the person, contact authorities. we are staying on top of breaking news after local health officials told channel 9 they are now investigating as many as 8 possible cases of the mums. earlier at 5:00 we told you the cases stretched mecklenburg into iredell and cabarrus counties. all new tonight, eyewitness news reporter alexa ashwell talked abc news dr. beser about the patients most at rifshg here. >> reporter:-- risk here. >> reporter: big question, how did this happen? i talked with abc's chief health and medical editor dr. richard beser, a 13-year veteran of the cdc, he explained we are still seeing mumps in the u.s. because there are many parts of the world where mums is common and people travel. of the cases in our area, it is believed one person contracted the virus at an airport. surprise him and mumps is most areas. how is it spread? saliva, we talked coughing, sharing drinks and talking. another alarming fact, dr. beser told me even if you have been vaccinated, it can wear off. the protection. that is why these cases should be a wake up call for people to get themselves and children vaccinated. >> as more people decide that they don't want to vaccinate or wait on vaccination, it increase s the number of people in the community who are at risk. >> reporter: the doctor said the majority of people who have mumps will make a full recovery. who is most at risk and the doctor's recommendations are ahead on eyewitness news starting at 10:00. live in north charlotte, alexa ashwell, channel 9 eyewitness news. >> thank you. as we reported, one of those confirmed cases might have been contracted at an airport. we are talking to concerned travelers about these breaking developments. all new tonight, a federal grand jury indicted a man following an investigation into the united blood nation gang. kendrick faces firearm charges, the fbi has been following violent posts on his facebook page for months. investigators say he posted he was at the mall the day police broke up a fight between groups which led to gunfire. court documents show the post happened on the same day as the north lake mall shooting. christmas eve an off duty officer heard shots fired inside the mall and found westbrook holding a gun, he pointed the gun at the officer and police say the officer shot and killed him. we have new developments on a carbon monoxide case in boone we have been following for nearly 3 years. the criminal case against the manager of the best western motel is expected to head to court by late march. maltear more than 2 years ago on 3 counts of involuntary manslaughter. he is charged in the death of darryl and shirley jenkins, and 11-year-old jeffrey williams, the jenkins died in a iperal 2013, williams died in june of 2013. all 3 of them stayed in the best western room number 225. investigators say carbon monoxide seeped into that room through a corroded exhaust pipe from a pool water heater. this hickory man needed help getting into the court room today after learning his girlfriend who he is accused of shooting, died. attorneys say he found out moments before charged with her murder. all new tonight, eyewitness news reporter dave faherty found there was another major paperwork error in this case. >> reporter: he went to court facing a possible murder charge but hadn't actually been served the murder warrant. the judge told him he could face penalty if convicted by a jury. we could see james lean on his attorney, lisa, as he slowly walked into court. dubs met with him minutes before the appearance to discuss the case, it was then she found out he had no idea his girlfriend had died and that he was the one accused of killing her. >> he just found out when i went in to speak with him. >> nobody told him before? >> no, he had not heard. >> channel 9 learned a paperwork error had him in court prior to be served the murder warrant and learning tammy died at the hospital hours after the shooting here in northwest hickory. police have confirmed he was talking when police arrived at the home monday where she made a statement shortly after shot in the stomach. he was arrested a few blocks away after leaving the scene. the paperwork error has been corrected and he is charged with her murder. >> devastating. absolutely. >> reporter: investigators found what they believe is the murder weapon in this case, not far from the home where the murder occurred during a search. reporting live from newton, i am dave faherty, channel 9 eyewitness news. >> thank you. a 2-year battle over a bus stop at a va clinic turned into a victory for local veterans, back in 2014 veterans reached out to channel 9 and congressman robert pitinger saying the closest was a block away. it took persistent but it will put a stop right at the front door. >> we help undercourage along the way until it happened. it took a little persistence but that is the nature of what we do in our government. >> pitinger said earlier in the past if the city did not put a closer bus stop, he would set up a shuttle to make sure veterans would be able to get to the new developments, union county sheriff's department is cracking down on heroin in neighborhoods and it is paying off. the past 24 hours these 3 have been arrested on felony heroin charges, christina warn and carl garner are charged with felony possession of heroin and other charges. harley helms is charged with trafficking heroin and intent to sell. the sheriff's office said it is implementing tactics to combat the problem. deputies are undergoing a lock zone training, a drug that reverses overdose for a short time. the officers hope to have patrol officers equipped with the drug by early march. the sheriff also plans to equip patrol cars with sharp containers to allow the safe collection and disposal of used syringes. residents want answers in a fort mill neighborhood where the drinking water has tested high for lead levels. with river hillicize contracted with-- hills is contracted with carolina water service where elevated levels of lead were found last month, mostly in the pipes in the home. after the situation in flint, michigan, some are saying this further. >> with flint and that, somebody has to be responsible. >> authorities there say the lead levels are now acceptable. several residents in foxwood said they don't drink the tap water and haven't for years. firefighters say a space heater is to blame for a fire that just ripped through this northwest charlotte barn and killed nearly a dozen animals. we brought this to you as breaking news on day break and new tonight, eyewitness news reporter angela hong talkd to the owner and neighbors devastated by what happened. >> this northwest charlotte home owner could do nothing but watch as firefighters worked to rescue the animals inside the barn. animals died, very sad. >> neighbor jeff yang raises animals in his back yard and said he was sad to hear that all 9 animals inside, 2 horses, 1 dog, and 6 puppies died in the fire. the fire marshal's office told channel 9 the fire started shortly before 7:00 when a space heater inside the barn was knocked over. yang said he sympathizes with the owner's wishs to keep the animals warm, but... >> i don't use electrical heater in the barn because it is dangerous. very dangerous. shouldn't use that. >> when the home owner saw the fire he called 911 and tried to get to the animals inside but couldn't. firefighters were able to keep the blaze from spreading to the nearby chicken coops. >> reporter: while investigating the fire, the fire marshal office noted some wiring was not up to code, now an electrical inspector has to come out to make sure there aren't more fire hazards. we reached out to animal control they said the surviving animals seem to be in good care. we spoke with the owner off camera, visibly upset, saying they were his pets and beloved by 3 ying children. >> i-- young children. >> i feel sad those animals had to die. >> reporter: in northwest charlotte, angela hong, channel 9 eyewitness news. >> it closed down oak road as firefighters worked to get hoses and water to the barn. need a new iphone? upgrade or trade in your damaged one, channel 9's consumer advisor, clark howard, is explaining how you can get the best deal right now. you think mother nature has been giving us the cold shoulder? you are right, 2/3 of the days this month have been below average, stick around. knifes, guns, a taser, and more discovered on local school campuses, why available technologyvailable tech (donkey sound) (elephant sound) there's a big difference between making noise, (tapping sound) and making sense. (donkey sound) when it comes to social security, we need more than lip service. our next president needs a real plan to keep social security strong. (elephant noise) hey candidates. enough talk. channel 9 is investigating the security in local schools dozen cases of dangerous weapons at school. >> knives, guns, tina terry went to school leaders to ask why they are not using technology that could keep those weapons out. >> christy says her 17-year-old daughter, straight-a student at west meck high, but her daughter hasn't felt safe. >> there have been incidents where the students have brought guns or knivess to school. >> records show 5 cases where weapons were allegedly brought on to the campus since january of 2015. a knife in september, a knife, raiser, and taser in october, and in january a police report said a girl tried to spray someone with a can of mace. >> they didn't bring them for nothing, they brought them to cut or fight or shoot someone. >> october last year we told you accused of walking the halls with a 9 millimeter glaucwith 9 bullets, carried in his back pack undetected for a couple days at another high school. a police report said last month someone brought a knife on campus. >> reporter: with so many cases we wondered why more schools don't use meting detectors to keep weapons out. charlotte attorney ken harris represents the family of bernard miller. 2014 miller was 16 years old police say another student at albemarle high school shot him in the hip and stomach. harris thinks metal detectors could prevent it. >> our children are our most valuable asset, why not have them at a school? >> cms board of education chair, marry mccray said the daily use of metal detectors could send the wrong message. am i entering here? to me that is uninviting. >> she said resource officers and parents are the first defense against weapons. >> we ask our parents to be diligent in knowing what is inside our child's back pack. >> cms isn't alone, i contacted nearly 30 districts, most of them don't use metal detectors, even large districts like forsythe. when miller was shot at albemarle, the school didn't have metal detectors but stanly county leaders are considering walk-through detectors for the county high school. >> i think it is a good idea that should still be considered and grow in north carolina. >> tina terry, channel 9 eyewitness news. >> stanly county schools told us the cheapest walk-through detector they found is $2500 and that is refurbished. new ones can cost 4 or 5 times we sent officials a list of questions about metal detectors. to read the response, go to wsoctv.com, inside tina's story in the investigate tab. beautiful evening all over the carolinas, live early warning doppler, view from lake norman cam couldn't be prettier. sun down 15-20 minutes, gorgeous outside. across the high country, left over low clouds, no one is complaining at appellation, lot of folks are on the slopes and folks in the high country have been happy. we had snow last night. temperatures, 33 jefferson and boone, 24 banner elk, making snow and continuing to increase the base overnight and getting ready for the weekend, which country. 40s hickory to statesville along i-40 and charlotte area heading mid 50s charlotte and rock hill, both at 56, same with gastonia. this evening, skies are clear, winds are light, air is dry and mid 40s by 9:00, about 40 or so by 11:00. futurecast through the day tomorrow, or the overnight lows upper 30s. temperatures tomorrow around the 50-degree mark by this time tomorrow evening. quick look again, bus stop forecast, 6:00 a.m., near freezing, rising through the upper 30s by about 8:00 a.m. tomorrow's hour-by-hour forecast, 50 lunchtime, lower 50s, where we should be. fair skies through the day tomorrow, this time tomorrow afternoon, about as sunny as it is now. the high country will be in the sun. lets continue this on out through friday. again, you can see nothing but a few passing clouds over the high country. charlotte area, a-okay, we stay that way through the upcoming weekend. nice stretch of dry weather. next week is when the rain returns. highs mid to upper 60s, bit of a breeze, few clouds sunday afternoon but no complaints. after the last couple weekends we had. 5-day forecast keeps us 50s through thursday and friday. as we move into the weekend, taevenls riseing to the 60-- temperatures riseing to the 60s. the first chunk of next week looks wet. >> saturday and sunday look nice. >> gorgeous. >> all right. >> that weekend alone. an 11-year-old on a trip without family, her flight delayed and diverted. >> they didn't know what city he was in. >> her mother said the airline left her in the dark after she spent hundreds for special child care. >> they blatant lied to me where she was. only see on channel 9 apple. >> apple. >> we love it, apple started allowing customers to trade in damaged phones. >> channel 9's consumer advisory, clark howard said if you are looking for deals now is the time to shop. >> apple is having a tough time, sales of iphones, not so hot. the iwatchs, terrible right now. the apple watch. so, deals, deals, deals, something you usually don't associate with apple. if you want an apple watch, big dig counting is going on. if you have an older iphone with a cracked screen, various problems with it, apple was never interested in it as a trade in, well, they changed their mind. even with a damaged phone, depending how damaged it is, they may off er you a really nice trade-in value for it tie try to get you to go to one of if you are happy with the cracked screen beat up phone, keep using it, but if you want the latest, apple will lure you in and maybe offer you a deal. i'm clark howard. >> clark has more advice to help you put money in your pocket, or keep it there. find it all on clarkhoward.com. there is renewed effort on capitol hill for online shoppers to pay sales tax, the senate is expected to take up a bill that would require online retailers to collect the tax in states that already have a sales tax. brick and mortar stores say they are at a disadvantage for having to charge sales tax while online stores don't. critics argue it would be difficult to keep track of all 50 states tax rules. a sales tax rate for amazon in south carolina expired, shoppers have to pay taxes on purchases now, the extra revenue could add the world's largest package delivery company is expanding its pass port services allowing customers to schedule pass port pictures at all 4500 stores nationwide. last year it began offering it at 1,000 stores, the response to surge in demand because nearly 50 million american passports will be expiring over the next 3 years. habitat for humanity is about to get a big boost from a charlotte foundation, today the leon lavine foundation is matching contribution up to $150,000, it applies to any donations made to the end of may to the living legacy fund, it using a secret credit card code. >> he has done this observe. >> a man is accused of tricking local dealers into selling cars for free. >> if he can reach your credit card, 2 seconds. get away with a lot of money. >> the victims say the scheme didn't end there. >> he threatened to call channel 9 and expose us. >> charlotte area dealer s say the suave, sophisticated thief entered a special code into credit machines that made fake sales look real. i am erica bryant. >> i am allison latos. in the 9 investigation, blake hanson uncovered similar cases and the brazen threat the >> reporter: i was talking to a sales manager earlier this week, he told me about an unusual thing that happened and over the past couple days we followed a trail of information that led us to other victims and the same suspect. in 24 years in business, ace seen quite a bit. but nothing like what happened during a purchase in january. >> bad. that is bad. >> sales manager, mason, said a man came by on the 20th, wanted to buy a $12,000 car out right and used a credit card but it was declined. the customer claimed he was calling the bank. while on the phone, the customer reached over to the card reader. >> he said he would push those 2 buttons here and this would let the transaction go. go through. >> it did go through because as he showed me, it took the card reader offlen. >> there you go. we just charged $144,000 to my >> police tell us the customer, 25-year-old bernardo gray bought 3 cars with bogus cards. we talked with workers at one. >> he took his card and we ran it, swiped it and he put in what we thought was a pin, the card came back with approval. >> it got police involved but gray called back a couple days ago asking for his money back. >> absolutely threatened to call channel 9 and expose us, to say we were doing things, taking his money. >> gray is not in custody. police tell us warrants for his arrest were signed yesterday. ace auto says they became suspicious and called to get police involved. allison? >> blake, you found out the suspect isn't a stranger to law enforcement? >> reporter: in fact, we checked florida court records and they show 2013 he served prison time for a conviction on fraud, a