Moderate snow plan. All metro rail stations will open at 5 00 a. M. Tomorrow. But delays are going to be possible because of the weather. And metro Access Service will be suspended tomorrow. Metro urges customers to sign up for any alerts to receive any updated information on service. Hardware stores theyre keeping really busy these days. In fact, some locations have been running out of supplies because of all the bad weather that weve had this year. Jennifer donelan is live in southeast to tell us how folks are trying to prepare for this upcoming storm, that includes folks that own the Hardware Stores. Jen . It was a madhouse just a few minutes ago. Not anymore. Thats because where im standing there used to be ice melt. Its gone vanished within minutes. Lets get to some video. We toured the d. C. Maryland, Virginia Area earlier today. First, we stopped off in arlington at cherry dale hardware. What nice folks over there. They had a crazy morning. They brought a delivery truck out there. They got their ice melt, their salt and their sand off that truck. They announced it on facebook. It was sold out within 25 minutes thats the record. Were nearing the end of the winter season and we have this major snowstorm coming now. We it travel up the beltway to Silver Spring where we found the most ice melt that we saw all day long. But it was the expensive kind. It was the good stuff. Thats good for the planet, your pet, and your property. But people were buying it nonetheless. Its been a frustrating day for Hardware Store owners. Just about sold out of everything. We have a few little shovels left. We have some ice scrapeers for cars, salt is gone. Sand is gone. Back here live, im going to tell you, what i took advantage of this. This is i had to hide it because i dont want anybody to think its for sale here at frayers. Thats a bottle of ice melt, much sought after ice melt. Other things are out of stock. Were going to be talking about that on abc 7 news at 5 00. Back to you. All right. Hang on to that, jen. Dont let anybody swipe it from you. There you go. All right, stay with abc 7 and wjla. Com as we tracked this Winter Weather alert for you and be sure to download the stormwatch app so you can receive weather alerts on your cell phone. Now to the developing story in maryland where police have arrested a man for a series of shootings including yesterdays incidents on the intercounty connector and at the n. S. A. Maryland bureau chief brad bell is live now with what were learning about this accused shooter. Brad what are you hearing . Leon, the man is 35 years old. He is of cambodian dissent and he lives in beltsville and recently resigned last spring from his job as a correctional officer officer. We got to his house this morning and talked to his mother. She was sobbing. His life had left him and he had no job. She had no idea he would become a suspect in a terrible series of crimes like this but the man is in custody. The shooting started a week ago at the mall when the very bizarre crime early on the morning, Tuesday Morning two alert officers planned to spot him at the scene of the original crime. Were continuing to work this story. Coming up at 5 00 youll hear and see the emotional scene as the mother comes to grips with the fact that her son is charged with this terrible crime. In millersville, at Anne Arundel Police headquarters, brad bell abc 7 news. Brad, police are also investigating two overnight shootings in northwest d. C. One involving a Police Officer. Police say a man was shot around 11 30 last night at new jersey avenue and n street. Now, just a short time later a d. C. Police officer shot and wounded a man about a block away at kirby and n street. Police say that man may, in fact, be the suspect from the first shooting. The Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments to the latest challenge against president obamas health care overhaul. And this one focuses on a single section of the law governing the establishment of socalled health exchanges. The justices have to decide whether people in all states are eligible for federal tax subsidies to reduce the costs or if that limits the states that set up their own insurance exchanges. Not just a provider but also i was a patient. Halfway through medical school, i got diagnosed with oral cancer and after medical school i lost my Health Insurance for six months until obamacare went into effect. Currently only 16 states and the district have their own tax credits available. If the court rules against the obama administration, as many as eight million individuals will no longer be eligible for the subsidies and may lose their insurance. An Arlington Police officer is ok today after a really close call during an afternoon chase. Police say it all began after the officer stopped the suspect, excuse me, for a red light violation at route 50 near 10th street north. The suspect took off and the officer hung on to that vehicle for just a little bit before finally letting go. The suspect ended up getting out of the car and running off. But was caught a short time later. The Police Officer was not hurt and were told a gun was found in the suspects car. Were hearing from two Virginia State troopers who were injured on the job last month. And they have an Important Message for drivers tonight. Northern Virginia Bureau chief Jeff Goldberg is live in fairfax with their story. Jeff . Well well start inside the car because this is where so many of these issues started. Drivers become so easily distracted by the cell phone, dropping the cell phone, they can become easily distracted of whats going on on visible freeways like this where troopers are attending to other vehicles on the side of the road and the consequences can be tragic. Today in dale City State Police showing the badly damaged cruisers. To reemphasize a message theyve publicized before called the drive to Save Lives Campaign encouraging drivers to watch for officers, e. M. S. Workers, tow Truck Drivers at work on the shoulder on busy roads and highways. In the oneweek time span last month in Northern Virginia alone, three Virginia StatePolice Troopers were struck and seriously injured while attending to vehicles. Thankfully, theyre all doing ok and they hope their stories remind drivers to stay focused on safety. Dont remember a lot of what happened other than afterwards when i was i knew multiple cars are coming and i need to get out of here. I would have stepped out of my vehicle and i might not be here. An amazing story of obviously, those troopers so thankful they are here and doing ok. That move over law requires drivers to move over at least one lane when they see an Emergency Vehicle on the shoulder or at least slow down to a very slow speed. But the question is are drivers following the law . Were going to have some answers coming up tonight at 5 30. Until then, live in fairfax, Jeff Goldberg, abc 7 news. Thank you, jeff. Well, three people who were killed when a small plane from florida crashed in norfolk, virginia. That plane went down early this morning at norfolk botanical garden. Its right next to Norfolk International airport. They say the last communication to air Traffic Control is when the plane was a mile and a half away from the airport. Fog was an issue at that time, the cause of the crash, though is still under investigation. Surprising announcement from a virginia school. Sweet breyer college announced its shutting down this summer because of financial issues. The private Womens College is located a few miles north of lynchburg, virginia. Suzanne kennedy has reaction from some of the alumni. There is no easy way to share this with you. The announcement came via a message on the sweet breyer College Website and through email. After more than a century, the rural all womens school is forced to close due to insurmountable financial challenges. From the time i set foot on the campus, i loved it. Rachel was in the class of 1990. She says the news is heartbreaking. Im not sure it needs to happen. Thats i think, the biggest question. That has not been answered yet. The school outside of lynchburg still has a 94 million endowment but declining enrollment is forcing the all Womens College to take this drastic step. Virginia lyon works in the field of Human Resource certification. She credits the school for helping her to find confidence as a young woman. I think that sweet breyer really elevated my sense of self and my ability to accomplish bigger things than i had originally anticipated. This years seniors will graduate but other young women are being forceed to go to other schools. We have plans. We had classes that we were going to take. We were all going to graduate with the emblem and everything. But thats not going to happen anymore. It will be virginias third liberal arts college to close its doors during the last two years. One more graduation one more reunion, and the 109yearold school will shut its doors for good. Suzanne kennedy, abc 7 news. Sweet breyer College Alumni have launched a grassroots effort to save their school. Theyre getting support from across the country by way of facebook and theyve created within the last 24 hours that page so if youre interested, check it out on facebook. Coming up on abc 7 news at 4 00 after months of jury selection, Opening Statements took place today in the Boston Marathon bombing trial. The prosecution and defense told the jurors. And the woman who threw a shoe at Hillary Clinton during a speech learns her sentence. Find out if shell spend any time in jail. It was 3 00 in the morning. Police got the 911 call. A d. C. Man trying to slip his way into a bethesda a. T. M. Machine and the breakin was all caught on camera. Im kevin lewis. Coming up on abc 7 news at 5 00 the judges remarks to a nowtt2wut o mt7 bt qsb tt2wut o mt7 a qcn tt2wut o mt7 bm qhe tt4wut o mt7 dztq kn tt4wut o mt7 entq ;j tt4wut o mt7 gzt mx tt4wut o mt7 hnt 2c4 tt4wut o mt7 iztq xal tt4wutut o mt7 jntq jz, tt4wut o mt7 lzt r7p a jury has now been seated, Opening Statements took place today in the Boston Marathon bombing trial. Dzhokhar tsarnaev faces nearly three dozen charges in the april 2013 bombing that killed three people and injured more than 260. Abcs Marcy Gonzalez has more. It was him. Those blunt words today from attorneys defending accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev telling the jury of 10 women and eight men he was coerced into carrying out the attacks by his now deceased older brother tamerlan. The prosecution saying when the surviving suspect planted one of the bombs in the crowd two years ago killing three people and injuring more than 260 others he pretended to be a spectator but he had murder in his heart. In court today some of the victims family members as well as survivors came face to face with the accused killer for the first time. Including the father of the youngest victim, 8yearold martin richard. He is expected to eventually testify adding his heart wrenching story to the graphic eyewitness accounts already shared on the stand today. One describing the bloody chaotic aftermath of the bombings as a scene from saving private ryan. Several of the 12 jurors and six alternates have already said they believe that tsarnaev is guilty. Promising to stay open minded though, as they consider whether hell get the death penalty. Only other alternative, if hes convicted would be life in prison. In boston Marcy Gonzalez, abc 7 news. A woman who threw a shoe at Hillary Clinton last year has been sentenced to a year of federal supervision in her home state of arizona. Clinton was giving a speech in las vegas at the time. Alison ernst pleaded guilty to trespassing after that incident and a judge ordered her to undergo Mental Health treatment after her lawyer says she has a history of Mental Illness and attention getting incidents. Lets switch on over to what everybody is talking about around here. Getting our attention. Yeah. And what are our chances for snow . You know our chances for accumulating snow really, really good. Its going to be a high impact storm whether we see two inches or three inches or five inches or eight inches, big problems come early tomorrow morning. The problem is some of our models are differing in terms of how much and the timing so timing is going to be critical later on tonight and into early tomorrow morning. Can you believe the potomac is still frozen over and we have temperatures that are close to 50 degrees right now looking at our current temperature reading, we have a little bit 51 degrees this hour. Wow, what a huge difference. Thats near our average for this time of year. Winds not a problem at all. And the wind chill factor its nice to see the wind chill because there are no winds at our actual air temperature. 43 gaithersburg and the same in frederick. 50 in winchester where they have heavy rain at this hour and 48 in cumberland. This is the deal. Temperatures are so far above freezing right now, once we see that cold front move in later on tonight, well look for it to take a little bit of time for the snow to change over to snow i should say, and to convert over to anything that accumulates but look at the cold air. Really cold air off to the north and west. Were talking january cold. 11 in minneapolis. 3 in duluth. This is the front right over here, were wedged into the milder temperatures. Look at norfolk, not too far away. Theyre at 70 degrees. Closer in we go satellite and radar, here we are in d. C. Heaviest of rain across Frederick County and the panhandle of West Virginia. Well see the heavier rain move across the immediate metro over the next couple of hours or so and then that transition will begin. It looks like mainly after midnight through the Early Morning hours. This is what the National Weather service has decided to do. They have a winter storm warning posted and all the areas shaded in pink. Its the entire channel 7 viewing area and recently added st. Marys county. Originally they were under a Winter Weather advisory and now under the winter storm warning and they will say maybe two to four inches of snow by the time the system moves out of here. This is our futurecast. Hour by hour. Well start you at 11 00 tonight. Heres the heavier rain thats over the d. C. Metro. Keep in mind, temperatures at that point still above freezing. As we move into early tomorrow morning, theres that dividing line. Snow develops. It will become heavy at times. A little bit of a sleet and wintry mix holds on to the south. Thats why we have those lower snow total amounts expected across Southern Maryland. Before you know it everything is out of here. Cold, cold air moves in from the north and west. Wakeup temperatures early friday morning in the Single Digits and lower teens so anything that does melt will refreeze. Lot of slick spots come early friday for the rush hour commute. This is what we expect at least right now. Four to eight inches. Keep in mind, this may change over the next few hours. And during the day tomorrow as the storm gets going. It depends on how quickly we change over from rain to sleet to snow. Higher amounts off to northern Montgomery County into Frederick County, six to 10 inches are not out of the question. Head to st. Marys county. Lexington park two to five inches. General ballpark range. Heersz the timeline as we move through the overnight hours, it will stay rain 10 00 tonight and 1 00 in the morning, upper 30s, still rain. Well look for that transition beginning at 4 00, 5 00 6 00 before changing over to all snow. Temperatures tomorrow will only be in the upper 20s. Snow will become heavy especially mid morning and early afternoon. Once again totals in the immediate metro area four to eight inches and lets just focus on the temperatures right now, very very important. 46 degrees. Actually, yeah, 46. Ok. We were saying earlier, it was quite pleasant outside today considering. Considering. Thats where we should be for this time of year. Normal. Imagine what 88 80 degrees in a couple of weeks. You heard it. In a couple of weeks, it will be 80 degrees. I hope. Well continue to keep you informed of the weather on air and on line. Good morning washington will begin thursday morning at 4 00 and look for the latest traffic conditions along with closings and delays. Well have it here. Nearly 400,000 virginians have registered to take part in a statewide tornado drill. It is scheduled for march 17th meant to prepare businesses, schools, families in the event of a tornado. According to the National Weather service, a dozen tornadoes hit virginia just last year. All right. Lets check the traffic situation the first time this hour with bob emler in the wtop Traffic Center. Pretty unevent rush hour leon. Not doing too badly out there. The