i'm ban ban. zoraida sambolin. it's 5 a.m. in the east. the accused ohio school shooter is due to appear in court today. later on in the program, you'll hear from a student grazed by a bullet in that attack as parents waited outside in desperation. more questions about warning signs. were they missed with this alleged shooter? the. >> the daytona 500 officially ended in the wee hours of morning. it was delayed ties by rain. then two hours by a horrific fire. you're looking at it there. the flaming wreck at the daytona 500 much the winner crossing the finish line a few hours ago. rick santorum is asking something weird. he's asking democrats to come on out and support him. do him a solid and help defeat mitt romney. we'll explain a little bit more about what's behind that. >> trouble at sea for the costa concordia's sister ship. it's drifting away after a fire. everyone is safe. we have a lot more details on that for you. >> it is one minute past 5:00 in the morning. we're learning more this morning about the deadly high school shooter in ohio. the high school is closed today. grief counselors will be on hand for the kids who need them. flags will be lowered across the state in ohio. people were gathering last night. look at the pictures. this was a candlelight vigil. of course, one of the young people who was shot yesterday did not survive. four others are injured. the community is certainly coming to grips with the horror that happened early on monday morning. the suspect identified by one of the victims is t.j. lane. he will be in court today. he went to a nearby school for at-risk kids. he posted a long rant on facebook that included this. "feel death. not just mocking you, not just stalking you, but inside of you." as ashleigh mentioned, one student was killed, four others wounded. all the horror unfolding on emergency dispatch. listen. >> attention charred yen rescue. we have an active gunshot at the high school. three students are down in the cafeteria at this time. we still don't know where the shooter is. also, there's a fourth one down in room 200. >> one of the students who was nearby, nate mueller was slightly wounded in the attack. if you can see closely his ear was grazed by one of the bullet. he knew t.y. lane and the other victims as well and was close friend with at least one of those victims. our colleague soledad o'brien spoke with him last night and he talked about how the shooting unfolded. >> caller: his first shot made -- his second shot hit somebody behind me and his third shot hit me as i was turning away. his face was expressionless. it was -- i can't even explain it. it looked like he was on a mission and he knew that he was about to do it and he was -- i think he was a little -- >> tell me a little bit about him. >> caller: he's a quiet kid. in the past few years. back in middle school, he was always nice and funny. he was like one of us. one of the guys. he was a normal kid. and we all liked him. >> ted rolands joins us live from ohio. we've heard that so often now. he was a normal kid. but certainly not normal behavior. i understand that the family of the shooter release a statement just last night. do you have that for us? >> yeah. actually, we're getting it from an attorney. they have taken an attorney, a local attorney in the cleveland area. he actually came out and made a statement talking about the family. saying that there was no way that they could have seen this coming. take a listen to what he said. >> this is a very scary circumstance that i don't think you could have possibly foreseen him self-in the middle it. >> how was his state of mind when you spoke to him? what is he like now? >> very upset. very scared. extremely remorseful. >> that is the attorney for t.j. lane. lane is expected in court today. he's 17 years old. it is also expected that at some point early on in the proceedings, he will likely be pumped up to adult court. right now he's a juvenile obviously at 17. whether or not prosecutors will ask for that to take place today or in the very near future. he's expected to make a first court appearance today. meanwhile, we're getting for the first time the names of the other victims who are recovering from their injuries. three of them are in critical condition. one of them is in stable condition. they are 18-year-old joy rickers, 17-year-old nick wol vac, 17-year-old russell king and 16-year-old demetrius hulin. we have been in contact with some family members of some of the victims. i talked to a family member of one of the victims who was shot in the stomach. they were very concerned about this individual's life but they say he actually is making a better recovery than first anticipated. good news there. we don't have any up to date information in terms of any overnight developments in terms of their condition at this point, zoraida. >> is the school remaining closed today? >> school closed today. in fact, the superintendent of schools here said today he asked everybody not only here but around the country to take the time and reflect on family. he said don't come to school. told his teachers, administrators, don't come here. spend time with your families and reflect on what has gone on. it is expected the school will be open tomorrow. >> could i just have one final question for you here. we know that he was at shanden high. we have here that he attended lake academy. do you have any clarity on that for us? >> yeah. apparently the students that went to lake academy, which was for at-risk student, would come to the high school here and then get a bus to go to another school. same thing for a trade school that some of the students would come to. it wasn't odd that he was in the cafeteria on the school grounds because he came here every day apparently to take a bus to lake academy. >> ted rowlands, thank you very much. it's seven minutes now past 5:00 on the east coast and every morning we like to give you an early start to your day. we like to talk about the big news for tonight. it's primary day in arizona and michigan. voting set to begin in less than two hours. most of the polls show mitt romney and rick santorum are in a virtual dead heat. on the same day of the primary, not so subtle message to voters from president obama. he'll be speaking in washington on the auto workers. he's expected to talk about his administration's role in saving the auto industry. gop candidates who opposed the auto bailout. eight minutes past 5:00. this is the bad news. are you ready? >> while you were sleeping. >> wow, we have a graphic. okay. >> and the music. sounded like from csi. >> sorry guys. gas went up another two cent a gallon. it's sitting at $3.72 per gallon. of course, i feel like a broken record. i say this almost every morning. if i don't say it, she says it. it's getting close to the $4 a gallon mark. >> crazy. >> it's nuts. here is the deal am broken record. tension with iran, problems in the middle east, all those speculators, all causing the problems here. >> the cost of gas is up more than 12% since the start of the year. alison kosik is in for christine romans. this was a hand you saw earlier. handing this piece of paper to me. here's a big question this morning. i try to decide, well i don't, i am going to tell the truth. i never choose premium gas. should we at a time like this? i'm not going to tell. at the end of the day, it says on there use premium gas. but i don't. >> okay. for your car it may be required. the thing is, if you don't have a high performance vehicle, you don't immediate to put premium in your tank. you know, there are few cars that require premium. the dodge viper is one. not to say that's what you're driving. i have a big suv. that's why i didn't want to say. >> it's really no big surprise that demand for premium is actually lower. 90% of the gas out there that's sold is regular gas. 10% sold is for mid and premium levels. the question is whether or not to use it. do i use it in my car? it depends on whether your car requires it or recommends it. if it's required, you have to use it it's for high performance car. if it's recommended, you can get by without it. we talked with phil reid from edmonds.com, if your car recommends premium, experiment with lower grade. it's going to be cheaper. try a tank. see if you in the any problems. you may see a small drop yf in fuel economy, performance. otherwise, you may not in the there's a difference and you can offset the price. >> i can't do it. i'm embarrassed, nowadays when you drive a gas guzzler, you feel embarrassed to drive it. >> that's why no one is driving hummers anymore. >> it's too darn expensive. but if you want ideas on other ways on how to save money, you can change the way you drive your car. >> don't be a jerk, right? >> don't be an aggressive driver. exactly. >> or a jerk. >> not only being horrible on the road to deal with, you also waste a lot of money. >> what about your gas bill? how can you still use money on that? >> don't idle your car. that's another thing. you're better off shutting the car off. check the tires. they want to be inflated properly. that will save you money as well. >> don't idle your car. is there a time period for that? >> there really isn't. this information is coming from a source that says there really is no exact time. if you're going to be sitting there a while, shut it off. you'll waste less fuel. >> i have another suggestion, don't drive like the indy car drivers. how about that? or the nascar drivers. >> so much fun. >> isn't it though? >> if you like driving on a track and watching people on a track, nearly 36 hours after people were supposed to drive on the daytona 500 track, they finally crossed the finish line. it was a problematic race. a really scary crash actually happened too. look at that. holy moly. fireball. that's more dramatic in the night sky, isn't it? that fire caused a two-hour delay. it was juan pablo montoya crashing into a track drying truck. said the car malfunctioned. >> i was moving, traveling a lot. it felt really strange and as i was talking in the radio, the car -- >> i didn't think about a truck. >> so after all that, it was a bit of an anti-climactic finish. matt kenseth taking the checkered flag, dale earnhardt junior second and greg biffle third. the race was delayed twice because it was raining in florida. it was supposed to start sunday afternoon like it always does. was rescheduled for noon yesterday but had to be pushed back to a prime time event under the lights. this is all in a nod to brian williams who is perhaps the biggest nascar fan i have ever met in my life. >> this is the biggest hurry up and wait ever, right? . we're going to switch gears. we're going to give this guy credit. what could be the biggest snowstorm of the year is heading to the midwest. rob marciano is live in atlanta. you thought they wouldn't get this race in. you were kind of right. it finished moments ago really. four hours ago. >> unbelievably cursed race. for it to be delayed, postponed, they've never done that. and then to have a car during a caution run into a jet dryer would have basically the track engulfed in jet fuel is unreal. >> rob, if you're having something spectacular, it's good no one was hurt. >> absolutely. congratulations to the number 17. good morning again, ladies. we're looking at that storm you mentioned into the rocky mountains. the northeast looks okay today. it will be breezy. this storm, which brought some winter weather across southern california is injecting into the four corners and the rockies. that will bring the threat for severe weather later on today and also we'll bring snow to minneapolis. that will slow things down. wind delays expected across the northeast. no precip left over. there will be precip from minneapolis back to denver. this will begin to fill in as this storm takes shape and it will dump beneficial snows across the rockies and the next pulse coming into the sierra nevadas. they need snow desperately. across the upper midwest, 10 to 12 inches of snow possible. mostly minneapolis northward. chicago you missed this one. on the book backside, it will have snow and wind. we have blizzard watches and warnings posted. we'll see snowing sideways and it's going to be a dangerous travel. no doubt about that with over a foot of snow possible. 68 degrees expected in memphis. 83 degrees in tampa. probably about the same, maybe cooler in daytona. no rain. beautiful racing weather today for daytona. >> that's no good. >> thank you, rob. all right, guys. still ahead, disaster averted. have you seen the pictures? look at that. a plane makes an emergency belly landing at newark. one passenger said, "i thought it was the end." . >> weave we've got good news to report, thank god. not so much for the drifting cruise liner. that's a pretty picture, isn't it? don't let the picture fool you. because the boat is getting a tow through pirate-infested waters. there's also a sister ship lying on its side off the coast of italy after running aground. what is going on with this cruise line, folks? you're watching early start. 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[ male announcer ] want great taste and whole grain oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios. that can help lower cholesterol? you know what's exciting, graduation. when i look up into my student's faces, i see pride. you know, i have done something worthwhile. when i earned my doctorate through university of phoenix, that pride, that was on my face. i am jocelyn taylor, i am committed to making a difference in peoples lives and i am a phoenix. it is 18 minutes past the hour. it's time to check the stories that are making news this morning. >> the fbi is search the home in ohio where accused high school shooter t.j. lane lives. in the meantime, he is expected to be in court this afternoon. police say a teacher allegedly chased him out of charden high school after he accused of killing one student and shot four others ran from the school. it is primary day in arizona and michigan. the voting begins in michigan in less than two hours, with most of the recent polls showing that two frontrunners, mitt romney and rick santorum, are in a virtual dead heat. the santorum campaign has been robo calling democratic voters. wait, yep. back it up. yes. santorum has been robo calling democrats in michigan and asking them to come out and support him. >> kooky, right? >> he wants to make it easier to get romney going down it flames. mitt romney is calling this a dirty trick. how dirty is it, though? we'll get into that later. the federal housing administration is planning to raise the insurance premium that it charges borrowers. the hike effect takes effect april 1st. the up front insurance premium increasing to 1.75% of the base loan amount. annual insurance premiums are also going up. take a look at this. amazing. a belly flop landing at newark international in new jersey. a united plane lying on a bed of foam there. that's what you're seeing. the front landing dpeer on the aircraft apparently collapsed. so the pilot was forced to make an emergency landing. 69 passengers, including an infant, actually used that emergency chute to get off of the plane. luckily here, folks, no one was hurt. scary intense moment for the folks. eight americans are on board a stranded cruise ship that's being towed by a fishing boat in the middle of the indian ocean where pirates are known to ply their trade. you've seen earlier video of the ship in bitter days. but an engine fire flashed on the italian cruise ship, the costa allegra. power out, no ac. if it sound familiar, that's because the sister ship is the costa concordia. which wrecked off the coast of italy six weeks ago. a thousand passengers and crew are still trapped on this drifting dark ship. everybody is safe at this point. but the towing is going to take some time. they're about 200 miles southwest of africa's islands. they're not expected to arrive until tomorrow. did i mention they were pirate-infested waters. they are, folks. this morning a helicopter is delivering food, radios and satellite telephones. david mckenzie is live for us with the latest. obviously, this is a bit of a pr nightmare for this ship. more importantly than that, they have a thousand people to look after. it's going to take some time for them to get to safe shores. what are they doing to protect them on the way there? >> well, there are some marines, italian marines on board, ashleigh, going through these areas. pirate-infested is the right to describe the waters. this costa allegra was going from madagascar towards the say shal. it ended up in a nightmare with the engine fire starting and everybody plunged into darkness. the ship put out a call. it was a large french fishing troller. they came to the aid and are slowly towing this some thousand passengers, eight americans, mostly europeans towards the island. they expect two tugboats to arrive there. as you say, nervous times for the passengers and a pr disaster for the costa cruise line which earlier this year ran aground where 21 people were killed ashleigh, when the costa ship ran aground there. one positive thing possibly for the passengers, where they're ending up is the small island in the south of the islands. that's a favorite hangout for royals, particularly the british royal family. perhaps the ending won't be so pad. but for the next 24 hours, it will be terrifying. >> well, david mckenzie, let's hope that is a small consolation prize if in fact they get there safe and sound. thanks very much, david mckenzie reporting live for us this morning. 23 minutes past the hour. still ahead, we're talking to a victim who survived the deadliest school shooting in u.s. history. we're going to talk about yesterday's tragedy in ohio. colin goddard is his name. he was shot four times during the virginia tech rampage. he's now working to tighten a loophole in gun laws. he's going to talk about what these students should be doing and their families in order to survive that emotional toll this is taking on them. you're watching "early start." 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