and tyler, a scary day on the markets, to put it blunltly. what is causing this? >> well, there are really basically two things, i think, that are causing this. and this is one of those days, brian, that people go back and check their 401(k) balances all across the country, and they worry about the stability and the safety of their money. two things at work here. there are growing signs that both the u.s. and the global economy have slowed significantly. point number two is that a lot of the big governments, the rich countries around the world, germany, italy, great britain, the united states and japan, have serious, enduring, difficult fiscal budgetary problems. another way of saying it, we've spent too much and maybe taken in too little revenue. so those are the two major fear factors and growing concerns that some of the european banks may be on very, very shaky ground. >> yeah, tyler, i just read a quote from a man you and i both know, a wall street veteran named art cashin. he says we're not steering the bus, it's all coming from europe. i think that makes it even scarier for american investors. >> it's something that we don't have control over, and we're counting on european countries and the european central bank to solve it, and that is not a place that americans have a lot of confidence. >> okay. a bad news on the markets today. we'll have more with, thanks to tyler matheson. much more on "nbc nightly news." continuing coverage, obviously, on cnbc. i'm brian williams, nbc news, new york. and now to a developing story at virginia tech university. of the campus lockdown has been lifted this afternoon after reports by teenagers of a man with a gun this morning. the girls told police they saw the man as they were walking to the diedrich dining hall on campus. out of an abundance of caution, authorities issued an alert and cancelled classes. brian mooar has the latest. >> reporter: a report of a man with a gun led to a lockdown and a building-to-building search at virginia tech, site of the worst mass shooting in american history. for eight teenagers attending a summer camp told authorities they saw a man in police sketch carrying what looked like a long-barrelled gun. >> please keep in mind, the report was someone carrying a weapon, not that they pointed the weapon or threatened anyone. >> reporter: still, virginia tech activated its emergency messaging system, asking everyone on campus to seek shelter. the warning system was adopted after the 2007 massacre in it which a gunman killed 32 people and wounded 25 others. the school was criticized then for not issuing timely alerts that could have saved lives. university officials make no apologies for issuing the alert this time. even though no suspect was found, and it's not clear whether any law was broken. >> yes, in this day and age, we don't think we had any other choice but to issue a campus alert. >> reporter: a swift response from a university that learned a tragic lesson in public safety. brian mooar, nbc news. >> joining us now is richard tagly, the ceo of higher achievement, the group that sent the middle school-aged children from washington to virginia tech. and whose students reported the gun on campus this morning. >> mr. tagly. >> yes. >> good afternoon. thanks for joining us. what can you tell us about what you've heard about the experiences they had and what they say they saw, these three students? >> what was reported to me by staff was some of our students saw somebody apparently carrying a weapon of some sort, and reported that to the staff who then reported it to university authorities. >> so when the staff -- you talked to the staff. at what point were you notified, and what were your staff members telling you was going on? >> well, i was notified early this morning around 10:00 a.m. about something that was going on in the university. and that the university went on lockdown. and so the first priority was to make sure that everybody was accounted for, everybody was safe and that everybody was in a secure place. >> how many students were there? >> there were a total of 175 students, staff and other persons involved in the program. so we just wanted to make sure everybody was accounted for. >> they're on their way back. was this the last day of the program or were they so shaken up -- >> this is the third day, the last day of a three-day program for this college trip. so they were just winding down, a lot of the activities. >> now, these are teenagers. which -- what ages? >> these are middle school students. so 10 years old to 14 years old. grades five through eight. >> do you have any idea how they are and what they're thinking? were they afraid? >> i haven't interacted with the students themselves, but the staff say they're all accounted for, that they're on their way back home. i'm pretty sure most of them, if not all, have been shaken by the experience. but we also wanted to make sure that they're coming out of this college trip still holding on to what they have learned about being in college. >> i'm sure this is something they will never forget. richard tagly, thank you so much for joining us to tell us what you know so far. i'm sure you'll learn a lot more once you get to talk to those students. >> thank you. officials at virginia tech used facebook and other social immediamedia to alert people on to stay indoors after the report of that possible gunman. our own julie carey will be live with the latest developments coming up on news4 at 5:00. a 5-year-old boy was killed in a house fire early this morning in charles county. his 2-year-old sister was seriously injured. the blaze started in a single family home on arbor lane in brians road. a woman, 31-year-old she von hawkins and her six children were inside at the time. all of them, except the 5-year-old, were taken out safely before firefighters arrived. two landscapers working nearby grabbed a ladder, climbed through a window and rescued some of the kids. >> the efforts of the local contractors were very heroic. they actually made a huge difference in this fire which could have been a lot worse. >> it's believed the fire started in a bedroom. no word yet on the cause. we'll have a live report on this story coming up on news4 at 5:00. and police are investigating a double homicide in prince george's county. it happened in the 11800 block in hickory drive in ft. washington. police say they found a man and woman dead inside the home around 5:00 this morning. and one person is being questioned in this case. tracee wilkins has the story. >> reporter: neighbors here on hickory drive in ft. washington were surprised as they woke up to find their neighborhood had turned into a crime scene. and they were even more surprised when they discovered which house was at the center of a double homicide investigation. >> investigators discovered an adult male and adult female inside the home. police are looking at this as a double homicide. there are no signs of forced entry at this point. and a resident from this home is being questioned at the criminal investigations division. >> reporter: police say the resident who was being questioned at this time is the same person who called 911 this morning. police say the adult male and female were found shot to death on the main floor of the home. residents tell us the husband and wife who live inside this home have a son who they believe mayen an older teenager. they say the family has lived in the home for more than 13 years. >> it's just striking. it's shocking to everybody, i'm sure. >> reporter: neighbors describe the couple as friendly, good neighbors. especially the husband. >> i did see him yesterday. he works in the nighttime and comes back, you know, just three days a week. >> it's just hard to believe. >> reporter: they were good neighbors? >> very good. >> reporter: police say they're not looking for any additional suspects at this time. they say they have narrowed their focus to just that home and what happened inside of the home. they're asking anyone with additional information to give them a call. in ft. washington, i'm tracee wilkins, news4. and we're in the midst of a pleasant break from the extreme heat. meteorologist veronica johnson joins us with the latest from storm center 4. >> thanks a lot, barbara. yeah, a break from the high heat. the extreme heat, for sure. but not so much from the humidity. still quite sticky out there. wanted to give you a look at the radar, because despite all of the clouds we've had for so much of the day, we do not have any drops falling across the area. as far as the temperature goes, we are at 88 degrees right now. some locations, mainly west of the area, seeing some breaks in this the cloud cover that we have had for so much of today. the humidity, high, at 53% right now, giving us a heat index of 92 degrees right now. so throughout the area, we're anywhere from the mid 80s to just above the 90-degree mark. take a look at culpeper in rap han ack, 91 degrees. the pocket of high heat off to the west where we are seeing breaks in the cloud cover right now. trinidad and georgetown at 88. warrenton and billiton at 86 degrees with a heat index value currently that's already push youing 89 close to 90 degrees and feeling like 100 in warrenton. so here your good night forecast, don't expect us to have any rain, but temperatures will be cooling off to about 80 degrees by 7:00. mid 70s by 11:00 p.m. got a lot to talk about later in the show. tropical storm emily, where it is now, and if it's going to be any threat at all for the u.s. coastline. we'll have more on that coming up. >> thanks, veronica. when news4 at 4:00 continues, what puts kate middleton on "vanity fair's" best-dressed list. >> and things change for jerry lewis and this year's muscular dystrophy telethon. >> watch out. >> a teen buried alive while digging sand on a beach talks today we're hearing from the teen buried under the sand at a california beach for almost 30 minutes. about 40 people helped rescue 17-year-old matt mina at newport beach. he was digging giant tunnels in the sand when one collapsed and trapped him. rescuers rushed to save his life. we have a report. >> reporter: when the beach is your backyard, the last thing a parent wants to see is fire trucks and paramedics next to your home. with his camera rolling, skip snooed raced. >> reporter: strider was okay, but a 17-year-old who was digging a giant hole was buried, seven feet below in the newport beach sand. >> he jumped down there and it caved in. so it had several, you know -- where they -- i don't know, they couldn't find him. >> reporter: while police tried to get information from one of the teenager's friends, another friend right there behind wearing long white boardshorts joined firefighters in uniform, lifeguards in red shorts and no shirts and police as they tried to dig the boy out. at one point, it got to be too many trying to help. >> everybody wanted to help, and it was -- but it was like back-firing, too, because they were like caving in a little. like, there was too many people in there and the sand just rushes in. >> reporter: snead, the former editor of "surfing" magazine and publisher of the orange county surf mag called "ghetto juice" captured the minutes. >> i think everyone was expecting to pull up a dead body, especially after 20 minutes passed. i think nobody had ever seen any type of beach rescue like that. >> reporter: and he was there the moment they pulled him out. >> right when he got out, he tried to get up, and they're like, oh, no, you've got to -- like, he was in gnarly shock. but all his energy came out. i've always known since the kid -- a kid died out here, i've always been -- taught him his whole life, he has great respect for the ocean, and fortunately, i've been lucky in that respect. >> they the rescued teen spoke about his experience this morning on the "today" show. >> i heard people. i was kind of fading in and out, because i was kind of unconscious underneath the sand and i was surprised i was actually being pulled out. i thought i was going to die. >> rescue crews say mina was very lucky. about 20 years ago, a 7-year-old boy died in the same location after being trapped under the sand. kate middleton has quickly become a world renowned fashion icon. and now she finds herself back on "vanity fair's" international best-dressed list. the magazine says middleton, also known as the duchess of cambridge earned the spot because of her mix of high and low fashion. also getting a nod this year, president obama and first lady michelle obama, who were honored as best-dressed couple. actors justin timberlake, colin firth and brian williams got a special honor, joining "vanity fair's" best-dressed hall of fame. comedian jerry lewis will not be on the muscular dystrophy telethon, no longer serving as the national chair and will not be replaced. lewis announced in may he was retiring from the telethon that has become synonymous with his name. he planned to make his final appearance at this year's telethon. the association offered no explanation for the change. coming up on news4, some folks who are trying to eat healthier foods are paying a price. we'll find out why. more than 36 million pounds of ground turkey has been recalled after a usda investigation. cargill admits the ground turkey may be linked to a deadly salmonella outbreak. chris clackum has the story. >> reporter: the recall of 36 million pounds of ground turkey is second only to the ground beef recall of three years ago. meat giant cargill says its recalling fresh and frozen ground turkey products produced at its spring dale, arkansas plant, and is suspending production at the plant. the centers for disease control in atlanta says the tainted turkey may be behind a salmonella outbreak in 26 states that's left one person dead and close to 80 others sick. >> you can be sick for up to a week with fever, chills, aches, diarrhea. it can really be, you know, quite a hit when you get sick with a salmonella infection. >> reporter: in a statement and on its website, cargill's president, steve bullardson said it is regrettable that people may have become ill from eating one of our ground turkey products. and for anyone who did, we are truly sorry. food safety advocates say the very young and old are especially vulnerable. >> their immune systems aren't equipped to be able to handle the onslaught of the bacteria. so they need to be especially careful. >> reporter: caution is also advi advised for all others, and some shoppers are already vigilant. >> it becomes such a huge personal responsibility. >> reporter: the cdc says this particular strain of salmonella is resistant to many commonly prescribed antibiotics, making treatment difficult. chris clackum, nbc news. >> well, tongue turning now to the weather. >> we have been lucky. it's been nice outside. >> it hasn't been the kind of heat we've had for so many days, so many weeks. that we haven't had. but, you know, there are some folks who are still going to complain. they don't like the cloud cover. but okay, we're going to have clouds sticking around here through the evening. it's going to be a muggy evening. it's going to be a warm evening for us. and then going into tomorrow morning, we could be looking at some fog. let's head outside right now. we're seeing some breaks in the cloud cover that we've had for so much of today, especially the counties west of d.c. we're at 88 degrees with a fairly overcast sky. 69 degrees, the dew point temperature, with humidity at 53% currently. and what's giving us the cool temperatures today, the low temperatures, the cool air, is that easterly wind and, of course, the cloud cover, keeping it all down. 82 degrees right now in gaithersburg, maryland. 86 in leesburg. but look at the pocket of warmth just to the south and west. upper 80s to just over 90 degrees. that's where those breaks in the cloud cover are right now. 93 degrees in roanoke, 93 in bristol. so we are not seeing a lot of the major heat that we saw again just weeks ago over much of the east right now. you can see some clouds passing through the area, a lot of cloud cover there. as far as the rain goes over the next 24 hours, the best chance will be right here back off to the west, starting early tomorrow morning. we'll have some generally light showers around the area, some overcast skies for us and again the possibility of morning fog. and then even as we go through the afternoon, tomorrow is going to look a lot like today with a mixture of clouds and sun, kind of in and out of it. cumberland, spots like romney, winchester, petersburg all could see showers tomorrow afternoon. in fact, from early in the day right on through to late afternoon. 87 degrees will be the high temperature for tomorrow. 86 in baltimore. 85 fredericksburg. and then once again, running to about 87 to 88 degrees for those areas further down to the south and west. for your forecast, this evening, it's going to be definitely humid out there. temperature range between 78 and 83 degrees with a very light wind. that light wind is not going to help us tomorrow morning. again, patchy fog a possibility. warm and humid for the morning. 67 to 73 degrees throughout the day tomorrow, a persistent east-southeast wind. i think we'll be looking at a little better, though, maybe by the afternoon in more locations off to the east. so 85 to 88 degrees. but, again, a mixture of clouds and sunshine tomorrow. it's saturday, where we could have more rain moving in. mainly during the afternoon. the high, 88. and then the heat. it's going to try and peak once again. it looks like sunday and monday, 95 to 96. coming up a little bit later, we'll talk about tropical storm emily and the revised forecast for the atlanta hurricane season. >> okay. >> all right. >> thanks, veronica. today we are revealing the fourth and final secret word to enter to win free weekend get-away, we're giving away a free two-night stay a resort and a round of golf gore two. >> that's right. it's at people ina coalin resort in pennsylvania. to win you have to enter a secret word on our facebook page, www.facebook.com/nbcwashingtondc . >> and the word today, vacation. the winner will be selected at random from all correct entries. >> and the winner will be announced on news4 at 4:00 tomorrow. for the complete contest rules, go to our website, nbcwashington.com. >> yesterday's word was spa. today's word is vacation. >> sounds like a good one. >> yes, indeed. still to come on news4 at 4:00, strike up the band. >> . ♪ local students help president obama celebrate the big 5-0. >> it's the little things in life that make me smile. spending the day with my niece. i don't use super poligrip for hold because my dentures fit well. before those little pieces would get in between my dentures and my gum and it was uncomfortable. even 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[ charlie ] try zinc free super poligrip. life. welcome back to news4 at 4:00, i'm pat lawson muse. >> i'm barbara harrison. a lockdown at virginia tech has been lifted. three girls who were attending summer camp reported seeing a man as they walked to a campus dining hall. based on that information, the school issued a campus alert and cancelled classes for the rest of the day. police say they searched the campus in the immediate area and did not find anyone matching the girls' description. they also didn't find any other witnesses. but they say they were not taking any chances. >> you had a report from students, all be it young people who had never been on our campus before, tha