campus of virginia tech. gunshots fired. students locked down. >> as soon as i saw his face, i just started crying. >> reporter: around 12:30, virginia state poe and atf agents descend on campus after hearing reports of gunshots fired. the gunman walking up to a four-year veteran virginia tech police officer who was conducting a traffic stop. they say the suspect fired his weapon. officers quickly came running to the scene but it was too late. >> and they opened his car door and when they opened it, he just fell out towards the ground, sorry, and i could see his face and he was covered in blood. i don't know if the blood was coming from his head or face exactly. >> reporter: the suspect already took off at that point running towards another lot about a quarter mile away. police, though, were on his tail. >> at approximately 1:00 p.m., an officer observed a suspicious subject in the i lot and upon returning to the area to make

contact with the subject found them deceased of a gunshot wound. >> investigators feel confident that we have located the person. i can't give you specifics and i don't want to confirm from that. but you can kind of read between the lines. >> in light of the turmoil and the trauma and the tragedy suffered by this campus by guns, i can only say that words don't describe our feelings. >> reporter: very difficult day there for everyone involved. police at this point are not releasing the identity of the officer shot. a patrol officer we're told in the 80-member force of virginia tech police. now to get more on the developing story, we head straight to peggy fox who was live on the campus of virginia tech. peggy. >> reporter: delia, we can show you the spot where that virginia tech police officer was gunned down. it is right over there. in fact, moments ago they just

finished cleaning up the situation there. we had quite a few police vehicles. this is right in front of the stadium. the coliseum is right over here. a lot of people know exactly where this is. but students are out milling around tonight trying to get back to normal after quite a disturging and frightening day. we have abbey kaldwell and tim horn from salem. abbey was in her dorm room. tell me what was going through your mind. >> really we were all just scared and trying to keep up with what was going on and figure out what was going on. it's just a scary time of en certainty for all of us. >> reporter: you got a text immediately. >> yes. we were notified very quickly. >> reporter: and they kept you up-to-date? >> yes. probably every 0 minutes we were up to -- 30 minutes we were up-to-date. >> reporter: and they told you to stay inside correct? >> yes. definitely. >> reporter: and this is for hours. so you were in there with no food, right? i talked to a lot of students who were very hungry in their

dorms waiting. but also frightened. so what did you do to pass the time? >> really just a bunch of my friends and i gathered in my room and turned the tv on and kept each other company. >> reporter: of course you weren't here. in fact, it happened in 2007 so the kids who are seniors today, they weren't even here. you're a freshman. >> yes. >> reporter: so but you, of course, know -- remember the shootings. did you think about that when you heard about this shooting? >> it definitely crosses your mind. but at the same time, they're not related events. >> reporter: right. >> so. >> reporter: kim , how about you? where were you when this was going on. >> i was downstairs getting food right before it happened. i was -- and then i went back upstairs to my room. >> reporter: and what were your thoughts or what are your thoughts about this event? this tragedy here? >> well, things like this usually happen. you can't help it. it's a tragedy true. >> reporter: not much you can do about it. >> yes. >> reporter: i appreciate it. it was very strange for some of

the kids when they finally did come out and start walking around. they weren't sure if the lockdown was lifted but yet police hadn't confirmed yet that the other body that was found was the shooter. so a few students told me that they were nervous walking around not sure if things really were safe. but as we have found out, the police did know that the second victim was, in fact, the shooter. and so that is why they lifted the lockdown and felt it was going to be secure for the students. thank you very much for talking to me today, and we're here this evening and we'll be talking to more students and we'll be back tonight at 11:00 and also tomorrow. strangely today's shooting comes when virginia tech argued about waiting too long to notify the students back in 2007. bruce leshan was back there in 2007. bruce, did the university do a

bit better this time around? >> reporter: derek, it sure seems like it. here is the time line according to virginia tech police. the murdered officer radios in that he was is stopping a car at about 12:15. sometime after that, a man walks up to the officer and opens fire. panicked witnesses started calling 911 at 12:30 and just seven minutes later, 12:37, virginia tech sends out an alert, the first alert, to students, faculty and staff. gunshots reported, coliseum parking lot, stay inside, secure doors. ten minutes after that, 12:47, vt alert sent out a description of the suspect. a white male with a backpack. the university has put together at least eight different ways of warning students about situations like this. e-mail blast to all vt.edu accounts. electronic message boards in the

classrooms. campus sirens and loud speakers. phone, text, desktop alerts and more. >> just a couple of minutes before 12:30 this afternoon is when the first call came into the police department. as i understand it from a witness who had observed someone walk up and fire what they believed to be a gun at the officer. based on that and the report of a suspect fleeing the scene was authorized and did immediately initiate the emergency notification system as it was a confirmed ongoing threat. >> reporter: now, back in 2007, it took two hours for virginia tech to send out its first warning that two people had been murdered in a dorm room. and it is still fighting that $55,000 federal fine for acting so slowly as seung hui cho shot 30 more people to death. parents today tear flee told a judge that their children might

still be alive if the university had sent out an alert faster. and the u.s. education department says when virginia tech finally did send out a warning, it was far too vague mentioning "a shooting incident" and saying nothing about death. some said they heard gunshots approaching them, wrote them off as construction noise back in 2007. a faster warning may have saved some lives. >> it might have. today's deaths are bringing back memory of that day april 16th, 2007. and ironically, this incident comes on the same day university heads were here in dc appealing the fine you mention, the fine from the federal government over the school's response to the shooting. the fine was $55,000 and it was for failing to immediately warn the campus community that there was a shooter out there. today the campus police chief testified that officers originally thought this was an isolated case when they found the two students dead in the dorm room. a few hours later he went on the

rampage in the classroom. a decision on that appeal not expected until january. at this hour police are also investigating another shooting. this time at a rest stop on i95. one of the victims there, a virginia state trooper. our matt jablow is heading to the scene right now and he is live on the phone. matt, what can you tell us so far. i know the traffic has been a mess. >> reporter: it's hard to believe that this has happened on the same day as the virginia tech shooting, but it has. it was right around 3:30 this afternoon, 3:24 to be precise, accord be to state police, when a trooper was shot right at mile marker 116 on i95 south. the trooper was taken by ambulance to mary washington hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries. the suspect in the case was also shot. he was flown to mary washington hospital with what are described as life-threatening injuries. both were gunshot wounds. we're not sure at this point whether gunshots were exchanged

between the trooper and the suspect. we are heading to the scene, derek, as you said, but it is a slow crawl at this point. i 95 south was closed for about two hours from about mile marker 118 or 120 all the way down to mile marker 116. the road is opened now, but there are significant residual delays. we have gone about three miles an hour for about the last hour and a half and it is still just crawling right along. as soon as we get down there, we'll have a lot more information and we will, of course, be sure to pass it along. >> hopefully in time for our news at 11:00. thank you. we appreciate that. after the break, a walk to the metro lands one man in the hospital. we're live from the crime scene in just a minute. and the man accused of sexually abusing almost a dozen kids is out of jail. the latest on jerry sandusky is coming up. [ female announcer ] more people are using wireless devices...

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right now police are working a shooting investigation. this victim was shot while making it to the anacostia metro station. gary nurenberg is live on the scene with the details. gary. >> reporter: derek, we're at the intersection of howard road and martin luther king avenue in southeast washington where at 4:17 this afternoon an 18-year-old high school student was on his way home when he was shot in the leg. an ambulance was called. he was taken to a hospital with

non-life-threatening injuries. police arrived, put up crime scene tape, which caused some traffic delays during the height of rush hour. but that crime scene tape has now come down and traffic is back to normal. police say they don't have a motive for this crime and only have a vague description of a suspect as being a black male wearing a blue shirt and khaki pants and say if you have any information, they would like to hear about it if you would call crime solvers. the crime scene tape is down. traffic is now running at a normal speed and the yuj man is expected -- young man is expected to survive. the president making a new plea to congress. we'll have the story on that one. plus topper shutt will have your full 9news now forecast. stay with us. state farm. this is jessica.

hey, jessica, jerry neumann with a policy question. jerry, how are you doing? fine, i just got a little fender bender. oh, jerry, i'm so sorry. i would love to help but remember, you dropped us last month. yeah, you know it's funny. it only took 15 minutes to sign up for that new auto insurance company but it's taken a lot longer to hear back. is your car up a pole again? [ crying ] i miss you, jessica! jerry, are you crying? no, i just, i bit my tongue. [ male announcer ] get to a better state. state farm. a o

tonight former penn state assistant coach jerry sandusky is out of jail. he spent the night there, but then today he posted the bail of $250,000 by putting up his property and he had a certified check from his wife. next tuesday sandusky will have an initial hearing in court where he faces more than 50 charges of child sex abuse. we're told that some of his alleged accusers plan to be there. while out on bail, he will be confined to his home and he'll have to wear an ankle monitor. now to the child sex abuse against fine. he is the former assistant basketball coach at syracuse and one of his accusers has now

filed a lawsuit alleging sexual abuse of a minor. he says he was just 13 when fine abused him. >> i'm taking this action to support the other men that have gone public and to do everything i can to protect other kids from harm by bernie fine and powerful men like him. >> federal authorities are looking into his allegations. tonight no progress on congress extending the payroll tax cut. that is the cut that has been letting you take home a little more cash every pay day. it is set to expire the end of this month. today they blocked it to extend it into next year. over on the house side republicans have a plan that would tie the tax cut to approving construction of an oil pipeline from canada down to texas, but president obama does not support that. >> the keystone pipeline project will create tens of thousands of jobs immediately. >> however many jobs might be

generated by a keystone pipeline, they're going to be a lot fewer than the jobs that are created by extending the payroll tax cut. >> if congress does not strike a deal by december 31st, more than 150 million americans will lose out on the tax break. to hawaii now and an incredible show from mother nature. hot la va from a volcano is sparking small fires and consuming everything in the path. look at that. the molten rock is coming straight down into an a bon donned neighborhood. the air -- abandoned neighborhood. the area is closed off. you can see it from the air. the lava is expected to make its way down to the ocean where it turns into stone. >> maybe that's why it's a vacant area. >> that would be. >> what flows downhill, lava. another bright weekend. we talked about the winds last night. the only thing that upset me about today was the winds.

check this out. this is courtesy of mary kendall of fort washington. it took the trampoline from her back porch and moved it to the front. if you go 100 miles as the crow flies into dc, elevation is about 3,000 feet. regina sent this to us. this is gorgeous. they had 3-5 inches of snow. and, again, it was elevation driven. temperatures are cold everywhere. 36 college park. 36 in bethesda. mid to upper 30s as you go up 270. 34 already in reston. the winds are dying out and clear skies and a relatively dry air mass, that's a recipe for a very cold night. it's still hanging on to 40 downtown. 35 over at andrews and 36 in college park. so here is the deal. another cold front rolls through tomorrow. this is going to be a much different front. it does not have any moisture with it other than clouds. the winds diminish tonight. even colder tonight.

you'll need your coats and sunglasses on friday. i guess the good news is ahead of the front the winds turn southwest and it will not be as cold on friday nor will it be as breezy. for tonight then, clear skies and colder. a two blanket night. 26-36. winds southwest at about 5-10. and nearly a full moon. lows tonight inside the beltway probably just above freezing. we're looking at 34 in arlington, 35 downtown. but 29 in college park. 30 in bowie. even down to the south in charles county. 31 in waldorf. and we're talking upper 20s in reston and fairfax. sterling 27. leesburg 26. manassas 26. probably middleburg 26 tonight. tomorrow partly cloudy and keeled. it will be cold. cloudy. it will be cold. by afternoon, a nice day. i mean, partly cloudy and pleasant. clouds will be increasing. highs, though, near 50 and winds southwest but only at about ten.

let's break it down four. to start 26-36. cold start. 45-59 by noon and then 26-36 by evening and clouds begin to thicken up by the evening. the next three days, in the wake of the cold front, it will get much colder on saturday. low 40s and rather windy and blustery. not quite as cold on sunday but still chilly. if your seat is not in the sun, you're going to be chilly. again, upper 40s for the redskins day. next seven days, stays pretty quiet. stays pretty much average in terms of temps. 50s about average right now. so 50 on monday we're looking for a high and low 50s on tuesday. wednesday still in pretty good shape. clouds may come in wednesday night, but the day is nice. 50. and then just some showers on thursday. this is not a big system by any means. and even with the clouds and showers, temperatures will still be in the upper 40s to near 50. >> it's winter. >> it is. >> pretty much. >> yes.

>> we'll be back. -dad, why are you getting that? -that's my cereal.

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could still get an additional 2 million dlardz in donation to -- dollars in donation to fix up the earthquake repairs. two long time supporters are offering to match donations to help fix the cathedrals. the 5.8 magnitude quake in august caused stone walls to fall off. in the mail bag tonight, some of you already reached out with reaction to the sad events today down at virginia tech. and we do not know much about the shooters just yet and sally says she is hoping to keep it that way. i hope you do not overreport, overinvestigate, place hours of coverage and produce miles of footage covering the shooter in today's tragic events at vt. instead, please focus on what your viewers need to know about what is happening in the world. we know that there are drangd and violent people out there. i personally will turn off any coverage about this particular individual's up bringing, family event, childhood issue and the

like. i get it. no doubt we can overdo things at times. however, i would understand that understanding the shooter could be key to having any hopes of preventing something like this from happening again. meantime, though, craig from king george virginia is a lot more frustrated with the information from law enforcement. as bad as the shooting was at virginia tech today, the apparent lack of cooperation and failure to make use of the news coverage was worse. the arrogant manner in which the news media was handled shows a lack of regard and professionalism by virginia state troopers and virginia tech police. >> honestly we were frustrated as well, but we also know it can take a long time to, as they say, put the puzzle pieces together. we always want to give the cops the benefit of the doubt since most of of the time they know things that we don't. so i'm going to reserve judgment until we know exactly what happened and why, for example, they wouldn't say if they suspected this was a murder-suicide. you can say whatever you like in

the mail bag. that is mail bag at wusa 9.com. that is our report. we'll be right back at 11:00. don't forget we're always on for you at wusa9.com. we'll see you a bit later. have a great evening. bye-bye.

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