armando trull talked to him from his home. ♪ i'm every woman >> i just cried like a baby, man.w, what's funny, the thing that got me most was not the friendship, it was that this voice is gone. ♪ oh wanna dance with somebody. >> reporter: radio d.j. donnie simpson said his friendship with her began early in his career. >> i had a gold record in my office that said thanks for being the first in the world to play whitney. >> reporter: simpson calls houston one of the best female singers ever. >> whitney was, you know, one of the greatest voices i've ever heard. and when i say one of i mean, like one of the two or three maybe, you know. it's like whitney and aretha. >> reporter: in 1994 whitney houston sang at a state dinner at the white house for nelson mandela. houston had been a longtime supporter of mandela's struggle against apartheid, but during her long career she raised millions of dollars for many causes. >> if she had asked me to come to new york to emcee a function for the united negro college fund, and she performed there. this is at the height of whitney houston. >> r

. >> as armando trull reports, two of the volunteer firefighters suffered critical burns. >> every one of us know that every time we go out the door could be the last time. we also know we are here to serve the citizens. >> this house fire in river dale heights sent seven public servants to washington hospital center last night. after a fire ball nourished by strong winds tore through the home. >> and what firefighters described as a blow torch coming out the front door, the same front door that our firefighters entered. >> nearly 70 firefighters tried to extinguish the blaze. >> 57th avenue. >> two volunteer firefighters were badly hurt, one of them suffered burns to his respiratory system. the other has burns over nearly half of his body. >> they are still both critical, however both alert and able to communicate with us. actual in good spirits and has been writing on tablet to his parents. >> everybody is very somber right now. we have unfortunately been through this two other times in the past five years. everybody knows what this is like and it's very difficult, but they are also

armando trull spoke with family members at the hospital today. >> reporter: underneath it all we're all a big family. and although some of us are strangers, we're all the same. >> reporter: parents of the three firefighters with the most severe injuries recounted the harrowing moments. >> four and a half hours from new york, the longest ride in the world, not knowing what to expect. >> reporter: kevin 0 tewel has severe burns and is facing nearly eight months of medical treatment. ethan sorrell has respiratory system burns and is breathing through a tube. >> he's in some pain from the tubes and all, but other than that ethan is doing well. >> reporter: the third firefighter, mike mccleary has severe burns and bruises to his ribs. >> there was fire showing from both sides of the house in the rear. we attempted to darken down the fire from the outside first. >> reporter: the first team entered the house through the basement here in the rear. they were trying to put out a fire so the team on the first floor could safely look for victims, but then an alarm sounded. >> attention, all units 6

but always armando trull reports tonight, authorities placed that store under a magnifying glass.news now investigative report. >> reporter: this piece of crime scene tape is the only indication saturday night the town square market on mcarthur boulevard was raided by d.c. police. the owner, dan ki kim showed here in a 9 news now investigative report was arrested. kim was charged with selling alcohol to a 17-year-old arlington high school student who was using someone else's identification. >> you would have to be some kind of doofus to not see before you someone underage. >> reporter: police officers were surveilling the store last night in part because of a 9 news now investigative series about the town market. it had become a place where high school students could buy booze with little scrutiny of the i.d.'s they were using. kim denied these allegations during the original 9 news now piece. >> mr. kim? >> no, he's not here. >> reporter: sunday, family members said kim wasn't mom when we tried to get his explanation about last night's arrest. the store will be back in business m

armando trull, 9 news now. >> a footnote. last year before occupy d.c.k over that square, the national parks service spent some $400,000 in stimulus money to beautify the park. >>> tomorrow, george hugely goes on trial for murder. the former university of virginia lacrosse player from maryland is accused of beating his ex-girlfriend to death. yardly love was also a lacrosse player at uva. she was 22 from maryland. it was in may of 2010. hugely admitted to kicking down love's bedroom door and shaking her several times and that her head hit the wall. now his defense attorney will argue that yardly love died from an irregular heartbeat after taking a prescribed drug and drinking alcohol. that murder shook the uva campus community. >> i remember at the vigil when we had complete silence at the end moving into a moment of silence and just hearing the somebody's that came thereafter. i think that was critical. it was key for the community to just have that released. >> i think there's no question that something like this caused students, faculty and staff to s

reporting live, i'm armando trull, back to you. >> armando, thank you for that report. now, police need your help to find this woman, the 51-year- old, she has been missing since wednesday. officers say that she was heading to the medical appointment innd. her family is worried tonight because of her medical condition and she is on medication. now if you have seen this woman, please give police a call. maryland state police, they also need your help to find this man, but for an entirely different reason, reporting behind bars. jeffrey wayne malcolm robbed the bank here in monroe yesterday. they say that he might be driving around with maryland tags. >>> there are reports tonight from syria that at least 30 more civilians have been killed. that word comes on the heels of saturday's u.n. security council meeting where russia and china vetoed that resolution aimed after ending the crackdown on protesters. now today's secretary of state, hillary clinton, called the veto a travesty. >> what happened yesterday at the united nations was a travesty. now, those countries that re

>> reporter: in river dale, armando trull, 9news now. >> five of the firefighters have been released from the hospital. matt jablo is at the fire house where right now they are gathering. matt? >> reporter: bruce, four of the injured firefighters from friday's blaze, they came from the riverdale area. all four of those injured firefighters from the riverdale firefighter have now been released from the hospital. two of them were back in the fire house today. we caught up with them, just a few minutes ago. >> everybody got out. we went to the left. big mike and myself and the other fireman here, they know kevin on the ground. we grabbed him. we were about five feet, maybe more, and we grabbed him out, we made sure that he was on outside and we made sure that the rest of my crew made it outside and then we noticed that everybody was starting to complain about the burns. and then, you know, we went out there. >> we were inside, i remember from down there and you know, the breathing view, that crust my chest. >> what incredible stories that the firefighters have to tell. and we will tell

in georgetown, armando trull, 9 news now. >>> former prince george's county executive jack johnson spending his first night in federal prison in north carolina. he reported to prison by his twelve noon deadline today. that's the same prison where convicted ponzi prisoner bernie madoff is serving time. he begins a seven year prison sentence for taking bribes and kickbacks while in office. last may he apologized to county residents outside the courthouse. >> we pled guilty, we accept responsibility. i'm very sorry for what happened. we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of the lord. >> now, we're told after processing johnson, he'll be assigned to the prison camp facility where he'll probably sleep in a dorm and get a work assignment earning about 40 cents an hour. his wife, leslie, reports next month to a prison in west virginia. >>> family and friends say goodbye to whitney houston today at the funeral services in newark, new jersey. her flower-draped casket lay in the church one week after her body was found in the bathtub of her los angeles hotel room. speakers included stevie wo