derick ward spoke with students on the campus, and he joins us live with their reaction. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, barbara. you know, it's probably a safe bet that ever since they developed an organized system of writing things down, they decided to write them on walls. it's what was written on the wall here that's prompted a modern day response. as students began the day of classes at montgomery college's rockville campus, some were mindful, even a little stressed, about a message found scrolled on a wall in the stairway of a campus center building. the message mentioned a shooting and gave today's date. >> of course, you think a little bit, you know, like you're nervous or something. but we all have things to do. i have two tests today. you know, it just has to be aware. >> reporter: the message was painted over but not overlooked. college officials took it seriously. montgomery county police, rockville city police and the maryland center for school safety were brought into the investigation. they're working closely with campus police, and there's a visib

derick ward spoke to residents about these latest developments. >> reporter: worth of a possible link and a possible break in the three pronged investigation into three high profile murdered in alexandria has put some local minds at ease, but with a caveat, charles severance is seen here checking into a west virginia hotel this past week and seen here on the right next to a composite sketch of a suspect. he once aspired to this seat when he ran for mayor of alexandria in may of 2000. >> i do remember when he ran for office. mostly just because he was such a young guy. and in some ways, i wonder why he wasn't even kind of thought about just because he seems like maybe there was some signs that he wasn't stable back then. >> reporter: it's all led to more discussion, as one al expand debrisian put it-nancy dunning's murder in 2003, still unsolved. >> we knew their children. they were babysitters for our kids. >> ruth ann lodano's murder last month. and ron kirby's murder in november, still unsolved. >> i hope they catch the person that did it. >>> we're going to bring you the details of

we are live in southeast, derick ward, news4. back to you. >> thank you. >>> and it looks like we have breaking news out of new york city. let's go back to angie goff. >> just in, barbara. new numbers regarding that huge explosion in uptown manhattan. we want to take you there live now. look at this. chopper 4 giving us a new view of the new york fire department at work after a blast at an east harlem building triggered this collapse. it's hard to see through the smoke. you can see just how intense that smoke is. the billowing cloud there. we're being told it can be seen for miles. 16 people, we are told, were hurt, four of them seriously. 168 firefighters on the ground right now fighting this thing. if you're familiar with the area, this is the corner of east 116th and the popular park avenue. responders have been there for about an hour and a half now. we are getting reports that those buildings nearby, they rattled during all of this, and also a lot of windows in the &háhp &h% photos on social media, people on the ground watch