnson spent a lot of time keeping this information from the public. this verdict allows other women to make informed choices about the products that they buy. >> reporter: in court documents, jackie said that for over 35 years she used the company's shower to shower powder which contains talcum. the lawsuit linking it to her cancer. fox didn't live to claim her legal victory. she died last october after a 2 and a half year battle with the disease. her son marvin salters stepped in as plaintiff. >> continuing with the try was painful, but it's what she wanted.

johnson said the verdict goes against sound science proving safety of talk at the cosmetic ingredient multiple products. the company plans to appeal the verdict while facing 1200 similar lawsuits around the country. debra roberts, abc news, new york. it is almost time for our danville pet of the week. just ahead, you will meet a kitten named eddie. hello. i'm mark heiman. the battle between apple and the fbi has been poorly reported. first, apple was ordered by a judge to facilitate data removal from an iphone. apple does not own the phone. the san bernardino terrorist possessed it. the county from owns it. the police were about to execute a search of your neighbors. help us knocked on the front door. it doesn't work that way. second, apple was not asked to retrieve data and handed over.

write software so the fbi can retrieve data. this software could then be used on the other 94 million iphones in america. the intelligence and law enforcement communities have been demanding back door keys to spy on encrypted systems without the owner's knowledge, or a warrant. what if the police said to you, we want keys to your home, the combination to your jewelry safe, and your user ids and passwords just so we can periodically check up on you? abusing access is not a hypothetical argument. long before edward snowden, a whistle blower reported the nsa was collecting emails, online purchases, and other internet data on all at&t customers in violation of law. police departments have been secretly using the stingray system to illegally snoop on private cell phones.

it wants the program, the master key, to access any iphone, any time, without a

this should worry e this is violet. she's been waiting for this moment for awhile. a moment other kids wouldn't think twice about. her first bowl of cheerios. because now that cheerios are gluten free, violet, and many others are enjoying their first

it is wednesday and that means we are going to check out our danville pet of the week and we are joined by paulette dean and a kitten named eddie. >> hi there. tell. >> whitney: that is the cutest little kitten. what can you tell us about him? >> he came in as a stray with two siblings that look just like him.they are very healthy cats. they are about seven weeks old. >> whitney: what about his coat? is he a shedder? >> he will shed, but it will

>> whitney: what about kids and pets and all the family members? >> he will get along fine with anyone. he is not afraid of dogs.he is not a rate of other cats. he is afraid of nothing. >> whitney: there is the number on your screen if you would like to take eddie home. thank you so much, paulette. >> thank you. >> whitney: we love cats, but if you are a dog lover you will want to hear this. the labrador retriever america's most popular dog breed. this is the 25th year in a row that lives were named top dog. the akc you used registration records to find out which breed was most loved. labs are intelligent and family-friendly. rounding out the top five, german shepherds, golden retrievers, bulldogs, and beagles. >> melissa: so cute.

you can see 43 degrees right now martinsville. 17 miles away, 61 already. we will continue to monitor that.