Is mourning the loss of his wife and his son. In a strange and tragic turn of events at the family home in gaithersburg. A domestic situation gone bad. And this case hits close to home for investigators, because at the center of it is one of their own a sergeant with 27 years on the force. Dead is the sergeants 25yearold son. Police say the officer opened fire on his child in defense of his wife, who was being stabbed. The officer observed his son attacking his wife with some type of sharp instrument, observed some type of stabbing motion. In an effort to stop this attack, the officer discharged a handgun and shot his son. Reporter the son died on the scene. Police say the sergeant called 911. They say he stayed on the phone getting medical instructions until rescue crews arrived. Despite his efforts, his wife died at the hospital. The family has lived at the home on lake catrine terrace for more than two decades. Neighbors are stunned. The whole family. Very nice people. Very devastated by it. It hurts. Reporter were there any signs of trouble or no, never seen no seens of trouble. No, just everyday family. Reporter the officer is on administrative leave, which is routine in policeinvolved shootings. I think we can we can all imagine emotions that are being felt by him, by family members, by friends, by coworkers. Its a tragic situation, and, you know, were at this point, we do have Montgomery County does have a Peer Support Team that will be reaching out to the officer, his family, along with the responding officers that were on the scene. Reporter and you can see here live that police tape still encircles the house. We are expecting investigators to return at some point today to continue with their investigation into exactly what happened here last night. Now, the names of those involved have not yet been released. Police are still trying to notify some of the family members. Reporting live in gaithersburg, megan mcgrath, news4. Barbara, back to you. Thank you, megan. Right now, people in atlanta are being asked to stay home if possible. All of georgia is under a state of emergency right now. About an hour ago, the National Guard started helping people pick up their cars that they had abandoned on the side of the highway on tuesday. The countrys nilaescity was paralyzed after a winter storm dumped less than three inches of snow and sleet. The storm forced more than 10,000 students to sleep at school. Mayor kasim reed told the today show this morning that the traffic nightmare was the result of not only bad weather but poor planning. We made an error in the way that we released our citizens. So the state made a judgment to release state employees, private businesses made their judgment, and i made the call, and aps made the call. Police responded to nearly 800 car crashes at the height of the storm. Fortunately, there were no major injuries. And here we are dealing with our coldest morning of the week. Storm team4 meteorologist tom kierein joins us with our first forecast for midday today. Tom . Hey, barbara, good morning. What a dramatic change from this morning. Right around dawn, our temperatures were near zero throughout much of our viewing area. Must of west virginia, virginia, maryland, in the low Single Digits, even closer to washonnhe low to midSingle Digits this morning. But look at the change. It has warmed up dramatically. Were well into the mid to upper 20s now. Shenandoah valley, martinsburg got down to 2 below zero. Its warmed up 22 degrees there just in the last five hours or so. And temperatures, shenandoah valley, in the mid20s. Petersburg, west virginia, right now at 30 degrees. There, it got down to zero as well. Even on the Eastern Shore, it got down to near zero in cambridge, about you now up to 28 degrees there. What a tremendous change with the sunshine that is coming down, and this gorgeous blue sky. Storm team4 radar scanning the sky. No snow around the region. However, the radar may be picking up some rain on sunday. Well look at that in detail, and a warmer pattern for the weekend, and maybe iciness next week. That is coming up in just a few minutes, barbara. All right, thank you, tom. News44s un yang has an update on a story weve been following since november. Shes at the live desk. Police in Anne Arundel County have arrested two sisters for a black friday assault at a Victoria Secret in annapolis mall. Antonia ash, you see on the lefthand side of the screen, and ebony brooks, there on the right, both from clinton. They say the two assaulted a teenage girl at the store after midnight on black friday, november. And take a look at the cell phone video of the attack. It helped police track down the suspects. The video received over 130,000 hits on youtube. Police also reviewed Surveillance Video from the mall and other stores. Follow this story on nbcwashington. Com. At the live desk, im un yang. Barbara . Thank you. Today, a solemn day for the two People Killed at the Maryland Mall shooting. Columbia mall is getting ready to host a candlelight vigil for Brianna Benlolo and tyler johnson. The two worked at the malls zumiez store where they were shot and killed on saturday. In days since, mourners have been paying tribute at a makeshift memorial. The vigil begins at 5 00 this evening. Howard county police are giving us more information about the man believed to be the gunman. Investigators uncovered darion aguilars journal. They say he had written about the shooting beforehand and even apologized to his family. The 19yearold talked about killing people but didnt specify who his target would be. He also reportedly wrote that he knew he needed a Mental Health professional, and that he was ready to die. Police say that after aguilar finished shooting, he turned the gun on himself. D. C. Mayor vincent gray says someone will be held accountable after a man died right across the street from a fire station. Who in the world is going to punish somebody for having violated protocol, but you saved somebodys life in the process . Im not buying that. 77yearold medrick mills collapsed on rhode island avenue in northeast. His daughter called 911 and begged firefighters across the street for help. Instead, she was told it was against procedure for them to respond. The Fire Department launched an investigation. Some question if 911 dispatchers sent an ambulance to the wrong address. A brandnew study shows a road many of you travel every day is also one of the most dangerous in maryland. Its the beltway between Georgia Avenue and Rockville Pike in Montgomery County. News4s Darcy Spencer joins us live in Silver Spring with more on a new study. Darcy . Reporter good morning, barbara. You know, if you drive this section of the beltway, this comes as no surprise. Theres a lot of crashes. Take a look here. This is part of the beltway that were talking about, and highway Officials Say the blame sits squarely with drivers and not the design of the road. Janis drives his towncar for a living, so he knows firsthand its bad out there on the beltway. Texting. You know, it looks like theyre not texting, but theyre, like reporter its no surprise to him that this fourmile stretch from 495 in Montgomery County, from georgia av few to Rockville Pike, is the busiest and averages 260 crashes a year. Some of them fatal. The other guy you want to go to the right, the other one want to go to the left, but they dont see each other, so theyre, like reporter state Highway AdministrationOfficials Say nearly all of those wrecks have one thing in common. Driver error. Many told us they have to pay extra attention, because other drivers are distracted and driving dangerously. Cut off on the beltway all the time. A little bit that i do drive on the beltway from here to 270 north, i cant i cant tell you how many times i get cut off, people not looking, zooming and my quarterpanel probably would have been hit a hundred times now if i wasnt paying attention. Reporter most of the hundreds of crashes from 2008 to 2013 were rearenders. Highway Officials Say calls by motorists driving too fast, not paying attention, and smashing into each other are even the jersey barrier, and if it rains, a crash is a guaranteed. People are doing whatever theyre doing, talking on the phone, if its four, five cars on the road, someone not paying attention, youll still have a crash. Reporter to give this a little bit of per expectfecspec considering the sheer volume of traffic along the roadway, 260 a year really isnt that bad. Its much safer than, say, on a secondary roadway. But this is a good reminder that youve got to Pay Attention when youre behind the wheel. Reporting live from Silver Spring, Darcy Spencer, news4. Thank you, darcy. This morning, police in arlington are investigating what caused a driver to lose control, smashing into a Westwood College building. This was the scene last night just before 8 30 on fairfax road in arlington. The car went over the curb, through the bushes, and right into the front of a building. The driver was taken to the hospital. No word yet on that persons condition. And right now, republicans are meeting on the Eastern Shore of maryland. Coming up, what the House Speaker is now saying about the chance at Immigration Reform. Plus, were following a developing story in kentucky as many asinine people are dead in a house fire. [ male announcer ] when your Small Business has the power and reliability of verizon fios, youre not just ready, youre downloading huge files during the busiest part of the day ready. Youre Early MorningConference Call with a dozen participants ready. 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He loves me not. He loves me thats right. [ mom ] warm and flaky in 15, everyone loves pillsbury grands [ girl ] make dinner pop right now, deliberations are under way in amanda knoxs murder retrial. The Italian Appeals Court entered chambers after the last round of rebuttal by knoxs defense team. Knox is awaiting the verdict in her hometown of seattle. Her codefendant and exboyfriend is in court. This is the third trial in the murder of her roommate in 2007. Knox and saul cito were convicted in the first trial, spent four years in prison and freed after an appellate trial. Relief comes today to marylanders who had trouble buying Health Insurance through the states Online Exchange. Governor Martin Omalley is signing emergency legislation allowing them to be insured through the maryland Health Insurance plan. It wont impact many people, though. The private insurers who are part of the Online Exchange agleed to offer coverage retroactive to the start of the year to anyone who expressed interest by last tuesday. And president obamas in wisconsin right now. He left joint base andrews earlier this morning. Hes in wakesha near milwaukee to talk about ways to improve job opportunities. Its one of two stops he mentioned in his state of the union address. From wisconsin, hell fly to nashville and speak at a high school about ways to help the longterm unemployed. House republicans are preparing to unveil their Immigration Reform plan. They havent given any hints about what their legislation will include, but House Speaker john boehner says it wont be a comprehensive bill like the one the Senate Passed last year. You know, its one then to pass a law. Its another thing to have the confidence of the American People behind that law as youre passing it. Thats why doing Immigration Reform in a common sense, stepbystep manner helps our members understand the bitesized pieces that helps our constituents build more confidence that what were doing makes sense. Many conservatives worry that boehners plan will create a way for undocumented immigrants to become u. S. Citizens. For more on Immigration Reform and the republican meeting taking place on the Eastern Shore, were joined by mark murray, nbcs senior political editor. Good morning. Good morning, barbara. This is a change of direction what were hearing right now from speaker john boehner. It wasnt long ago that the House Republicans blocked any kind of vote on immigration, right . It does seem they are moving on immigration, and there does appear to be almost a thaw a little bit, where House Republicans realize we need to get some things done right now, and we can work with the president on some of the issues. Immigration among them. The question is whether the rank and file ends up buying that. We know where House Republican leaders john boehner are. There are some other House Republicans who support Immigration Reform. A lot of the rank and file doesnt. Thats why youre seeing john boehner talking careful tones about a stepbystep approach, a piecemeal approach, making sure people realize this isnt an automatic gateway for citizenship for undocumented immigrants. He has to walk a careful line. It will be interesting to see what comes out of retreat. Do you think something will come out of the whole immigration discussion now . Were supposed to end up getting a framework from republicans. Whether the framework translates into legislation that can be voted on and voted out of the house, that remains another matter. House from the House Speaker, a list of four bills that are stalled in the senate that he says needs attention. Lets start with those, starting with job training. There is legislation that eric cantor, the House Majority leader, has put together a skills act. And, barbara, this was an entire letter the republicans said, you know be we can work with you, mr. President , after your state of the union address. I was talking about kind of a thaw, and this letter seems to be another suggestion in the thaw. And what republicans are going particularly as it comes to job training, is the situation in which the republicans say, hey, we passed our own job training program, you mentioned in the state of the union, why dont we come together and work. There does at least a magnanimous attitude. Reacting to the polls you were talking about. Lets talk about construction of natural gas pipelines. Thats another issue. The republicans, the biggest thing they want is the approval of the keystone pipeline. President obama talked about all of the above on energy and the great energy expansion. This is one area republicans and where republicans want action from the president. Were just hearing now that the a. P. Is saying that henry waxman is considering retiring, or will retire. Do you know nbc can confirm that. Our producers on capitol hill got that news as well, today. Of course, henry waxman is a big lion of the house democrats. A democrat from california. We saw one of his colleagues, democrat george miller, also recently announce his retirement after serving for a very long time. These are going to be very safe democratic seats, but it does show you that some of the big Democratic Leaders that we heard from in the 1990s and in the 2000s are beginning to retire. Because theyre getting older or getting tired of trying to deal maybe a little bit of both, barbara. All right. Thanks a lot. Thank you. And for more from mark and the rest of the nbc news political team, check out first read on nbcnews. Com. And toms here now to talk a little bit about our weather. We did have a cold start, and its still pretty chilly out there, tom. I ran out a minute ago. Quickly warming up, though. You know, barbara, we had just enough snow on tuesday night, enough coating for any critters to leave tracks. Maybe you saw tracks like this along your sidewalk. I t