i tried to kick him and fell to the ground. and that's when he got behind me and grabbed my hair and just started dragging me down into the parking garage. >> the victim agreed to talk with us, if we protected her identity. >> i was running an errand in georgetown. >> robbery was not the motive. her assailant never went for the purse. >> you think you watch all these shows and you know what to do when it happens, i wish i did more, but all you can do is scream for help. >> people heard the screams and from the parking attendaunt, to the people passing by, to the attorney across the street. >> she was screaming with all her energy. >> they all came running to the rescue of the young woman. >> by that time, there was a good number of people out here on the sidewalk. and he had let her go. >> her attacker fled deeper into the parking garage where he was cornered and held for police. >> i grabbed his hands and i guess i kicked him in the head to knock him down and another

man, he grabbed his hand and pulled up behind his back. >> the people who came to your rescue, you didn't know them, right? >> no, i didn't know any of them. >> what do you say? >> they are amazing and how often do you say that someone literally saved your life? >> bruce leshan, 9news now. >> d. c. police say that suspect is carlos lopez jimenez. well police say a 43-year- old suicidal man who complained about his job is now dead, shot and killed by police. all this happened this afternoon on the 7600 block of valley park road. that is in maryland. >> police say the 43-year-old called 911 around noon saying he was armed and wanted to take his own life when s.w.a.t. teams got there, the gunman stepped out of the house and waved his gun. several officers fired their guns and killed him. >> the rumors are that he is bipolar. >> this is the 14th police

involved shooting in prince georges county and in what appears to be an unprecedented year, three of our officers have been shot. >> investigators aren't sure if the gunman fired his own weapon and how many times he was shot at by police. the several officers involved are right now on routine paid leave while they look at an internal investigation of exactly what happened. well last night we first told you about a bold female thief who was hit churches across northern virginia. since that story first aired, more victims reached out to us in bethesda as well. as peggy fox reports, the list of churches keeps growing. >> you feel vulnerable and you feel violated. that somebody is preying on folks when they come for the holiest time of the week. >> most of the church staff and parishers are in the sanctuary, she wanders the church like she owns it, stealing keys and letting herself into offices and targeting places like choir rooms. >> it's actually buried back.

i hid it behind these robes. >> while the minister sat feet away, leading the 8:00 a.m. service at st. luke's church in bethesda. >> i just worry about people being vulnerable to theft and church while they are trying to worship. and that i also worry about this person who is out there and what are they doing and needing? >> that september 13 day, they think the thief apparently needed more loot as she walked across the street for their 11:00 service. >> i put my purse here and continued to help with the coffee. >> while julie was in the service, someone stole her purse and the staff member thinks she met the woman who did it. >> i said to her, can i help you? she said oh no, i'm fine. >> white woman with dark brown hair looked and sounded suspicious, watching her as she hit the desert table and left.

>> she pulled her car up to the church, kind of by the handicap spots here and her trunk was up and she was stuffing her mouth with chocolate. >> is this flores united methodist church, believed to be the first place the serial bandit struck. it was about a year ago. now that the christmas celebrations are fast approaching, church leader frs leesburg to bethesda worry if she is not caught soon, more church goers and church participants will become victims. peggy fox, 9news now. almost all of america's troops are now out of iraq. president obama and first lady, michelle, marked the milestone in a ser meny ceremony in north carolina. they paid tribute to those who served in the last nine years. the last 6,000 u.s. forces in iraq are packing up and they will be home by the end of this month. the president thanked those men and women and their families for the sacrifices they all made.

>> all the fighting and all the dying, the bleeding, and the building and the training and the partnering, all of it has led to this moment of success. every military family that has carried that load over the last nine years, you too have the thanks of a grateful nation. >> in all, more than 4500 americans died serving in iraq and tens and thousands were injuried. can you imagine swimming in baltimore's inner harbor, even catching a fish fit to eat? right now, it's not possible. recent tests show bacteria levels five times safe limits for human contact. but the city of baltimore wants to change all that. today, baltimore's mayor and the city's waterfront partnership unveiled a plan to make the harbor safe for swimming and fishing by the year 2020. this $220 million healthy harbor initiative will reduce sewage and storm water that enter streams that end up flowing into the harbor. how are you going to pay for

it? the partnership recommends increasing maryland's flush fee. it also calls for creating a statewide bag tax that would charge customers for paper and plastic bags from grocery, drug, and department stores. both would require general assembly approval before they would go into effect. >> an icon stepped down. bill marriott handed over his the reigns today and for the first time in history, there will be no one named as marriott as ceo. i'm scott broom, bill marriott handed over the reigns of his empire today. >> i started out as a soda jerk and through family connections, here i am. >> marriott is head of a hospitality empire that includes 660,000 hotel rooms in 72 countries. at $1.3 billion in net worth, he is one of the richest and most generous men in

washington. and he really did start at a hot shop's restaurant, a chain his father built. >> i learned what it was like to be on the other side of the aisle and learned what it was like to work in the kitchen, how demanding it was. >> now to the old twin bridges motor hotel in arlington, long gone now, but the company's first from this grew the iconic marriott name. the reigns are being handed over to arnie, a loyal marriott lieutenant for a decade. >> a marriott in many respects through absolute drive. it has built the modern hotel industry in the united states and around the world. >> scott broom, 9news now. we just had a beautiful wednesday, especially for december. testimonies in the 50s, but our warmup comes with a tradeoff. top, you're watching rain headed your way? >> it does. not tonight, we are in good shape tonight if you want to take a walk. let's start with the satellite picture, a will lot of showers to north of us.

we have plenty of clouds, that's not going to change tonight, but no showers tonight anyway and pretty comfortable. 48 downtown. 46 in manassas and gaithersburg and upper 40s in leesburg. hagerstown is 41. and still 50 down in fredericksburg. now for tonight, we're looking at mostly cloudy skies, breezy and milder. the winds will kick up shortly. lows only 36 to 42. winds out of the south at 10 to 15 and becoming on the gusty side, but that's a warm wind. we'll come back. we'll tell you about milder air tomorrow and when those showers will arrive. okay topper. from holiday trees to skeleton santas. some claim christmas is getting shown the door. but is the christian holiday really under attack? that story is still ahead. first, occupy protesters gain a new ally. details of the new occupy the dream movement and who is behind it. that's next on 9news now. [ female announcer ] more people are using wireless devices...

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from occupy d.c. to occupy the dream. that movement launched at the national press club today. african american clergy and civil rights leaders threw their support behind the movement saying the protesters are carrying on the ideals of dr. martin luther king jr. >> dr. martin king died trying

to organize the poor people's campaign. occupy wall street has picked up the mantel that was dropped on the balcony in memphis, tennessee. >> the occupy the dream movement will hold their first major event january 16. they want people to leave crutches and prosthetics at the federal reserve to demonstrate how financial institutions crippled the u.s. economy. looks like our weather warmup comes with rain. when those showers move in. but first, a sign of compromise. democrats hint at a concession in their demands for the payroll tax cut. details when we return.

the washington, d.c. veterans affairs medical center and wusa9 salute all who serve at home ask abroad this holiday season. >> we would like to say happy holidays to my family in takoma park, maryland. happy holidays uncle john, my cousin, and his wife karen. we miss you and we love you. let's talk about the money coming home in your check. tonight, congressional officials tell the ap democrats may be willing to compromise to extend the payroll tax cut. party leaders discussed dropping their request to tax millionaires to pay for the tax

cut. that decision isn't final. democrats tried to force a vote on an extension passed by the house yesterday, but republicans blocked it. >> it's here, it's dead. and they don't want to vote on it. you think maybe they don't want to vote on it because republican senators are embarrassed or ashamed on what's in that bill? >> the house passed bill, why doesn't he start talking to the speaker about how he may craft a bill that will pass a republican house and a democratic senate? >> democrats wanted the vote to show there wasn't enough support. it includes approval for the controversial keystone pipeline. something the democrats are very much against as well as the president. what are the chances congress tackles all of this in time to save this payroll tax cut? editor of the roll call daily briefing joins us with his insights. the democrats are saying they might be able to compromise on taxing the millionaires more, is this a big step?

>> it is probably the biggest thing that the senate democrats have to give away and now as you just suggested, the pressure would be on the house republicans to give away the biggest thing they have to give away, which is the keystone pipeline environmentalists are very worried about that pipeline. the president himself just announced a few weeks ago that he wanted to postpone that pipeline. he says he would veto the entire thing, both sides are playing, and it's now within hours of when they need to end and the deal needs to get cut. >> president obama will veto it if the aspect is still in this. >> okay. you can imagine the american public. we are talking about a payroll tax. there's such a feeling of frustration. let's talk a little bit about that. are we seeing growing frustration with this that you just mentioned? >> we absolutely are. this is the third or fourth time this year that we have come down to the wire on

things. there was one in martha got down to within 15 minutes. there was of course the debt ceiling limit in august that got within a few hours of another impasse, whether it was going to be a default. more and more say they think this is the worst congress ever. i approval of congress is at an all-time low. legislating is messy and cliches about sausage making and so forth. it seems like this has pushed the public to the brink one time too often. we are now within 53 hours of yet another government shutdown. >> let's talk about that aspect. is that a reality or is there going to be some kind of stop gap measure? >> only a little bit. but enough to be concerned and actually the office of personnel management was sending out a memo object what to do in case of a government shutdown. essentially what's happening in this one is, there's a bill that is essentially done, that would fund the government through next september. it's worth about a trillion

dollars. it has all kinds of interesting language that both sides like or don't like and it's being held up because now the democrats, president obama and senator harry reid say no, no, we're going to hold that as a sweetener. you can't have that until the payroll tax bill is done. >> let's go back to that. do you think the payroll tax benefit is going to be extending? >> i don't think they will go home until that's done. it will take into early next week and i think that technically we would have to be worried about a government shutdown, in which it wouldn't impact too many people, but it will take that weekend to focus the mind and get it done. >> thank you for helping us understand this and wade our way through. topper, over to you. >> we'll start with the satellite picture, radar combined. this is what is left of the storm that hit the southwest so hard on monday and tuesday. and notice it's all green. this is all rain. it's kind of unusual to be in mid december and not talk about snow in chicago or des moines

or minneapolis. it's all rain, there's no arctic air anywhere. most of the activity moved up into detroit. it sunk back to the south and the east over pennsylvania. but it missed us. really, we're not talking about a lot of precipitation from the system. this is in the going not going to be a big system. the clouds will hang on through tonight and tomorrow. temperatures are hanging on nicely. 50 in college park. 47 in bethesda and arlington. 47 in springfield. and we're looking at 46 in gaithersburg. even out to the west, sterling, everyone is in the mid to upper 40s. with the clouds in place, temperatures are not going to fall very much tonight. becoming breezy and milder tomorrow, mostly cloudy tonight, but dry. mostly cloudy in the morning, but dry. a dry morning commute. there will be a few afternoon showers, but again, we're not looking at anything heavy, not a soaker. some roads could be wet on your way home tomorrow and you know, a double edged sword. good news, a bright weekend.

it will be oughted chilly weekend, but it is mid december after all. all right, look at the future cast. we'll put this into motion and stop at 8:00 in the morning. just clouds. no showers in the morning. as we get into the lunchtime hour, maybe showers north of town. as you go up 270 and plenty of showers over toward oakland. that's where most of the activity can be found. by 8:00, around this time tomorrow, some showers just south of town, but notice the pockets of clouds. notice it's all light green for the most part, so nothing heavy is headed our way. clears out pretty quickly on thursday night into friday morning. and then the next system will stay to our south as we go through friday night into saturday. so mostly cloudy, breezy, and milder tonight. a one blanket night. 36 to 42. winds out of the south at 10 to 15. in fact, lows should be in the low 40s. that's it. even in the suburbs, only talking upper 30s in gaithersburg and rockville. so everybody stays above freezing and that has not

happened over the past four to six nights depending on where you live. mostly cloudy in the morning. cool. 30s and 40s. mostly cloudy, a few showers. even milder. winds southwest 10 to 20 and gusty. now next seven days. nice on friday, cooler yes, but pleasant. and there's the weekend, bright but brisk. can't complain about mid 40s and sunshine. next week, clouds roll in monday, but we stay dry. next chance for rain and showers will be tuesday night into wednesday. and even then, we're looking at upper 40s on tuesday and 50 next wednesday. >> thanks. we're coming up on christmas, but let's talk about whether it's under siege. a closer look at the controversy. is there a war on christmas? we'll be right back. [ screaming ]

[ zapping ] there goes dwayne's car. oh, man. there goes dwayne's house.

whoa! whoa! and there goes dwayne. man, that thing does not like dwayne. [ male announcer ] state farm's got you covered. nice landing. it was. [ male announcer ] get to a better state. is there really a war on christmas? in montgomery county this weekend, a man with strong religious convictions had his suspicions confirmed at the local post office. bruce leshan reports, some liberals think the whole thing is a right wing fantasy. >> they start off by saying oh god rest and that's about it. >> the latest squirmish in what some say a war on christmas. >> you can't sing on government property. get out right now. >> christmas carolers ejected this weekend from the aspen hill post office. the communications director for the conservative family research council and his two- year-old just happen to be in

line. >> her first experience with christmas caroling involved an angry scowling post manager. >> there's been a war on christmas, a war on christmas. >> you're antichristian. >> war. >> war. >> at christmas time every year for the last five, the issue has been featured on fox news. >> gays can openly serve in military, but our children can't celebrate christmas. >> rick perry is running ads about it. >> i'll end obama's war on religion. >> skeleton santa erected by atheist and removed by an angry loudoun county woman has fed the fears. >> what are you doing? >> i'm taking this down. >> there's absolutely no war on christmas. >> libertarians say what conservative evangelical christians are looking for is special access to public spaces. see the christian holiday symbols and you'll realize the

war on christmas. >> he thinks you're santa claus. [ laughter ] >> is just a fantasy. >> and that's all this is. a fantastic war on christmas that simply doesn't exist. >> bruce leshan, 9news now. >> we want to hear what you think. join the conversation on our facebook page. that's our report. i'll be back here tonight at 11:00 with lesli foster. good night. [ female announcer ] more people are using wireless devices...

in more ways than ever. and our networks are getting crowded. but if congress frees up more wireless spectrum... we can empower more people to innovate... putting momentum behind our economy. and we can reduce the deficit... with more than thirty billion dollars paid by america's wireless companies. it's simple -- more spectrum means more freedom. for everyone.

now, "entertainment tonight," the most watched entertainment newsmagazine in the world. robert wagner ambushed. >> will anyone ever know the truth about natalie wood's death? >> hounded by paparazzi in his first public appearance since the natalie wood death investigation was reopened. has he talked to police? plus brad versus george angelina versus stacy. head to head on the red carpet this awards season. and who was snubbed at the s.a.g. award nominations. behind tim tebow's rise to fame. >> tim tebow is the story by far in the nfl this year. >> is he single? "e.t." tackles the all-american football hero's personal step. as we break down who the hottest nfl stars dated. kate middleton's first royal christmas with the queen.