>> he was dedicated as anybody could be dedicated. that's why he was out doing what he was doing today. >> the suspected gunman took his own life and even called his mother right before. the officer and suspect's names haven't been released at this point. sled has been called out there to the scene. we will continue to follow this developing story through the next 90 minutes on air and online at wsoctv.com. and now to our other top story right now, a north charlotte school was shut down. students abruptly sent home after someone started a fire inside. this happened early this morning inside one of the bathrooms at walter g buyers. new tonight, eyewitness news reporter greg suskin says police may all ready have a suspect. greg? >> reporter: cmpd arson investigators interviewed students in the presence of their parents who could be responsible for this. but cms says for a real situation that wasn't a drill

hitch but not all parents see it that way. more than 500 students at walter g buyers school were barreling in class this morning when they suddenly found themselves outside. >> we do have an intentionally set fire in one of the restrooms in the school. >> firefighters say school staff had put it out before they arrived but they sent in crews to ventilate the halls, opening doors and using large phones. cms says they sent students home on the advice of firefighters who had concerns about lingering smoke and smoke damage in the halls. as soon as calls and emails went out to parents nay quickly lined up in the parking lot for an early pick up. most had no idea the fire in the bathroom was arson. >> i'm upset though. how did the fire start? who started the fire. >> i don't know what happened. >> tracy rivera came to get his eight-year-old son. he was angry when i told him this was no accident. cms would only say a liquid was poured on the bathroom floor

damage was 3,000 to $4,000 contained to the bathroom. fire investigators won't say what actually burned. >> we don't want to get into those details. only the fire investigator and the person who set the fire knows those things and we don't want to release those yet. maintenance crews will repair the bathroom over the weekend. and i did just check with charlotte fire and cmpd now. no new information on more charges or what ignited in the bathroom. live in north charlotte, greg suskin, channel 9 eyewitness news. we sent out a breaking news alert as soon as we learned about those by going to wsoctv.com. scroll over news, and click on alert sign up. while we hope that you have been enjoying the beautiful weather this week, but our channel 9 meteorologists say all of his is about to come to an abrupt end. >> bad timing too, meteorologist vicki graf is tracking the major changes for your weekend. >> wellspring officially starts on sunday.

to let go of winter yet. how about today? absolutely gorgeous. 74 in charlotte. 72 in lincolnton. and 60 degrees in boone. mostly clear skies this evening. get outside and enjoy it if you can. if you're heading out to food truck friday in plaza mid wood, looking good. low 70s by 6:00. a few clouds build in by 8:00. we keep it in the mid 60s. i'm tracking this storm system to the west. and this is going to arrive in time for the weekend. so over night the clouds move in waking up to some showers early saturday morning. the best chance for seeing rain will be early in the day and then later again in the afternoon. but we'll still get a window of some dry weather. that unsettled weather will stick around through sunday as well. i'll take you through the latest future cast to show you how long this rain will stick around. all right vicki, thank you. 400 new jobs coming to charlotte. just hours ago, governor pat mccrory and city leaders announced paypal picked charlotte to open its global operation center.

gill police was there for the announcement and had more on this multimillion dollar investment, elsa? >> reporter: alison, paypal says it will begin to advertise for jobs in late may or early june, start training in september with the goal of creating 400 new jobs and investing $3.6 million into the area by the end of 2017. paypal says this global operation center will yield an annual payroll impact of $20 million for mecklenburg county. and surrounding areas. this will be the 11th operation center for the company which reported over $9 billion in revenue in 2015. governor pat mccrory made today's announcement and was joined by charlotte mayor jennifer robers, state commerce secretary and a paypal executive. after a nationwide search paypal says they chose charlotte because of the engineering talent, economic opportunity here, and labor pool. >> north carolina is on fire

charlotte is leading the way. >> our 400 people are going to be software engineers. they're going to be risk managers. they're going to be compliance specialists. >> they plan to move into the facility, which is off of wt harris boulevard in 85 at the beginning of the summer. reporting live in uptown, elsa gill gillis channel 9 eyewitness news. the area's jobless rate rose to 5.3% in january from 4.9% in december. we're still doing better compared to this time last year when the unemployment rate was at 5.7%. experts say the swing is common after holiday seasonal hiring ends. today community members rallied in uptown charlotte against charlotte's new ordinance that's designed to protect people in the lgbt community. the group was especially protesting the part of the ordinance that allows people to choose the bathroom that best

identify with. it takes effect april 1st. a victim of sexual assault said today that she is worried that this ordinance will be abused and put women and children at risk. >> there are countless deviant men who will pose as a trans gender who will pretend to be women in order to gain access to the people they want to exploit. >> they say that 12,000 people have all ready signed a petition trying to pressure lawmakers to call a special session to over turn the ordinance. in the mean time, just yesterday in raleigh, lgbt advocates rallied trying to stop lawmakers from calling that special session. they say the ordinance gives trans gender people protection from assaults and intimidation. coming up ahead at 6:00, we're asking the governor where that special session stands. and how lgbt advocates are responding to the growing tension. new at 5:00, a charlotte teen and an east carolina

charges accused of assaulting another student university police say jordan wagner used a racial slur during yesterday's assault. the chancellor released a statement saying in part, quote, no one on the ecu campus should feel unsafe or targeted acts or behavior against others for these reasons will not be tolerated or accepted. new information, police say they recovered a 22 caliber revolver after two young teenagers fired gunshots at officers in east charlotte. earlier this week we learned police charged a 13-year-old and 14-year-old in the case. they say the 14-year-old fired shots at officers on milton road near bearington drive on tuesday. police are concerned after an up ticket in crime involving teens with guns. community groups have been pushing for more funding for years to steer teens away from violence. mayor jennifer roberts is focused on expanding after school options for teens. new developments as police

charlotte this week was not a random crime. we first told you about the shooting as breaking news yesterday on eyewitness news midday. police say a woman was shot but she is expected to be okay. and we just checked and police say they have not charged a suspect but they say the victim did know the gunman. today a matthews man is in jail accused of threatening a senator. roland dodge called connecticut senator richard bloomenthal's office and they say he threatened to shoot and kill the senator if he raised taxes. this morning a judge set his bond at $25,000. an international man hunt has come to an end. the last known fugitive in the paris attacks was just captured alive. he's been on the run since november. abc's ray has the latest on the violent take down that just unfolded hours ago.

man in the world captured this afternoon in belgium. >> extremely significant from an intelligence standpoint. he's wound bud now in the custody of belgium authorities after a raid in a neighborhood in brussels. the arrest culminating a four month international man hunt for the french national who authorities say is responsible for the november 13th terrorist attacks in paris which killed 130 people. >> the united states intelligence officials have been working closely with french and belgian national security officials since november. >> he was tracked to this neighborhood early this week after it's believed fingerprints were discovered in an apartment. federal prosecutors say he was able to escape. the raid happening blocks away from his childhood home. >> he's probably been in that community for a number of weeks or months. and it's taken the authorities this long to figure out exactly which exact which location.

of bullets were fired in the raid. the capture, a victory against isis and a strong message to those who commit acts of terror. >> this sends a message to all extremist groups that the law enforcement intelligence community mr. continue to look for you -- will continue to look for you until they find you. more than 100 homes were searched and 58 people arrested as part of this investigation. but this arrest by far the biggest and most significant. abc news, new york. chester county officials want the south carolina d.o.t. to do a traffic study on a deadly stretch of highway 9 that's been nicknamed dead man's curve. there have been several crashes on that stretch of road, including this one that happened on march 7th. troopers say a work van crossed into oncoming traffic and hit a logging truck head-on. the chester county council now plans to possibly vote on a d.o.t. study. it would look at vehicle counts, crashes and deaths.

night at 6:00 at the fort lawn community center on main street in fort lawn. construction to fix a potentially dangerous leak has been canceled this weekend. d.o.t. crews were supposed to fix a leaking water main in the inbound lanes near sunny side avenue and i 277. charlotte water tweeted this afternoon that unforeseen circumstances forced crews to cancel that work. crews closed the spot twice last month because of seeping water icing over. it created hazardous conditions for drivers and several crashes, especially during the morning commute. it's been there for years, a construction obstacle course right in the middle owe of a charlotte neighborhood. >> finish it all ready. we've been patient enough. >> and it's not even close to being done. action 9 investigates the snags stopping this project and when it will finally be finished. our threat tracker shows rain and cooler air moving in

i'll show you how much of the weekend will be a wash out, coming up. and then, war declared on donald trump, the new threat that could expose his personal life to the entire world. folks have some questionsabout my spicy, freshly-preparedworld-famous zinger sandwich. like,"is it freshly-prepared?" yes. "is the freshly-preparedzinger sandwich available in a $5 fill up?"

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declared war on the republican front runner. the hacktitist group anonymous known for support of occupy wall street and wiki leaks put on donald trump. donald trump set ambitions on the white house to promote an agenda of fascism. >> it claims it releases his social security number, cell phone and address with this charge. >> investigating this would be dictator. >> the candidate focused his attacks on cruz writing lying ted cruz lost all five races on tuesday. on the democratic side, bernie sanders pledged to stay in the race. >> we have a path toward victory that goes right through idaho. >> sanders said he represents the future of the nation. >> we have received more votes from people under 30 than hillary clinton and donald trump combined.

reports that the president was urging democratics to unite behind hillary clinton. in the white house briefing, press secretary josh ernest was careful to mention both democratics when discussing support for the president's supreme court nominee. >> i'm gratified that we've seen both secretary clinton and senator sanders acknowledge that chief judge garland is eminently qualified. >> and though sanders has said he's 100% prepared to support judge garland's nomination, he said if he won the election, he would want to appoint someone more progressive. tonight hundreds of college republicans will be in charlotte. next at 5:30, what they're doing to make sure their vote counts in the election. tonight the mexican actress who helped to track down notorious drug kingpin el chapo is opening up. in an exclusive sit-down interview with abc diane

moments that she feared for her life. she and sean penn secretly met with with el chapo. she became terrified when she was alone with the drug lord. >> i thought if he gets mad. i don't know what i'm going to do. and if i say it, this might be my last words. >> three months after the meeting, mexican authorities recaptured el chapo after a dramatic man hunt. you can see more of that exclusive interview, why de castillo says sean penn lied to her and hear his side of the story. scary moments on an american airlines flight from north carolina to new york after lightning hit the plane. you can see damage to the plane's rear wing. the flight was forced to make an emergency landing last night after it take off from raleigh durham. it was headed to laguardia in

but instead it had to land at jfk. part of that same system is heading our way. but meteorologist vicki graf says we won't face as much of a storm threat. that's right, alison, there are several moving parts to this massive system. one to the north. and the leading edge is more than 400 miles west of the charlotte area. but it's moving in just in time for the weekend. what we can expect is rainy conditions on and off throughout the day on saturday. and it's going to be much cooler, highs in the upper 50s by sunday, the official start to spring. again, we keep the chance for some showers and temperatures about 10 degrees cooler than average, only in the mid 50s. so soak up the sunshine, we're seeing this evening, if you can get outside tonight, right now temperatures are on the mild side, we're 74 degrees. a little bit of a breeze as well. clouds will build in through the evening. but really just a gorgeous end to the workweek with most neighborhoods right now in the mid 70s. and low 60s in the high country. later this evening, if you do

we'll still see temperatures in the low 60s by 9:00. over night, we'll see the clouds and the threat for rain moving in. if you're heading out for a morning walk, keep an eye to the skies. by 8:00, off and on showers, cooler, by 10:00, low 50s, tracking rain through the area. keep rain gear handy throughout the day tomorrow. if you're heading to the st. patrick's day parade in uptown, it could be fairly unsettled. we'll keep the threat for showers in and out throughout the afternoon. make sure to keep that rain gear handy as well as our wsoc- tv weather app so you can track the showers using that interactive radar. your neighborhood forecast for chester, cloudy skies throughout the day, cooler, only in the upper 50s with off and on showers. we're looking at a better chance in the morning and then again by the evening hours. not necessarily a wash out. but not like the weather we had over the past several days. it's quiet on live early warning doppler 9. but this time tomorrow, we'll track the threat for showers. to time it out for you on future cast, again, starting the day off with some rain

by 8:00, 9:00, so keep an eye to the skies. but then as we head toward lunch time, we might see a little bit of a break in the activity. but then more rain is on the way as we head toward 6:00, 6:00 tomorrow evening, tracking another batch of rain pushing through, and the threat for rain will continue again on sunday. using our threat tracker, main concerns right now, moderate threat for rain, low threat for storms, you don't have to worry about what they've seen out west, and it's going to turn much colder than what we've seen this week. and over the next couple days, staying cooler than average, we're looking at temperatures returning to the 70s by next wednesday. so your five-day forecast shows we are going to see that unsettled weather sticking around through the weekend. in the next half hour i'll take you through future cast on sunday to show you how much of that day will be wet. staying cooler next week but looking at a little bit of a warm up by next wednesday. >> probably back to where we should be more so? >> exactly. we should be around 64 degrees this time of year. i think we've been spoiled this

there's a racial gap in one city's traffic stops. black men pulled over more than any other group. we're breaking down the numbers for you and why leaders say there may now be some good news. plus, as republicans consider a contested convention, young voters worry their voices won't be heard. >> i feel like it's my time to speak out. >> the steps they're taking to unify a divided party. children faking disabilities. parents motives behind the lies. and why it could be costing you. wall street's rally continues. the dow has been up for the sixth straight day.

the nasdaq points a new audit says taxpayers are covering the bills for parents who are coaching their kids to fake disabilities. the inspector general report found the social security administration approved disability pages for children who didn't have disabilities. it says some parents may have withheld medication or told their kids to act up to get the cash benefits. the mother of a child with autism says she is disgusted.

who might not ever talk. who might not ever have access to services. because someone is lying. >> the government says it's committed to stopping the fraud but says it needs more money from congress to review cases. it's not clear how many or how much those payments were. but the audit pointed out one man got $77,000 a year claiming disabilities for all eight of his kids even though not all had disabilities. a developer wants to build dozens of town homes in charlotte's wesley heights neighborhood. communities released this rendering of the town homes which will be called grandon heights. the homes will fit in with the neighborhood's historic feel. chopper 9 sky zoom flew over lake norman. that's where efforts are under way to remove a million dollar yacht. it's been stuck in six inches of water for days now.

a crane attached to it to try to pull the yacht out of the shallow water. officials saying the operator lost access to his gps while traveling at night and got stuck there. new stories next, hundreds of families frustrated by this road construction that was supposed to be finished last year. >> this is not happening in ballantyne. this is not happening in providence. why is it happening here? >> action 9 investigates the hold up and when it will be finished. then after a six-year-old saved his family from this fire. investigators now tell us what started it all. a mother and her young daughter carjacked in their own driveway. >> there's a guy who had a gun that's trying to kill us.

that hick i was so scared. >> a mother jumped on a school bus loaded with children to get away from a suspected armed carjacker. >> get out. get out. i got a gun. >> the alleged attack happened this morning in the woman's driveway. >> and her young daughter witnessed all of it from the backseat. eyewitness news reporter dave faherty has some new information about the suspect tonight. dave? >> yeah, he's in police custody now. we're being told that sheriff deputies were close by when all this unfolded.

training about a mile in this direction. deputies say it's understandable why that mother was so terrified. the barrel of the pistol in all of this was nearly eight inches long. >> i'm going to take my daughter to school. >> she showed us where the man approached her car. she was getting ready to take her daughter to the bus stop. >> i was so scared. he said get out. get out. i got a gun. >> he was yelling at you. >> he was trying to pull my door open. >> with the door's locked, she backed out of the driveway and got on her daughter's school bus telling the driver someone was trying to kill her. >> i didn't do nothing man. >> didn't do anything. weren't out there. >> didn't have a gun. >> i'm not answering your questions. >> deputies arrested wesley wright. they put him in handcuffs and placed him in this chair sitting near a curb in front of a home. he's charged with felonious attempted robbery with a