. a stunning new twist in the dc mass shooting. 41 charges dropped. new arrests and police admit a major mistake. topper is tracking potentially severe weather headed our way. also, draft night for the skins. will they be dealing? we're live at redskins park. this is 9news now. dc police are admitting a major screw up in their investigation of last month's drive-by shooting. >> they now say the 14-year-old boy accused of being the driver had nothing to do with the crime. in fact, he was in school at the time. and there is more. gary nurenberg with it. >> reporter: four young people died and five others were injured in the drive-by shooting march 30th. >> our children were massacred in the streets. >> reporter: the mayor calls it. >> one of the most violent crimes that's ever happened in the city. >> reporter: a high speed police chase that night ended when suspects bailed and ran

after a foot pursuit police encountered 14-year-old malik carter who put his hands up when he saw them. although they swore he was the driver. >> the charges against malik carter have been dismissed. >> reporter: police now say he wasn't involved in the shooting. that he threw his hands up when he saw police because he was wanted for something else. >> this was a very chaotic scene that involved multiple officers being injured, foot pursuits, the officers had they not done what they did, we would have nobody in custody. >> reporter: she blames the community as well. >> in an ideal world, all of the witnesses involved would have come forward and giving us statements that night. they didn't. >> reporter: police cleared the 14-year-old e would not be the victim of ret tribution. they arrested two more men in the crime thursday and have a warrant for another suspect. >> i am not going to release the name of the third individual. >> reporter: the father of shooting victim jordan howe is furious. >> that opens the window. there are many people locked up

who the officers said they saw. >> reporter: and treatment of victim's family. >> when is the last time i spoke with the mayor. let me see, after my daughter was slaughtered at one of the memorials he came by to want to shake my hand. >> reporter: and the plea to young people. >> you need to pick up something besides a weapon. you're going to have to learn to converse. you're going to have to learn how to work things out in a non-violent manner. >> reporter: four men now in custody and charged. one more charged and still out there. police say they are now convinced they've got it right and that's it. derek. new at 11:00, a pregnant woman is in the hospital tonight after a prince george's county police officer struck her with his patrol car. now, this happened at ox en hill just after 8:30. emergency crews took the woman to the hospital. she had minor injuries. the officer was off duty at the time of the accident. also new at 11:00, police in prince george's county are investigating a deadly motorcycle accident. sky nine was over the scene at

the 495 interloop exit ramp. the crash happened around 8:00, killing the motorcyclist. no word yet on the accident. police are working on a death investigation after pulling a body from the pond. they retrieved the body at 10:30 p.m. tonight in the pond between georgian court. a police spokesmen says someone in the area has been missing since yesterday but they will not say if these two cases are connected. some excitement out at redskins park tonight after the team perhaps got a lot better this evening after making that big number four pick during tonight's nfl draft. brett haber is live with the ju tee detail. -- juicy details. brett. >> reporter: most people have probably never heard of trent williams. that's okay. most people hadn't heard of kris samuels when they drafted him on

the first round. the redskins believe they got a guy from the same mold tonight. the skins resisting the urge to make a last minute trade and they used their 4th pick on the man who will become the chief bodyguard. trent williams and a two-time all american out of oklahoma. he ran an ultra quick 48, 40-yard dash. he should be able to step in as a starter on day one. >> oh, man. i'm very ready to just get into camp. i've got great competition on the team. i feel like they're going to prepare me well for when we get to the season. >> we thought he would fit in very well. the guy has a lot of experience. obviously being a four-year starter. hopefully he'll come in here and compete right away and show us what he can do. >> reporter: chris samuels was up in new york representing the redskins tonight and williams got a chance to speak with

samuels just after he was selected. much more on the redskins first round selection and trades that might still be brewing. that's coming up in sports. for now we're live at redskins park, i'm brett haber, back to you. >> all right. we'll see you later, brett. tonight a man accused of a deadly car accident is out of the hospital and behind bars. he collided head on with a car carrying a woman and her four children. the accident happened monday night along alabama avenue in southeast dc. the woman died in the accident and all four kids were hurt. jones was arraigned on a charge of murder. the judge ordered that he be held without bond. now, the latest developments in the murder of a dc school principal brian betts. police are now looking for information about a car. it was the car spotted in the alley near betts's silver spring home just hours before he was found dead. and based on that, police now believe there may be more than one person involved in this murder. crime solvers is offering a reward of a thousand dollars for

information leading to an arrest. meanwhile, the principal's family and friend gathered for a private masn manassas today. more than two mass in manassas today. they came to honor the man. >> just losing a lifelong friend and especially seeing the lives he touched and the kids that were here last night was very overwhelming. such a good man. and the kids love him dearly and always will. >> dc public schools will hold a public memorial to honor betts on saturday may the first. the location straths moore hall. efforts to close one of metro's biggest budget short falls in history are moving forward. today the general manager unveiled a proposal that would increase fares but not cut much in services under this plan. parking fees at metro stations would go up by $0.50. the metro subway service would end at 2:00 a.m. on weekends instead of 3:00. bus riders would also have to

pay a little more. metro board members are scheduled to vote on the changes next week. new at 11:00, the coast guard says a crew member on an oil rig reported an initial explosion three hours before the rig went up in flames in a second and much larger blast. as the oil rig sinks deeper into the gulf of mexico, so does hope rescue teams will find the 11 crewmen that went missing after the blast. the out of control fire is now out after burning for two days off the coast of louisiana. karl who is missing his wife's words. >> we spoke wednesday night. final words were we love each other. the last words were i love you. >> the family of another missing worker has filed a negligence lawsuit against the owner

transocean and british patrol yum which is leases -- patrol yum which is leasing the -- petroleum which is leasing the rig. in chicago police found three men beaten to death in a car. two of the victims were in the trunk and the third was in the back seat. the car had been reported stolen. [ alarm ] in this is this is texas where police had to follow a driver. he just sort of pulled over after 40 miles and gave up. and in a story that began in ohio, a missing mother has been found safe and unharmed in miami beach, florida. the 31-year-old went missing last weekend after leaving her house to go shopping. police found herp suv abandoned the -- her suv abandoned the next day. officers spent more than 200 hours of overtime looking for her. the city prosecutors are now considering if the family will have to pay the money back. tonight more flights are being added on all the time as

thousands of planes took off from european airports today that had been grounded because of the drifting cloud of volcanic ash. there will be no quick or easy solution to cut down on the backlog of people trying to fly out. the ash cloud from the volcano in iceland forced more than 100,000 flights to cancel and cost the airlines more than $2 billion. today marks the 40th anniversary of earth day. since that first celebration back in 1970, nationwide smug levels are down by a quarter and lead levels in the air are down more than 90%. but carbon dioxide has gone up by 19%. on the national mall today a big eco celebration. the event featured games, songs, classroom exhibits and special guests, including a life size buddy the bison. there he is. and 9news now is a proud sponsor of this festival down on the mall this sunday. we will be in our booth between

11:00 and 7:00. there will also be live performances. string, jimmy cliff. you can get more information on wusa9.com just click on living green. local teachers dropping the knowledge with their own rap song. what inspired these educated lyrics. plus a new smart phone ad no man should be without. it could be just what your love life needs. cows destroying the planet. why they're the key to going green. and i'm meteorologist topper shutt. just a few showers left on doppler. for the most part a nice evening. we'll take you out with wakeup weather. we're looking at a nice start to friday. sunshine. 48-58. winds light, northwest at ten. so cool but nice. we'll come back and take you through friday and putting the finishing touches on the weekend forecast. stay tuned. [ female announcer ] you know the feeling.

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the fuss was about, and she put together this piece on the mood in the classroom during text week. >> the good preparation for today for taking the test, let's get ready to rock. ♪ music playing ♪ we can make the test rock ♪ >> we wanted a way to hype the kids up before the tests, so we took the hottest song on the radio and rewrote the lyrics. ♪ i'm paying for it >> we kept it really secret and we had an assembly to get them pumped up for the pest test and then the last -- test and then the last thing we did was showed them the video. >> kids are liar lyrical sponges. so they have memorized the lyrics in three listens. >> ♪ i like the way you test ♪ >> i had one kid tell me i could really drop a line. ♪ we own the tests now >> the idea of our principal on his exercise bike

♪ what you do >> i hadn't heard of the song yet. so i quickly went home and listened to it on youtube. ♪ we can make it better ♪ i get it >> so we thought about what we had been teaching the kids in the lessons. things like if you see a fiction passage, these are the steps. >> so we talk about what to do when you have a hard math problem or come to a hard word in a test passage. ♪ on my dance bike ♪ never basic bike >> when the story is. >> we have kids now before they take the test standing in front of our board watching it again on youtube and like doing all of the lyrics and doing the dances much better than we do the dances. ♪ we can make a te >> great stuff. every morning teachers play the rap song before the kids take dc

standardized test and say it's working so well they're thinking about doing more with their talents. one rap song per quarter. to summarize all of the units the kids have covered. and taking a look at stories that had our newsroom talking a bit today, listen up, fellahs, this one might be good for you. you see, there is a new smart phone application out there that will let you know if it's that time of the month for your lady in your life. one ap is called the pms buddy and it will notify you when it's pms time for your 2005 or girlfriend but it will also let you know when she's ovulating. information which has any number of uses. >> if you can help us to get along better with our others, then so be it. >> i know i have my period so i don't remember when it's coming so i constantly ask my husband and i know i'm not the only one. i found an iphone app that's kind of like the iphone app that's for drinking eight glasses of water a day. >> it gichz the guy the upper hand -- gives the guy the upper

hand. sometimes they say it's that time when it's really not. >> no, they would not do that. >> a husband and wife team have created a pms app called code red. the husband who is originally from fairfax says it really is helpful in his marriage. >> hum, that's nice. as we mentioned earlier, it is earth day. and with that, some farmers are doing their part to help save the planet starting with their cows. believe it or not, belching cattle make up a big part of the carbon's footprint. the cow's burp releases methane. one is trying a diet to cut back on the gas they give off. >> this is a cooked flax. we're adding a few pounds a day to their diet. and what it does is it rebalances their stomach so they actually produce less methane. >> the new diet not only helps the planet but the cow's health

as well. and in case you're wondering, flax is good for people too. >> okay. >> that's fine. >> cut down on your burps. more on earth day on our website. [ laughing ] >> on my blog at wusa9.com. we're not touching the methane burp. [ laughing ] >> not going there. >> you can only go to flaj lens. >> i didn't go there. >> it's time to move on. >> see, i told you. all right. next three days, sunshine tomorrow. a strong finish. 71 degrees. now, the weekend it looks crazy. but here is the deal. the first half of saturday is going to be dry. the second half some showers are possible. better chance for rain saturday night into sunday morning. we should see a break. we should pop in the warm sector. so 64 on saturday. back in the 70s sunday. and if we do that, we run the risk of severe weather. if we don't pop in the 70s on sunday, it will just be a continuation of light rain and showers. oh, joy. overnight isolated shower possible. partly cloudy and cool. 46-52. winds out of the northwest at

ten. i'll show you live doppler very quickly. just a couple of showers primarily in the mountains. in between hagerstown and cumberland and parts ever the panhandle of -- of the panhandle of west virginia, it will be a dry commute tomorrow. no fog. 40s and 50s to start. wind northwesterly at ten. tomorrow a great day. it's going to be fantastic. partly cloudy, high temps around 70s. winds light out of the north and only ten miles an hour. satellite picture radar combined, tremendous thunderstorms in the plain states. and that is in association with the same front and the same system we've been tracking since monday. it's eventually going to get in here over the weekend. and when it does, we're looking for light rain and showers. big thunderstorms are possible on sunday. weak cold front went through today. that is what produced light showers. most of us didn't see anything. they still are. zone forecast all six zones on

our website at wusa9.com. nice from the mountains to the coast tomorrow. 60 in oakland. 65 in cumberland. looking at 73 down in culpeper. 70 in warrenton and 70 in manassas with sunshine. low 70s in hughesville and wall dorph and low 70s in st. mary's city. winds light. no advisories on the bay or tidal potomac. next seven days, 71 on friday. nice. and then showers come in late on saturday. the first half of the day will be dry. cut the grass, do your gardening. sunday we have the earth day festival. we should pop back in the 70s. if we do, that means thunderstorms in the afternoon. we've got the march for babies in the morning on sunday, 8:00 registration. 9:00 event. and we're looking at temperatures in the 60s monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday. showers linger monday, tuesday and wednesday. >> and i'll see you all at the march for babies rain or shine. >> that's right. all right. let's get out to redskins park where sports director brett

haber is live. hard for anybody to be mad about this first round choice. >> this is what everybody wanted, derek. they didn't do the splashy thing but they did the wise thing. after trading for their star quarterback a couple of weeks ago, tonight they got a star to protect that quarterback. meet trent williams. and hear why coach shanahan thought he was worth that fourth pick. sara walsh joins me live right after this. [ beeping ]

♪ my country ♪ 'tis of thee ♪ sweet land ♪ of liberty ♪ of thee i sing [ laughs ] ♪ oh, land ♪ where my fathers died ♪ land of the pilgrims' pride ♪ from every mountainside ♪ let freedom ring ♪

and welcome back to redskins park, everybody. you know, sometimes the best move you can make is no move at all. and despite the urge dan snyder must have had tonight to make a splash and trade up, he held his water. >> reporter: instead of taking a quarterback, they take a guy that will protect their quarterback. and with these words from the

commissioner, donovan mcnabb is surely sleeping soundly tonight. >> the washington redskins select trent silver back williams. offensive tackle, oklahoma. >> reporter: his nickname is silverback after the silverback gorilla. and it's pretty fitting. he has the highest vertical leap of any line man in the draft. he's a two time all american that started 25 games at right tackle for ou. 14 at left tackle and he says he's honored to become mcnabb's chief bodyguard. >> i'm looking forward to getting in the count and learn the way. getting a chance to see how the guys carried themselves. they've been doing it at a high level for a long time and hopefully i can learn some things from them and do the same. >> reporter: and how is this for a pattern? with williams, the redskins have now drafted a guy from the same high school three years in a row. it's long view high school in

texas that got malcom kelly in '08 and now williams. >> reporter: meanwhile channahon is calling williams a player they've been targeting all along. anybody that is big body protection should be on your radar. but with williams credentials and now his draft status, it should expedite his impact. >> i think there is always pressure on the first round draft choice. people expect you to start, especially in the top five. and like all first rounders, the pressure is going to be there. so hopefully he steps up and meets that challenge and i expect him to meet that challenge. >> reporter: other notes from the draft as expected, sam bradford taking a number one overall by st. louis. three of the first four picks came from oklahoma. the broncos traded up with the ravens to select tim tibo. and the illinois receiver from dunbar high here in dc did not hear his name called in the first round. >> reporter: near did jim any

my clause en for that matter. the caps are now one win away from knocking out the canadians. due to the fog in dc, the team plane couldn't land at dulles. it couldn't land at reagan. finally landed at bwi but had to sit on the tarmac for three hours because all of the custom agents had gone home. the players finally took cabs back to dc in groups of three. got home at 5:00 a.m. bruce cancelled practice today so the guys can get fresh for tomorrow. >> we want to get through this one. this is tough enough right now. and then once if that is successful, then we'll worry about resting guys for -- hoping we have time enough for them to rest. >> reporter: nationals and hernandez alloweds first two runs this evening today against the rockies. just a solo shot in the second and he and stewart in the second and that is all colorado needed.

nats fall 2-0. >> reporter: so that is it from here. trent williams is the new redskin. we will meet him tomorrow as donovan mcnabb has his secret service in place. guys, back to you. >> absolutely. we'll be right back. i'm done with all these lists. and driving all over town. i want one list. for one store. [ female announcer ] at safeway, you get it all. great quality and great prices. so you just need a safeway list. [ male announcer ] with thousands of everyday low prices you'll save all over the store. [ female announcer ] plus we have great club card specials like oven joy bread is just 89 cents and safeway apple juice only $1.79. [ male announcer ] quality and low prices. so there's one stop for everything. [ female announcer ] at safeway, that's our promise. that's ingredients for life.

that's 9news for tonight. letterman is up next with the all new david spade. >> don't forget we're always on wusa9.com. goodnight.

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