police chief kathy lanier. back to you in the studio mike. >> very interesting and of course jess will have that on wusa9 and on wusa9.com. the mayor's comments there. >>> the murder rate in the district is at the lowest level since john f. kennedy was president. as of thursday there were 108 homicides in the city this year. and that is the lowest since 1963. there were 132 murders in the city at this time last year. compare that to 20 years ago? 479 people were killed in the district. >>> 24 hours after a deadly car crash, police still want to know what caused it. they're working on the cause now. we brought you this as breaking news yesterday morning. an suv left university boulevard east in silver spring and hit a fence and then smashed into abulic retaining wall. -- a brick retaining wall. 22-year-old jenice richards and tamara johnson died in the crash. 18-year-old desaleen james survived. her twin sister says she knows what happened but is having a hard time acknowledging the death of her friends. >> she

police chief kathy lanier and they hold a press conference later today at 2:30. will be interesting to see what he has to say. mike, back to you in the studio. >> thank you jess and of course we'll have that right here on 9news now and on wusa9.com as well. >>> a grand jury has now indicted curtis lopez for the murders of his estranged wife jane mcquain and his stepson, 11-year-old william. they were both killed back in october. montgomery county police say lopez went to mcquain's apartment in jermantown where he beat and stabbed her. police found william's body in clarksburg days later. investigators believe lopez used a bat to crush the boy's skull. >>> the district of columbia has been ordered to pay over a million dollars in attorney's fees in connection with the city's handgun ban. the court case back in 2003, dick heller sued the district saying the ban violated his second amendment rights. the case wept to the supreme court. the justice sided with heller and overturned the ban in 2008. now a judge awarded his attorneys more than $1 million in fees and expe

police chief kathy lanier -- cathy lanier praised the officers who literally put their lives in danger. >> we had several cases where undercovers traveled outside the district of columbia with suspects known to be involved in multiple armed robberies. those suspects during those discussions made it clear they had no problems in shooting or killing police officers or security guards in the course of their criminal conduct. >> a total of 161 weapons were seized as well as gallons of pcp and a large cache of marijuana. >>> the manual accused of firing at the on -- owe the manual accused of firing at the white house will not get out of jail until his trial. the 21-year-old is accused of firing dozens of shots at the white house last month. he's charged with attempting to assassinate the president. the obamas were out of town at the time of the shooting. >>> 4:35. here's a look at some of the things making news now. a snowstorm continues to hammer parts of the southwest in the great plains this morning. the system barreled through new mexico yesterday bringing whipping winds and whiteout co

we talked to police chief kathy lanier about why she believes this may have happened, this man firing as many as 30 gunshots. >> there were several calls that came in. first, for a man with a gun shooting at the houses. then calls came in for a person high on pcp firing a weapon. as officers enterrd the block, they heard the gunfire and observed the subject with a gun firing. >> reporter: now, when the man refused to drop his weapon, they did fire on him. cpr was performed on the suspect at the scene although he later died. they do suspect that pcp or perhaps some other drug was involved but we do not confirmation. police are on the scene and will probably continue their investigation once daylight breaks. i'm stacy cohan. back to you. >> thank you. >>> and police are still looking for people responsible identify deadly shooting in reston. a man found shot on cameron crescent drive. he later died of his wounds. investigators say three men were spotted leaving the scene. they have not yet dairmd motive but believe there is no threat to the -- determine a motive but believe there is no

. >> reporter: police and kathy lanier wrapped up a news conference telling us her side of the story and the figures they gathered so far. the last couple of day, 108 murders this year. the largest that we have seen in the district since 1963. >> as 2011 winds down, d.c. is a safer place to be. according to the mayor and police chief. >> when i started here in 1990, the two things that used to really bother me is that we were known as the murder capital of the world and the city of unsolved homicides. our detectives and our police officers have done an amazing job in turning that around. >> 108 murders, down 18%, and a 94% homicide closure rate. that beats out the national average of 65%. but the president of the fop claims overall crime is on the rise. he blames the occupy d.c. movement for draining resources. >> in fact, there's been a double digit increase in violent crimes and jour all crime overall crime in the city. >> based on the time of year, but to blame that on occupy is crazy. >> and the chief credits the community for keeping the crime numbers low and is now asking the c

mayor vince gray and kathy lanier holding a news conference. currently 108 homicides in 2011. if that holds it would be the lowest since the early 1960s. that's a major improvement over 1991 when the city was in the midst of a crack epidemic. mayor gray attributes the decline in part to community policing and strong neighborhood leadership. >>> these past games deadly on montgomery county roads. this morning a man driving a motorcycle was killed on the beltway. kevin hinnant junior of laurel crashed in silver springs. witnesses say hinnant lost control while traveling at a high rate of speed and hit a guardrail. lanes in that area shut down but have since reopened. >>> police have still investigating a crash that killed two young women on university boulevard in silver springs yesterday morning. the suv they were traveling in veered off the road and hit a retaining wall. last night family and friends gathered to remember 19-year- old at that marra -- tamara johnson and 22-year-old jenice richards and parade for james who is now dealing with serious injury. >>> police identifyi