one officer is dead, another being treated for his injuries after their cruiser drove off i-95 early this afternoon. tonight police hope you can help find the suspect they were chasing. our anny hong is live in cheverly at prince george's hospital center with more. >> reporter: what a sad and challenging day for the prince george's county police department. the name of that young police officer who, by the wa was just 23 years old has not been released yet. his family is still being notified. he had been with the prince george's county police department for just 2 1/2 years, but had been involved with them for several years before since his teens through the explorer youth program. police chief mark magaw said the young officer was driving his cruiser at around 12:30, 1:00 this afternoon on interstate 95 in beltsville, maryland near the powder mill road exit. he and his partner were involved in a pursuit of a silver acura which matched the

description of a car involved in a theft. the officer somehow lost control, ran off the highway, landed in a ditch. he was ejected from the car, suffered massive head injuries and died. >> this job is not an easy job by any means and there's dangers in everything that we do just about, but these officers were dedicated to doing their duty and that's what they were doing is following up on this theft report. >> reporter: fellow officers have been coming by prince george's hospital center all day to showupport and pay their respects. definitely an emotional day for many of them. now the second officer, he's in the hospital with multiple injuries here, but the good news is he is expected to survive. now police need your help. any witnesses who may have seen this car, they need your help in trying to track this suspect car down. it's described as a silver or gray four-door acura tl with temporary tags, maybe has tinted windows and a spoiler in

the back. if you have any information, please call 1-866-411-tips. we're live in prince george's county hospital center, anny hong, 9 news now. back to you. >> hopefully that investigation will move along quickly. amazingly no one was seriously injured when a ride on bus literally slammed into a silver spring home this morning. about a dozen people were on board and two brothers were inside the house when the bus crashed. >> he was from here and i was coming out of my car. i said is this guy not going to stop? so i went back into the car, boom! right in front of me it just took this taxi off and there the guy came out and said he lost his brakes. >> sounded like the house was crashing in. >> i thought it was an earthquake at first, so when i seen the bus, i was comptely astounded. >> investigators tell 9news the brakes appear to have failed on

the bus, but they're still looking into the exact cause. five people on the bus were treated for minor injuries. nobody in the house was hurt, but that structure has now been condemned. if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. >> missouri congressman todd akin says he's got no plans to drop his bid to be that state's senator after those controversial comments we heard over the weekend, but today the republican did apologize for his comments about rape and pregnancy. however, that has not stopped the calls for him to not only bow out ofsenate race, but to also step down from his congressional seat. >> no apology or retraction can change the fact that he's not fit for public service. >> this is a matter of biology. a female body responds the same way during rape that it would during consensual sex in terms of reproduction. that does not change. >> joining me now to talk more about in is kay quinn, anchor

at our sister situation in st. louis, thank you for taking a minute for us. >> thanks for having me. >> congressman akin is now being hammered nationally by republicans and democrats alike, but what's the reaction there where there is a local campaign story? >> people sounding off on their website, on facebook, writing letters to the editor and saying how outraged they are, particularly women outraged by the language that congressman akin used to talk about not only rape, but pregnancy and this outrage is something i'm hearing echoed in kansas city and in columbia as well. it's this overarcking theme that we're hearing today from voters and from the media that report in those areas. >> is this a man who is tough enough and stubborn enough to hang in there even though the republican senatorial campaign committee now says they're not going to spent the $5 million they were on his campaign? >> that's what he's saying today and the interesting thing is he was scheduled to on a radio program on a big news

radio station here this morning, an interview that had been confirmed on friday. he canceled that at the very last minute before 9:00 this morning, did not appear on that. we have been trying to find him here in st. louis. we're told initially by his pr people that he was in ohio and then when we tried to backtrack and ask about that, they refused to comment further. we're really having trouble pinpointing where he is today, but it's going to be interesting to see what happens in the next 24 hours because there is a window of time here where he could actually be replaced as the candidate. it has to happen before tuesday. so we're waiting to see what possibly could be going on behind the scenes to maybe set that up. >> thank you. republican presidential candidate mitt romney says akin's comments were insulting and inexcusable and frankly wrong and today the president even weighed in calling the comments offensive. >> rape is rape and the idea that we should be parsing and

qualifying and slicing what types of rape we're talking about doesn't make sense to the american people and certainly doesn't make sense to me. so what i think these comments do underscore is why we shouldn't have a bunch of politicians, a majority of whom are men, making healthcare decisions on behalf of women. >> okay. that's what the president says. what do you say? should congressman akin resign? should he keep running for senate? what should de? join the conversation on our wusa9 facebook page. fairfax county police say a man grabbed a woman right off the street and sexually assaulted her about 11:00 last night along the 7600 block of lee highway in merrifield. a man approached that woman, threatened her with a knife, force heard into a nearby brush, so far no arrests. and no arrests in another

sexual assault involving a 5- year-old girl grabbed right off the playground about 7 p.m. last night near the 4900 block of manitoba drive. a child was at the pray ground when a man -- playground when a man picked her up, took her into a basement of a nearby building and sexually assaulted her. police have a number of leads in the beating that nearly killed a 29-year-old husband and father near eastern market this weekend. >> reporter: i'm scott broom at capitol hill where police today are following a number of leads in the disturbing attack against 29-year-old thomas maslin. what's so upsetting about what happened to maslin is how long he may have been injured before anyone found him. according to a police report, maslin was discovered by a passer-by on this porch in the 700 block of north carolina avenue at 8:30 in the morning saturday so badly beaten and incoherent rescuers thought he was having a seizure. he was just a few blocks from home. according to a police report, maslin was last seen at the

tune in bar and restaurant on pennsylvania avenue. it was 12:45 a.m. police don't know what happened after that, but clues include a neighbor who reported shouting near where maslin was found between 3:30 and 4 a.m., five hours before he was discovered on the porch. meanwhile maslin's wife reported his credit card may have been used about 5 p.m. the next day. scott broom, 9 news now. the smithsonian's hirshhorn gallery was evacuated around 3:00 this afternoon after reports of gunshots inside. thankfully there turned out to be no threat, but it does appear tonight a security guard took his own life in the museum's locker room. d.c. police are investigating that shooting. the museum was closed the rest of the day. it is expected to open as scheduled tuesday. coming your way on 9news at 7:00 today, forced from football, find out why a peewee football association will not let this 12-year-old suit up and play the game he loves, that story at 7:00. still to come in this half

hour of 9news, here we go again. is she or isn't she? we'll have the latest on a possible panda pregnancy. >> and up next a dubious distinction for gas prices on this date in history.

prices at the pump hit a record high today. according to aaa, the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded is $3.72 across the

nation. in the greater d.c. area we're at 3.71. you can always find the best gas prices at www.wusa9.com by clicking on pump patrol. apple officially became this country's most valuable company in history. a stock jump brought the company's value to $621 billion today. that beats a record set by microsoft in the early days of the internet boom. today's surge is believed to be the result of the impending launch of the iphone 5 and a smaller cheaper ipad. while apple saw a boost today facebook dropped to its lowest level in history today. the social network hit a new low of $18.75 a share before bouncing back to close just over 20 bucks by the day's end. probably plenty of party pictures on facebook from students at west virginia university. the morgantown school tops this year's princeton rivalize of party schools followed by university of iowa and ohio university in the top three. the university of maryland in

college park is 16th and james madison is 18th. on the sober side brigham young university tops the least with wheaton college and the u.s. naval academy in annapolis rounding out the top three. still ahead the bad guy in those austin powers movies wanted to attack the moon with a laser. let's see how nasa is using them to do some discovery on mars.

i'm anita brikman with this health alert and an urgent warning from poison control centers. toddlers have become violently ill after biting into or swallowing highly concentrated laundry detergent in new pods or packets. the bright colors make them look like candy. violent vomiting, seizures, breathing distress have been reported. keep them away from young kids. >> this health alert is sponsored by cancer treatment centers of america, care that never quits. to learn more visit cancercenter.com. [drum]

[male announcer] he was there when his country needed him and we'll be there when he needs his country. join us and send your message of support to our wounded warriors at uso.org. the uso. until every one comes home. it's been a busy day for a pair of russian cosmonauts

doing some work outside the international space station installing new shields to protect against floating space junk, adjusting a crane and releasing a small satellite. this is the first spacewalk in more than half a year. look at what the curiosity rover has been up to using its laser to blast away some big old martian rock. curiosity's camera recorded the ionized glowing gas from that blast. it still study the elements in the rock as part of its search for life in the planet mars. the u.s. has so far declined to intervene to remove dictator bashar assad, but an american rebel is refusing to wait for a u.s. change of heart. bruce leshan reports matthew van dyke plans to leave next month for the syrian war zone. >> reporter: it is a long way from throw nets to assault rifles. matthew van dyke has been recharging his batteries for the last nine months in his mother's home at the delaware

beaches. the baltimore man fought with the libyan rebels, was captured by gadhafi's forces and spent five months in a tripoli prison. >> i heard late at night sounds of people being violently interrogated. >> reporter: but next month he plans to go back to the war zone, this time in syria officially to shoot a documentary with an old friend, but he is prepared for the worst. >> getting captured by assad's forces as i was captured by gadhafi's forces, getting kidnapped by foreign jihaddists. >> reporter: one journalism groups has criticized van dyke's time in libya suggesting he posed as a journalist and by doing that he threatened the safety of our journalists, but van dyke adamantly denies that. >> i side with the syrian rebels. this film is to support them. if i'm captured this time, i don't want special treatment. i want the same fate as the men i'm with. >> reporter: van dyke fears

the u.s. is making a mistake by refusing to intervene in syria. the continuing battle has radicalized the rebel forces. al-qaeda fighters are joining the battle. van dyke says american support for the rebels in libya earned us friends. >> a recent poll found libyans like americans more than canadians do because we help them, but in syria do we want them to like us or al-qaeda who is helping them? >> there will always be aircoaches. >> reporter: van dyke's school principal mom worries about him but knows she cannot stop him. >> people say why did you do this and i say why didn't you do it? >> reporter: on fenwick island in delaware, bruce leshan, 9 news now. >> van dyke is desperately trying to raise money at kick starter.com to pay for his documentary project but says he's going even if he doesn't get the money. he may have to do without a flack jacket or kevlar helmet. seems like he would need those. get ready for the speculation and the hopes of a nation all turned toward the

national zoo because today the smithsonian announced its female giant panda mei xiang has some elevated hormone levels. if you've lived in this town a while, you know it could mean these pregnant. then again it may mean nothing as pandas have a tendency towards false pregnancies. we should know if there will be a cub in about 40 to 50 days. it's hard not to get excited. >> now if it were to have a cub, how big would it building at birth? >> butter stick. >> stick of butter, very good. >> we have some showers and thunderstorms across the area, nothing severe, but we do have code yellow because we thought we'd see some storms and indeed we are. in fact, let's start with live doppler 9000. it's a pretty good line weakened somewhat. it's run into more stable air, but heavy activity up into montgomery county and into portions of virginia especially in prince william county. we'll highlight some of the areas. first we'll go to the north of town. if you're headed up 270, you'll find some showers and

thunderstorms out toward olney and 97, georgia avenue toward greers mill and towards gaithersburg as well, all this activity pushing east, northeast up towards clarksville. we'll zoom back out a little bit and go south and west. this is pretty heavy activity, too, from just southwest of fairfax east of manassas and just on woodbridge's doorstep down to cromwell headed towards stafford. this is all headed east at 24 miles an hour. we'll widen it out and show you where things will go. if you have tickets to the game, go. at the very worst it will be a quick brief rain delay. we'll put this into motion for the next hour. you see from gaithersburg headed toward woodbridge it crosses 95 in the next hour and approaches the stadium by 7:00 or so, but it should be out of there. notice it weakens. you of get more green, that's a good thing. that means -- you get more green, that's a good thing.

that means you have better weather. dew point 63, pretty nice, pressure 29.7 inches and rising a little bit. 76 bethesda, arlington, 79 downtown, college park and to the west 77 in vienna. so a brief delay is possible at the nats game, some storms tonight especially between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. by the stadium. storms end by 10:00 and cool and comfortable tonight. futurecast, we'll put this into motion now and stop it at 7:30. they weaken as they approach i- 95, the storms. by 8:30 they kind of break up, should be fine, still some clouds and after that everything goes through. we see breaks in the clouds as early as 10:30 tonight. next three days we'll keep it code green for tuesday, wednesday, thursday. yes, some storms are possible, but nothing crazy, not hot, temperatures low to mid-80s

across the board. next seven days it gets better really. friday we're in pretty good shape. we could still see a shower, but not going to get hot. mid-80s, maybe a sprinkles, upper 80s sunday and monday, but i think we can probably handle that. we'll keep you posted on these storms, nothing severe but kind of heavy. >> the timing, it's important. we'll be back with sports and a big series ahead for the no. 1 nats. we'll be right back.

now 9 sports with kristen berset, the best sports in town. >> talk about a pivotal series, the next three games at nationals park are going to be exciting, nail biting and, well, extremely important for both the nationals and the atlanta braves, their opponent. thanks to last night's win against new york the nats are now five games ahead of atlanta in the nl east and the curly ws have been plentiful. the nats have won 12 of their last 15 games taking their last five series hoping this could be no. 6. dave owens joins me now live from nationals park. i know the fans are excited, but you talked to the players. how are they feeling today? >> reporter: they're awfully excited as well. they say the best way to keep your opponent at bay is to beat them and that's what the nats have done to the braves this year, 8-4 with six games remaining. talking to the guys in the

clubhouse, they say they've got to take care of business today here and now. >> any time you play against a team that, i guess, is right behind you, it's a good match- up and it's a series that both teams obviously want to win. >> it's going to be a good baseball week. i think go in there and hopefully play some good baseball, beat a good team and extend that lead. >> reporter: jordan zimmerman pitching tonight. he's got the best e.r.a. in all of baseball, not raining here yet, but the tarp team is at the ready. so let's hope those guys don't come into play here tonight. live at nats park, back to you now in the studio. >> topper says get ready, but it should be a short shower. thanks. we'll have full highlights tonight of the game at 11:00. the redskins also getting back to work today after a less than stellar performance by the starters saturday night. robert griffin, iii included in that group. the rookie failed to lead a scoring drive during his time

on the field. he was sacked three times, lost another fumble. we did, however, get glimpses of that speed and agility that rg3 is known for. however, many are criticizing his attempt to pick up that extra yard or 2. >> you can scare coaches a couple times whenever you do take a hit that you shouldn't necessarily take because you're trying to make a play. for the most part you just got to make sure you weigh the pros and cons. in the heat of battle, you'll figure it out as you go along. >> for the first time in his its 80 year history augusta golf club will add female members to condoleezza rice and darla moore, such a beautiful course. >> that's all for our 9 news now at 6:00. stay with us. the cbs evening news is next and derek is back with us for our area's only local newscast and we'll all be back at 11:00.