killed in the line of duty, a maryland state trooper dies in a horrific accident. >> he was a friend that you would love to have, someone, you know, that you could call on. >> tonight, the trooper's final moments and the investigation into what went wrong. good evening, everyone. thanks for joining us. i'm adam may. right now, maryland state police are trying to figure out what caused a crash that killed one of their own. wjz is live in pikesville. weijia jiang shows us how loved ones are remembering the trooper. >> reporter: what a difficult day it has been not only for the trooper's family but his entire police family who says he died doing what he loved. 39-year-old trooper first class shaft hunter died serving maryland. police say he crashed his patrol car around 2:40 saturday morning in what appears to be a pursuit. >> a witness told investigators that he was passed by a motorcycle at high speed and right behind it was a marked maryland state police car. >> reporter: investigators say hunter's car then struck a tractor-trailer parked on the shoulder south of route 32. the vehicle was shredded to pieces. this street in front of hunter's laurel home is lined with cars as loved ones come together to grieve. one family member tells us it's too soon and they door emotional to talk about the -- they are too emotional to talk about the tragedy. hunter has six children. records show he was recently separated from his wife and living in a reisterstown apartment. friends from both neighborhoods are stunned. >> just knowing that six kids lost their father is horrible. it's the worst part of it. >> when you see someone in authority around, you feel more comfortable, and not just that to know that they are a friendly person and down to earth and he had an awesome sense of humor. >> reporter: hunter was elected president of his recruit class. before that, he was honorably discharged from the marine corps after serving six years. >> i think all of our hearts and prayers go out to trooper hunter and his family. >> reporter: and tonight, police say they need the public's help locating that motorcyclist who may have been leading tfc hunter. they believe he was wearing a white helmet. weijia jiang, wjz "eyewitness news." >> the last maryland state trooper who died in the line of duty was trooper wesley brown. he was shot and killed in a restaurant last june. we have breaking news tonight coming out of anne arundel county. a car hit a light rail train in ferndale. firefighters moments ago tell us a driver and a person on the train suffered minor injuries. we're still working to find out how that accident happened. new tonight at 11:00, a dirt bike rider hit by a baltimore city police officer. the man was riding his bike here in the 600 block of moser street before 9:00 tonight. that's when the officer in an unmarked car hit him. we're told the man on the dirt bike should be okay. quite a thrilling finish at the preakness. maryland's own animal kingdom comes up short in his quest for the triple crown. mark viviano shows us that the second jewel of the triple crown lived up to its hype. [no audio ] >> reporter: more than 107,000 fans and partyers packed pimlico on an ideal weather day. the seventh largest crowd in preakness history included ray ice of the ravens and the masses were entertained by in- field concerts and an excellent race. >> they're off in the preakness! and slash point has had a great beginning. shackleford's right alongside. >> reporter: smackle ford pushed the pace throughout the race and was out front down the stretch for a thrilling finish. animal kingdom made a late challenge but comes up short to shackleford. >> it's unbelievable. it's phenomenal. it shows if anybody gets started in the horse business can do this because lord knows 25 years ago nobody thought i'd sit up here and talk about winning a classic race. >> it's amazing. i got no words to explain how it feels, but it does feel amazing. >> reporter: down the stretch, shackleford's leading, here comes animal kingdom. your thoughts and were you believing it would hold on? >> i couldn't watch the end of it because you never know. he's been training great and he's a strong horse. >> shackle will be shipped to his home base at churchill downs in kentucky. after ten days of evaluations, the team will determine whether the preakness winner will take a run at the belmont stakes. back to you. >> mark, thank you very much. fans were well behaved today. officers did kick 23 people out of pimlico. 16 people were take ton the hospital. a frederick county sheriff's deputy is in trouble for allegedly sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl. samboman allegedly committed a sex act with the girl at her home. bowman was the school 'source officer at walkersville high school where the girl was a student. armed and dangerous right now baltimore county police are looking for a man who robbed a gas station in parkton. the officers tell us that a man held up the exxon station on mount caramel road at around 3:30 this morning. he then crashed his get away car and managed to escape before police could find him. iceland's most active volcano started erupting. under a glacier, it spewed ash high into the sky today. this is new video into "eyewitness news." airplanes are now banned from flying within 120 miles of this big volcano. experts do not think it will cause the same travel headaches as last year's volcano in iceland. that one shut down air travel for several days. they are watching and waiting. people are living near the mississippi river and are keeping a close eye on the rising waters. tonight, duarte reports on the new problems of the mighty mississippi. >> reporter: mississippi river traffic is still shut down on a five-mile stretch after a barge accident on friday. river will remain closed until the location of all of the barges have been confirmed in a safe way has been established. >> reporter: four broke loose in high fast-moving water. one struck another barge tied to a dock loaded with sulfuric acid. the three others carrying corn sank to the bottom of the river. this was the second time in a week barges broke free and thousand as cross the region battle the swollen mississippi and tributaries. in louisiana, safety officials postponed mandatory evacuation orders. the rivers will crest late last week. most residents have already left. those still in town have until at least monday to put up sandbags before evacuating. upstream in vicksburg, mis, the river has already crested and the water is slowly receding. officials caution there's still tremendous pressure and can break at any time. >> these levies will be more and more saturated every day that there will be continuing wave actions up against them and so people shouldn't drop their guard. >> reporter: it could take weeks before the floodwaters recede from the hardest hit areas. >> many people do want to return to their homes but emergency crews won't let them until that water goes down. from a powerful politician to house arrest. dominique strauss khan spent his first full day at a posh apartment after being released from jail. the former head of the imf is accused of trying to rape a maid in a new york city hotel. one building refused to house him now that he posted his $6 million bond. he has new neighbors, and they don't want him, either. >> why is he here? >> reporter: why is he here? >> yeah, why is he in this building? >> it will bring a lot of press and negativity to the building. >> strauss khan has to pay $200,000 a month for armed security guards that have to watch him 24 hour as a day. tonight, police need your help to find a missing man. howard hampton, jr. disappeared in carroll county yesterday afternoon. he suffered a brain injury a couple of years ago and needs medication. no good deed goes unpunished. khalil abusaccarin risked his life and we had the story right here on wjz. he made a big mistake and forgot to wear a life vest. a judge found him guilty and fined him $60. the man has to pay court costs and the lawyer plans to appeal that ticket. graduation season is here. thousands of local students are leaving school for a very uncertain future, but tonight as gigi barnett explains, the class of 2011 could discover those hard to find jobs are right here in maryland. >> reporter: it's graduation day for loyola university's class of 2011. 1700 former students now workforce ready. >> i'm going to be an inventory analyst for stanley black and decker. >> they gave me a scholarship so i can come back for another year. >> reporter: for some, the search for what's next is still on. >> i'm waiting for several jobs so hopefully by the time my internship's over, i'll come home and be good to go. >> reporter: after the pomp and circumstance, the job market isn't exactly calling. >> jobs are hard to get for college graduates and has been for the last several years. it looks like it will continue to be tough for this year's graduating class. >> reporter: with hefty student loans looming, many grads, 85% according to a new study, are forced to live on their parents' dime again. >> they're moving back home in order to exist and save expenses. >> reporter: some grads may luck out if they stay in maryland. the state's new employment knuckles show businesses added more than 11,000 jobs last month. that kind of job growth is triple the national average. >> people are starting to get it. i'd say it's getting better. >> reporter: another group that's optimistic are colleges and universities. they are say seeing an uptick in the number of businesses, visiting campuses looking to hire. in baltimore, i'm gigi barnett, wjz "eyewitness news." >> good luck to all those grads. loyola says a record 130 businesses visited the recent career fair. that is 30 more companies than they had last year. so much for the apocalypse. today's much-hyped doomsday prediction turned out to be a dud. a christian radio host predicted the world would come to an end at 6:00 tonight. he says he used a complicated formula based on numbers in the bible to predict our denies. but 6:00 came and went and it wasn't the end of the world as we know it. >> it doesn't say anything about the bible. it says a lot about their imagination. >> i just think it's just a bunch of baloney. >> certainly a lot of people talking about this today on social networking. this isn't the first time that same guy incorrectly warned us about the apocalypse. he offered a similar prediction in 1994. he said that didn't come true because of a math mat achele error. we have not heard from him so far tonight. still to come on wjz "eyewitness news" tonight, a terrifying accident caught on video. a little girl escaped a frightening crash with barely any bumps or bruises. we'll tell you the reason the driver is not in trouble tonight. also, the pope's historic call right to the heavens. his special message for astronauts in space. >> i thought she was making it up or she dreamed it. >> but she wasn't. it was a real late night scare. see what happens next when this big alligator tries breaking into a home. in anne arundel county, a 20-minute wait to save years of aggravation. why they are lined up here in millersville when "eyewitness news" continues. sunshine helped warm us up today but even warmer air is coming our way. we'll have the first warning forecast coming up when "eyewitness news" returns. ,,,,,,,,,, [ horns honking ] [ whistle blows ] [ male announcer ] can the network you live on handle the computers, tvs and technology you can't live without? ♪ verizon fios can. get the power and speed of america's largest 100% fiber optic network. verizon fios. a network ahead. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800-974-6006 tty/v. a city that's been inspiring ideas and innovation since 1729. at bank of america, we live, work and help serve the community here through hundreds of branches and atms. every day, we're working to help set opportunity in motion. from supporting the university of maryland medical center... to the restoration of the hippodrome theater and american brewery building. because when you're giving, lending and investing in more communities across the country, more opportunities happen. a pleasant 68 degrees and partly cloudy in central maryland right now. first, a family crossing a busy intersection is run over by an suv. it's caught on video taken from a security camera here in arizona. hard to watch here, but it shows a black vehicle running over a stroller. the 4-year-old child was not seriously hurt. she apparently bounced under the suv then luckily by inches missed the tires. it appears the drive her a green light and was not at fault. traffic experts are looking at safety changes at that intersection. >> you might want to call it a direct line to the heavens. pope benedict gives a historic blessing to the astronauts in outer space. >> i wish you the very best for your work and the success of your mission in the service of science and in collaboration of progress and for peace in the world. >> as part of the pope's conversation with the astronauts on board the international space station, he told commander mark kelly that he is praying for his wife congresswoman gabrielle giffords. this is the first time a pope has ever called outer space. today, the "endeavour" astronauts inspected a small gash on the shuttle's belly. experts on the ground reviewed 3d images and determined it poses no threat to the flight. the shuttle is now cleared to return to earth on june 1st. a south carolina woman finds a very scary late night viz tore outside of her home -- visitor outside of her home. >> there is an alligator on my front stoop and it was trying to beat the glass in. >> it certainly was. she immediately called 911 after she saw that gator pressed up against her front door. at first she thought someone was trying to break gnat house because the al gate wears making so much noise. agents captured the gator. they say it is normal to see alligators become disoriented because it is mating season. one in ten people have become the victim of some form of identity theft. tonight, hundreds of people lined up in anne arundel county hoping to avoid becoming a statistic. >> reporter: line up and launch. leave all of the sensitive documents behind. >> old bank book. >> the good thing about the box he's holding now is it's my box. >> reporter: they handed over their boxes then waited and watched just to make sure all of their personal data was shredded. >> i can really watch it and i know it's leaving. i'm not sitting it outside my backyard where someone can take it away. >> reporter: it's called shred- o-rama, a better way than shredding at home. >> if you ever use a shredder it has a tendency to go up on you at times. >> reporter: with computers ruling the world, it's easier to take precautions now. >> well, have i a lot to lose. >> reporter: if you miss this year's shred, they will do it all over again next year. back to you on tv hill. >> now the shredding event was free, but they did accept donations from people who appreciated the service. let's check in with meteorologist bernadette woods. couldn't ask for better weather today than the preakness. >> i think especially because of all we went through this week it made it that much better. >> all of a sudden, the sun came out and this is where we warmed up to today because of the sunshine. we got all the way up to 82 degrees this afternoon, back above the average which was 75. even with the rain, we were closer than average for the week. this upcoming week, we have the chance for showers and thunderstorms coming our way. however, it will be a lot more sunshine and we'll spend the week well above that average. partly cloudy skies tonight. and we saw a couple of showers off to the north and east. that was about it. those have died down for us with patchy clouds building up with that sunshine. those are now dying down. out to the west, here is the next storm system moving our way. take a look at it already two different pieces to it. it is moving in our direction quickly. last week, what happened was the storm stayed just on top of us and didn't move. these storms are going to keep on moving. the way the weather pattern works is it will keep taking all of the storms very close to us. so chance after chance of scattered showers and thunderstorms. all the while, we stay on the warm side so the temperatures will rise and so is the humidity this week. you will notice the difference outside. tomorrow just a chance for a shower or thunderstorm as that warm front starts to come in. then on monday, better chance of scattered showers and storms. then this is the pattern we're if for most of the week where they will pass through the middle of the country and cut up the northeast. close enough to us that we'll see scattered showers and storms almost each and every day but a lot more sunshine than last week and higher temperatures. the winds turn around through the southeast at 5 to 10 knots tomorrow. here's the forecast for tonight. we're going down to 58 degrees. tomorrow, we go up to 82 once again. there's a change for a thunderstorm. monday, better chances still in the 80s. look at tuesday and wednesday. we're in the upper 80s and it will be muggy outside. then thursday, still the chance for showers and probably holding onto the 80s. there's a big day for us in the weather department. the weather field day trip out at camden yards watching this closely. for all of you kids and teachers coming, we'll keep you updated both online and on tv. adam? it was an exciting running of the preakness stakes. dan will have the thrilling finish at pimlico. you'll hear from the winner coming up web viruses could obliterate our finances. we're good. we switched to kaspersky. kaspersky, the most advanced internet security software. now you can brew over ice for delicious iced coffee or tea. hot or cold, keurig is the way to brew everyone's favorite cup in under a minute. choose. brew. enjoy. keurig. can't get better. unless we were kicking it on my couch in pjs, watching our soaps. yeah, that would make it worse. much worse. the new blueberry waffle with maple sausage sandwich. it just might be the perfect breakfast sandwich. so try one today. hurry in for the new blueberry waffle with maple sausage sandwich today. stan is here with our wjz the fans sports report. what an exciting end to the preakness stakes tonight. you never know who will win, do you? >> it just didn't turn out the way a lot of marylanders would have liked it. the horse racing won't see a triple crown this year. the kentucky derby winner fell just short of crossing the finish line across the pimlico today. the 107,300,000 fans saw that stretch run. shackleford with the emotional victory. his first ever triple crown win. the one jesus earned before his dad pass add way so you know dad was heavy on his mind. >> once in the race, right by the wire, it just come to me. i know he was up there watching me. >> good win. baseball in full swing now. jeremy guthrie finally getting some run support. check this out, way up top. not quite the bleacher bums. catching rays and catching a foul tipped baseball, too. thanks but no thanks. bottom three, birds losing 2-0. nolan with the hit. orioles over the nets. catch tomorrow's rubber match between the birds and nats right here. ncaa men's quarterfinal play at hofstra, nine-time ncaa players their attack man only a year ago played for another team. hopkins made it interesting in the second half but it was a little too late as denver beats jhu by the final of 14-9. finally, stanley cup playoffs. patrice bergeron with the first of three consecutive goals against tampa bay but hang on, tampa bay replaced the goalie with mike smith. great strategy. myth off horton deflected. tampa bay beats boston 5-3. the best of seven now tied up at two gape as piece. quickly, women's ncaa lacrosse. maryland wins but the loyola women lose to unc. that's sports. still to come tonight at 11:00, it was the day music died at a maryland school. ♪ [music] ♪ we'll tell you what makes this musician so special and this musician so special and the legacy he is ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, [ male announcer ] want to achieve more with your money? pnc virtual wallet gathers your spending and saving in one place. credit and debit purchases, checks, bills, and other financial information. it lets you see the details as well as the big financial picture. so you can do more with your money. see what a complete view of your money can do for you at pncvirtualwallet.com. ♪ pnc bank. for the achiever in you. a maryland man is making national headlines for his impact on music. ♪ [music] ♪ john mitchell has directed the music program for 40 years now down in prince george's county. he won countless awards and this week he conducted his final concert. his retirement has drawn coverage from several national news outlets and students are obviously sad to see him go. we wish him the best. we wish him the best. we'll be right back. ,,,,,,,,,,, [ horns honking ] [ whistle blows ] [ male announcer ] can the network you live on handle the computers, tvs and technology you can't live without? ♪ verizon fios can. get the power and speed of america's largest 100% fiber optic network. verizon fios. a network ahead. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800-974-6006 tty/v.