virginia governor timothy keane denied the appeal for clemency for sniper john allen muhammad. his lawyers will make no efforts to stop the execution, which will occur here at 9:00 tonight. john allen muhammad was allowed a final family visit early in the day. media gathered to cover his execution by lethal injection. some of the families of the victims of sniper shootings have come to witness his death. >> he came to the door to shoot me. >> reporter: isa nichols traveled here from takoma to washington. she said she was the intended first victim of the sniper. she has written a book, "genesis, the bullet was meant to me." saying she was a fend of muhammad's wife mildred and went with her to court and that muhammad was so angry, he sent low boyd malvo to her front door to shoot her, but killed her niece kenia cook. >> my daughter and i are going to the execution. the reason we are attending is to participate in justice being served. it was tamara and i who found kenia lying on the floor about eight months or so prior to john's killing spree on the east coast. >> reporter: the sniper task force worked for months investigating the case against the snipers, bringing john allen muhammad and lee boyd malvo to trial. a dozen members led by prince william county commonwealth attorney paul ebert will attend the execution. from the day muhammad was sentenced, eber said the punishment fits the crime. >> if there is ever a case where a jury verdict was just, this is one and the judge recognized that. >> reporter: muhammad's trial attorneys tried in vain to save his life. >> we do and will continue to have deep disagreement with a system that sanctions any kind of killing. >> reporter: convicted sniper john allen muhammad will be accompanied by a lawyer into the death chamber. he has the option to take a member of the clergy but has not chosen to do so. that's the latest from the greensville correctional center. now to julie carey in manassas, virginia. >> reporter: well, this is the sunoco station where dean myers was killed october 9, 2002, the employee who was here that night who witnessed it no longer works here. this sniper scene and a dozen others across the washington metro area bring back vivid memories of us still some seven years later. at this kensington shell station, someone made sure one of the sniper vips was remembered today. flowers were left at the sight where the young mother was killed as she vacuumed her minivan. the snipers' rampage claimed four lives in three hours. the mechanic here remembers the sadness the next day. >> they apparently came here, crying, everybody's crying, everybody's sad. >> reporter: across the maryland and virginia suburbs and in northwest washington, once mundanlocations like gas stations and store parking lots have become memorable because they were the scene of the sniper's terror. >> there was a woman killed right at the giant by leisure world. every time i see that bench, i think of that poor woman. >> reporter: it's easy to recall the fear of those three weeks, and how it altered daily life. there were the traffic jams created during white van searches. parents hovered over children on their way to school and adults avoided errands or ducked down as they pumped gas. >> i was making different moves. like how everybody was going from side to side. >> reporter: helga purchased gas at the same sunoco station for years until she learned of dean myers murder there. >> it was awful. it was absolutely frightening to go around to not even knowing you could get shot at any minute, any second. >> reporter: today, many of those who lived through the sniper seize focus on the victims as the execution hour nears. >> i've been thinking of all those people who got killed, all of them. they were innocent. and that is wrong. >> reporter: coming up on news4 at 6:00, more recollections, including those from man who drove a white van who found police at his door step during the sniper investigation. julie carey, back to you. thank you. we will have continuing coverage of the muhammad execution on news4 and on nbcwashington.com. coming up at 5:30, we'll hear from the mother of lee boyd malvo. days of intense investigation into the ft. hood tragedy gave way to solemn remembrances today. thousands upon thousands of people gathered here at the nation's largest military post to pay their respects to the 13 killed in last week's shooting rampage. president obama spoke about each of those victims. their pictures lined the stage with 13 helmets, combat boots and rifles in a somber tribute to their service to our country. one of the fallen, major libardo eduardo caraveo was a psychiatrist. >> major caraveo spoke little english when he came to america as a teenager, but he put himself through college, earned a ph.d. and was helping combat units scope. he is survived by his wife, sons and step daughters. >> there are questions tonight about ties between shooting suspect major nidal hasan and a known al qaeda supporter. hasan is still in critical condition at brook army medical center in texas. we have a developing story tonight out of montgomery county. fire officials are investigating after something in a grocery store made more than a dozen people sick. this is at the cabot john center on tucker lane.ñi people started throwing up and passing out. pat collins joins us with the latest. what do they think this is about, pat? >>em's not çósure, wendy. it was a scary situation here. something in the air sent people to the hospital, caused stores out here to be evacuated. now, it happened at the giant. we talked to people who were there.ñi >> the alarm started going off.r everybody had to get out of the store right away. the alarm was right there in the front the store. >> reporter: scary? >> yeah. people were passing out up front. >> reporter: victims on gurneys. medics at their side, 14 treated, 6 transported. something in the air had people here falling down sick.xd did you pass out? >> no. >> reporter: did you get sick? >> yes. >> reporter: howxd did you feel? >> very lightheaded.çó kind of drowsy. >> reporter: what do you make of this? >> scary. very scary. >> reporter: it happenedyq the giant store in the cabin john shopping center here in potomac. a hazmat situation. 45 firefighters deployed. the giant and other stores evacuated. tell me what it was like inside that store? >> overwhelming fumesñr came ou of nowhere and people geáing sick, throwing up, passing out. really strong fumes. >> reporter: scary? >> yeah, pretty scary. >> reporter: so what caused this? well, some people said they smelled gasoline. others said it smelled like propane. but sources say it's more likely it was something like a refrigerant. >> there are some refrigerants used in giant foods. we are checking to see. there are also natural gasses used. we are looking at all sources at this point.ñi unfortunately, we do not have a specific product as to what made these people ill. >> reporter: at end of the day, no serious injuries. the health dartment gave an okay, the store reopened a few minutes ago. but we still don't know what caused all of this. wendy, back to you. >> thank you, pat.çó ñi ida is now a tropical depression, but is still causing problems along the gulf coast. overnight and early this morning the storm hit land with winds around 45 miles per hour. in pensacola, florida, beach front homeowners had to deal with flooding today. the storm is being blamed for at a 70-year-old man appearsxd to have drowned while trying to help stranded fishermen on the mississippi river. bob ryan is here with first weather to explain if ida is going to impact us at all.ñi some of that moisture will.d especially down towardxd fredericksburg, spotsylvania.çó not p!q1e because of ida, but high pressure to our north and what's left of ida will be a plain old low pressure area. we are going to get a lot of moisture coming in. already you can see that moisture sweeping up from the south. the thing is there's a lot of dry air over us, even with the high clouds. it's going to be fighting its way. the main areas of rain will be from dale city south and la plata south. around washington we'll see lighter rain. overnight tonight, some light showers. tomorrow will be a chilly, rather damp wet÷day, especially to our south. we are going to be in for several days of the same. i'll explain that. >> thank you, bob. ñi normally a library is a fe place to temporarily borrow books. prince george's county officials have busted more than a dozen people who checked out library books and sold them for big cash. jane watrel joins us to tell us how this unfolded. >> reporter: the library theft ring operated about a year ago in several maryland counties including baltimore, harford and prince george's, pawning or selling books for cash. authorities say the book theft ring began operatingñi over a dozen maryland county library branches a year ago. using their library cards, a dozen suspects would check out expensive checkbooks and sell them online. >> ironically, there were books on ethnics, philosophy, but largelyhe bulk of the books were in the nursing field and sciences like chemistry, but largely nursing books. >> reporter: court documents showed selling library books was a lucrative venture. one stole 100 medical text books from baltimore county library, valued at $54,0. in prince george's county, a suspect stole 822 books, valued at just over $8,000. >> this is a theft from the public trust. library is a public trust that all of us take advantage of, especially students. this really fit into that. >> reporter: at first selling books wentñi almost undetected. the holder of a library card can check out up to 75 books. >> that is a lot of books. i think the county library system will reevaluate that. it is not a legal decision but administrative one. i think the county is liking at it. >> reporter: it wasñi some sharp-eyed library employees who noticed one dozenñi suspects we checking out large volumes of text booksñi and not bringing tm back. after authorities were alerted, the ringxd was uncovered. >> i think crooks and thieves are getting more inventive and we have to keep one step ahead of them. >> reporter: prosecutors say the 12 suspect news each other by being related or roommates. the prince george'sñi county library system was so sensitive about this theft ring, the news conference had to be held acrosi when we come back, news4 at 5:00 just getting started. i-270 isxnone of the busiest routes in montgomery county. find out what officials there want to do to ease your commute. >> g.p.'s formerñi mayor marion barry has one hbo special, now he may be a reality tv star. >> power lunch with lindsay. stick around foráañ special one-on-one with sugar ray leonard. it's a transit proposal that could change the way many people get around montgomery county. widening i-270 using a but rapid transit or light rail. pat lawson muse hit the road to get some answers. >> reporter: any cmuter who has to use the i-270 corridor, they'll tell you it's a frustrating fact of life. >> sometimes i will get on there 6:00 to 6:30 and it's still bumper to bumper. >> there are some alternatives using the back street, but they're not the best alternatives. >> montgomery county council is pro potion alternatives. one would create two reversible lanes that would reverse direction in the morning and afternoon rush between gaithersburg and the frederick city line. >> that appears to be unanimous moving forward. the issue that has been a debate today is do youick a light rail option or bus rail option? >> reporter: the corridor city transit way is a roughly 14 mile route from the shady grove metro station in gaithersburg to clarksburg. the debate is over whether to build a light rail system on that stretch or a bus rapid transit system. light rail supporters say it's a way to keep people working where they live. opponents say light rail is time consuming and too costly. >> i can match the speed of light rail. i can match the ability to carry the number of passengers of light rail. i can do it for half the cost of light rail. >> we have a reliable commitment to a light rail system along the transit route. those residents who live along that route choose to move there, and businesses that chose to make big investments and draw jobs there will be assured that is a long term commitment they can count on. >> reporter: it's estimated the plan would cost about $500 million. light rail would cost an estimated $900 million. a council vote is expected on tuesday, but it will be the state that makes the final decision. whatever the decision is, montgomery county commuters say they just want relief. now the timing of the debate coincides with construction of a proposed science village west of gaithersburg that cannot win approval without road improvements. "real world" and "the real housewives ofd.c." and the marion barry reality show. he will reportedly have a reality show. his chief of staff confirmed a pilot is in production. this past summer there was an hbo documentary about the life of barry. i feel like i've already seen his reality show for 30 years. >> do we want to see the mayor with web kams all around? >> what have we got going on? >> if you like today, get used to it. it will be chillier and wetter tomorrow, and also on thursday, and i think into friday. outside right now, we have those high clouds which are getting lower. the winds soy far are light. over the next few days the winds are going to be picking up. our rainfall, we've been having wet periods and dry periods. overall for the year is above average. look at the temperatures around 61 degrees. earlier was in th 60s also. portland, maine, friends up there? 64 today. look at miami. 81 degrees. it is still humid with that leftover tropical moisture from what had been ida is now a depression. you can see the spin in the atmosphere. because of thepattern, that moisture that is falling into north carolina and heading our way isn't directly associated with ida. it is a low pressure area that is going to be very slow to move off the coast and probably into saturday not get out of the eastern united states. because of all the rain that's fallen, there are flood watches and flash flood warnings out. atlanta, georgia, had over 56 inches of rain this year. way above average. that's the reason folks down there are concerned about more rain. ey don't need anymore. here is the leading edge of that area of rain which continues to be stuck there. we've got dry air in on us because of high pressure to our north. at the same time all this moisture of what had been ida continues to flow up to south carolina, north carolina and eventually will be getting in here. primarily, i think for southern maryland, northern maryland and pennsylvania probably stay dry. look at fletcher, north carolina, over 1.5 inches of rain and asheville also had rain. overnight tonight, high pressure continueto build to our north. at the same time low pressure from ida slowly moves off the coast. the result will be strong, chilly northeasterly winds for the next couple of days and most of the heavy rain staying well to our south. that's the area under flood watches and there are gale warnings along the coast. a few showers later on this evening tonight, but once again st. mary's county, spotsylvania, stafford. washington might see light sprinkles, light showers. tomorrow and tomorrow night into friday, i think more of the same. gradually we'll see it move off the coast. it will be a breezy, cloudy damp period. heaviest rains well to our south. morning lows 40s. afternoon high low 50s. not changing much, but saturday a bit drier. >> thanks, bob. coming up, the great divide. why the wall built t a great wall is being built along the u.s./mexican border to stop illegal immigration. conservation says that wall blocked wild life that needs to migrate across that path they followed for centuries. this week the international league of conservation photographers opened an exhibit on capitol hill to bring attention to this problem to see if something can be done to help wild life who are now up against the wall. >> they don't have a voice. i think the people that are making decisions about this wall, they don't know about this. they don't hear from wild life obviously because they don't have a voice. >> reporter: photographer krista is giving a voice to the wild life crisis in an exhibit entitled, "continental divide, wild life and the people and the wall." >> if people saw this place and saw what it is doing to wild species, it wld make a difference. >> reporter: she and 18 other colleagues with the international league of conservation photographers spent time along the border where the u.s. is building a security wall 2,000 miles long. the photographers wanted to document the problems this barrier is creating for the creatures traveling freely for centuries over the land this wall is now dividing." >> wild life is suffering. the ability for wild life like jaguars and ocelots to move across the border is literally blocked by this ball. >> reporter: the exhibit is on display for the public bringing these images to the law makers who could help. in 2005, congress passed a homeland security bill, waiving all environmental laws so the 15-foot barrier could be built quickly to stop the flow of illegal immigration. >> people are going to find ways around the wall, but wild life can't do that. >> reporter: this introduces to the complex eco system that lives within this region. this is a creature that roams freely from both sides of the border. >> i saw havalenas traveling 100 yards and then giving up. >> reporter: this exhibit includes people who must now co-exist with the wall. >> the people that live there, it's not all about drugs and violence. there's also ranchers and family and musicians. it's just a beautiful place. i really hope that's what people see. >> reporter: you can see this beautiful place and its people and creatures all this week. this exhibit of this wall is hooer to coincide with the anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall, a juxtaposition designed to make us pause and reflect on the wisdom of barriers. this exhibit is open to the public. it's in the hall of the russell senate office building. to learn more about wild life and the border go to nbcwashington.com and search for going green, trying to bring this issue to light. coming up, we showed you the rules of the road being broken over and over again during d.c. mayor fenty's bike rides. what does the mayor have to say now? and who is hiring for the holidays? and lunch with lindsay with a side of sugar. i see him as a monster. i really wasn't for the death penalty because i didn't believe, you know, it's going to bring the victim back, but after he killed my father, i knew that if he got the death penalty, i would be sitting in this chair and watching the execution. >> this is a line look outside the greenville correctional center near jarrett, virginia. you heard from sheryl witts who needs to witness john allen muhammad be put to death. her father was killed by the snipers while he was on a golf course in arizona. at 5:00, john allen muhammad was given his last meal. he was given a choice of anything on the prison menu and he selected one or two items, but did not want his choice released to the public. 7:00 this evening, he will be permitted to take a shower, if he wishes and the execution is scheduled for 9:00 tight. we continue to follow the latest on the muhammad execution. welcome back to news4 at 30, i'm wendy rieger. >> i'm jim handly. tonight muhammad's convicted accomplice lee boyd malvo sits in a jail for life. the mother of this man speaks out today. tom costello was here now and smoke with malvo's mother over the phone today afte