and the man accused of taking their lives. so here's what we know as of now. prosecutors have charged 19-year-old nikolas cruz with 17 counts of first degree murder. he appeared before a judge this afternoon. authorities are holding him without bond. the about ward county sheriff' officer says cruz confessed to the shooting. they say cruz brought the ar15 that he used in the shooting legally one year ago. right now authorities say they still do not have a motive. his attorney talked earlier. >> he's a broken human being. he's a broken child. um, it's just -- sadness that this community is feeling i mean my children, they go to school in this community. i feel horrible for these families and mr. cruz feels that pain. >> we're now learning about the victims the youngest is just 14 years old. fox's kirsten delgado following the latest developments for us

and joins us live in broward county, florida to, night. >> reporter: there is a heaviness in the air here at the parkland amphitheater. it's just ten minutes away from marjorie douglas stoneman high school which was of course where that shooting took place just yesterday. that massacre leaving this community in shock. hundreds upon hundreds of people showing up here. 17 dead. angels marking their lives on stage. people here crying and embracing one another. i've seen people with roses, children embracing their paren parents. tears. people praying. this community just reeling from what happened and trying to make its initial steps to heal a massive wound left behind by yesterday's massacre. a day that no one here will

forget. as this vigil gets under way, i hear people, students saying, i thought it was a drill. they know today it wasn't. and those 17 angels on stage mark the lives that were lost. in parkland, kirsten delgado, fox news. >> continuing now with our coverage of the florida mass shooting. senseless tragedy leads to more questions about how the fbi investigates it's tips to stop incidents like. here at home police say they're always monitoring social media. dave schratwieser reports from philadelphia police headquarters. what triggered this kid? what were the triggers. what did dough beforehand that someone could have seen or should have seen. >> reporter: moments after the mass shooting in parkland, florida, unfolded wednesday, and police captured alleged killer nikolas cruz fbi agents began tracking the 19-year-old rosss every move leading up to the shooting. including a tip from youtube blogger ben be night who zen the

fbi a screen shot in september from a nikolas cruz posting. >> this comment said "i'm going to be a professional school shooter" and i knew that i couldn't just ignore that. >> reporter: the fbi now confirms it did investigate be night's tip. >> no other information was included with that comment which would indicate a time, location or the true identity of the person who made the comment. >> the fbi is only as good as the information it either receives or it can obtain through legal means. >> reporter: former fbi special agent john terry who work in philadelphia told fox 29 a typical fbi investigation would entail database reviews and other checks to determine who posted it. >> start looking into this person's background. is this someone whose got other data points or dots that we should be connecting. >> a lot of times they're just someone mouthing off on social media but we take it real serious. we have investigators go right out and run on these. >> philadelphia police get lots

of tips and monitor social media for threats against schools. >> any hint of any kind of -- anything that's off we immediately investigate that. >> reporter: deputy wilson says if a threat is real and a lock down occurs, like the one at lincoln high school last month, no resources are spared. >> it's all hands on deck when we get a threat we want to intercept it immediately. >> from law enforcement perspective you always want to do a lessons learned. is there something that we can do better tomorrow to prevent what happened today? >> reporter: philadelphia police stray have been 80 lock downs at philadelphia schools so far this school year. they've also investigated numerous threats against schools and in some cases those who made the threats were stopped in their tracks before anything happened. at police headquarters, dave schratwieser, fox 29 news. at the white house flags are flying at half staff for the victims of the florida high school shoot shooting much the shooting the marjorie stoneman douglas high in park land the deadliest school shoot shooting

in u.s. history since sandy hook elementary school in 2012. across the nation parents and teenagers shaken after yesterday's mass shooting at a florida high school. our dawn timmeney talked with a few teenagers in montgomery county trying to make a difference. you should be safe. you shouldn't even think that you can get killed by going to school. that shouldn't be a thought that crosses your mind. >> reporter: but it is for students everywhere these days. and in light of the mass shoot tag parkland florida high school yesterday, even more so. >> we saw snap chats of people, people hiding in closets crying hysterically hearing gunshots in the background like 16-year-olds shouldn't have to go through that. >> reporter: marissa noon berg feels so strongly about keeping guns out of school and she classmate grace mcall starte std an anti gun violence club to get a dialogue started and maybe even safe lives. >> the fact that this is so, like, relevant in today's' world is just tragic. i'm sad i actually have to start this club. parkland is another reason for us to raise awareness.

>> reporter: schools all over now hold regular active shooter or lock down drills. still, some students worry about what they would do in a real life and death situation. >> i thought about it. it's just more scary like there's, you can always be trapped and how you would get out, and what about your friends and stuff? >> maggie and page are juniors at perkiomen valley high school. maggie worries she would panic in if anything like parkland happened at her school. >> overall we do know general information what we need to do and how to do it. but i wouldn't know what to do if that actually did happen. which is like scary to think about but it's true. >> reporter: it's definitely scary. that could happen anywhere. school shootings keep happening and like no one can really stop them. >> everyone i talked to today said that they were beyond upset for the victims and their families and the one thing they all said as well was that the shooting is really made them appreciate everything they have and not to take anything for granted. dawn timmeney, fox 29 news. in the middle of all the

chaos tragedy in that parkland florida high school students took out their phones and many were recording. student named david hog started interviewing some of his classmates while they hid. hog told a newspaper there that he volunteers he heard gunshots during his science class then the fire alarm went off he says at first he tried to run but huddled with others. in a classroom and that's when he broke out his phone and started asking questions. >> looked around this closet and saw everyone hiding together you would know that this shouldn't be happening any more. and that it doesn't deserve to happen to anyone. and that no amount of money should make it more easily accessible to get guns. >> one student that he spoke with said she had wanted to learn how to hunt but now she can't imagine doing that. let's check in with fox 29 weather authority as we take live look down the shore at cape may. temperatures kind of nice and mild out there today. maybe not a beach day, but, hey, we're getting close. meteorologist scott williams heroine with what we can expect

as we head not night, scott. >> hi there, iain. high temperatures made it into the 60 ace cross the still pretty comfortable. look at the numbers. 60 degrees currently in ac. 60 in wilmington. we have 64 degrees in lancaster. 62 in reading and 62 currently in pottstown. we do have the cloud cover out there but no rainfall just yet. but grab umbrella if you have evening and overnight plans. we're talking about that moisture moving in from west to east across the area. somewhat similar to what happened last night. we're looking at about a quarter of an inch to half an inch of rainfall before all is said and done but look at the temperatures for tonight. we stay pretty mild. lows in the 50s. that's above the average high for this time of year. so much more on those even showers. we'll go hour by hour. spring temperatures in that seven day forecast. 60s maybe even flirting with 70 degrees and what about that snowfall chance for the upcoming weekend? we'll outline the temperatures and also how much snow could accumulate.

back over to you. >> all right. scott, thank you. jurors tell the judge that they are deadlocked in the trial of mob boss 55-year-old joseph skinny joey merlino among nearly four dozen arrested in 2016 crack down on east coast sinned indicate. prosecutors say they committed crimes like extortion, lone sharking, casino style gambling and more. despite the deadlock the judge has ordered the jury to continue deliberating. they will get back at it tomorrow morning. all right. kristen what's coming upping. >> yesterday's tragic shooting in parkland, florida, really impacted one flyer. hear his message for his home community ahead in sports. iain. >> thank you. in today's' moment in black history we remember sidney pitt derr' as chief many when he became

[narrator] look around.

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♪ a chaplain pays his respects hanging crosses in the aftermath of yesterday's deadly school shooting in parkland, florida. the chaplain says his reason for putting crosses up for each victim is to provide a message of love. florida shooting reignited the debate about security in schools after 9/11 of course we saw dramatic changes to security at airports. are we now at that point for schools? our jeff cole has that part of the story. >> reporter: we know what those changes here at the airport full body screening bags scanning even the removal of shoes. the question is, has the time come for schools to make those kinds of major changes and will it even matter? the brutal reality is that there may be no true defense against deranged shooter with a weapon of war but it's what school administrators must now try to plan for. security consultant and former pennsylvania state trooper bill

la torre tries to help them. >> locking down without barricading is self entrapment. so if you don't reinforce the end tra trance points to where you're locked down in and don't barricade you're pretty much entrapped. >> shoots who attack from the street must be kept out of the school at all costs says la torre. with doors that cannot be breached. if they do get in, he says staff must know how to make the split second critical call to lock down and hide or run to safety. >> they need to understand how to do that safely for themselves so that they don't injure themselves so they don't get shot so they're using cover and concealment to escape the threat and they know where they're going and don't run into the threat. >> the head of the 830 member pennsylvania association of school administrators mark dirocco believes severely limiting access to the ar15 is good for kids in the long run. he says every school district in the commonwealth does lock down training and many have redesigned front doors to keep

intruders out. security consultant la torre says, the deranged should not get guns but when they do, strong training will save lives. >> if the schools and their staff aren't trained then won't know what to do in this situation. and they're going to guess and many times they'll guess wrong. >> school district fox 29 contacted today were engaged in speaking to students and staff and parents assuring them of their security procedures trying to tell them they're doing all they can in these very frightening times. at philadelphia international airport, i'm jeff cole, fox 29 news. of course keep it here. we have more on that deadly shooting coming up tonight on fox 29 news at 10:00 and 11:00. investigators are bust add meth lab in atlantic city's trap tropicana hotel they say that's why a fire started. skyfox was over the scene yesterday morning when the fire broke out on the fourth floor. a hazmat team dismantled that lab and several floors had to be vac weighed. police later arrested two men an

woman. prosecutors charged 49-year-old michael pillar in there incident he was also hurt in the fire. in burlington county another person trying to cross route 73 in mt. laurel has died. this is the fourth time something like this has happened in a 1 mile radius on that road just since september. police say early this morning the person was either ride ago bike or walking across route 73 at willow road in mt. laurel driver in maroon hyundai hit and killed the person. the bike had a blinking light on it the back and front to make visible in the dark. no word if prosecutors plan to file charges. investigation is underway into what started this house fire in darby borough much crews saved a woman from the roof of her home on the 100 block of fern street. flames broke out just after 2:0. firefighters were able to contain it shortly after that. we talk to the residents earlier today, one of them said that she was still looking for her cat. of course we'll keep updated if we hear more. city officials from all over the state of pennsylvania got

together today to do something about the opioid epidemic. the u.s. attorney for the eastern district of pennsylvania announcing today a new task force to fight the deadly crisis. this new organization will combine efforts from law enforcement and local, state, federal levels. officials say the best way to save lives is to work together and the thing they'll do put those responsible in jail. let's get back to your fox 29 weather authority now. here's look at reading, mild if not really a damp day but warm out there. definitely not feeling like february. but don't get too comfortable. i hear know i snow is in the fo. scott has your full forecast in 15 seconds. yes, it's a roller coder ride in the weather department. we've been talking about this for days now. high today's made it into the 60s.

early high temperature on friday of 60 degrees but temperatures dropped during the day a cold front will move through. blustery conditions winds will gust up to 30 miles an hour those temperatures tumble saturday's high temperature thought degrees. yes, we're looking at a wintry mix. upper 40s on sunday. and then low 50's by monday but we've got 70-degree temperatures potentially with that seven day forecast. dry, quiet for now. but cloudy and then look at the moisture off to the west. this will continue to head in our direction over the next several hours. so if you're stepping out for your evening plans, grab an umbrella, grab the rain gear, nine, 10:00 o'clock looking at rainfall there could be heavier pockets overnight tonight early on your friday morning. we're still dodging some of those showers but temperatures will stay pretty mild. it's 58 right now in philadelphia. we hit a high today of 61 degrees. 71 roanoke, charlotte 72 degrees. look at nashville 74. so pretty mild for much of the lower 48.

temperatures for tonight in the 50s. that will be the general rule. low 50s north and west. mid 50's around the ski city. tomorrow early showers, falling temperatures so that 60 somewhat deceiving because temperatures drop with winds out of the northwest with those gusts up to 30 miles an hour for tomorrow. so as we talk about this saturday evening snow system we're looking at dry weather for much of the day on saturday. but after about six, september clock, we're looking at that moisture moving up from the south. starting as snow for much of the area before changing over to mainly rain down the shore. it gets out of here by day break on sunday. temperatures they will be marginal in the 30s. several inches of snow possible especially north and west suburbs. mainly sticking to the grassy surfaces the untreated surfaces because temperatures leading up to this have been in the 60s. so a coating to an inch interior south jersey. move a little farther closer to the i-9 i-95 corridor wilmingto,

philadelphia, trenton one to two slushy inches. to two to four toward the lehigh valley. the seven day forecast showing the roller coaster ride as we move toward president' days and early next week a little unsettled but look at the temperatures. we're talking 70 degrees on tuesday. kristen, over to you. >> scott, yesterday's tragic shooting in florida hits home for one flyers player. hear his message ahead. plus the phillies settling down in clearwater for spring training. why general manager

phillies new manager gabe kapler hasn't shied away from the expectations he has for this team. even in his introductory press conference he said playing for him is all about accountability. so it didn't come as surprise when he said the phillies can shock major league baseball and really compete this season. general manager matt klentak's take on he loves that kind of talk. he says it's already planned in the phillies culture. now the finally taking shape. >> the core of our team is young. of those young players, most of them came up threw our system together. most of them have won at every level throughout the minor leagues. these guys don't know any other way. why would they tell them it will be different at this level. that's ridiculous. >> yesterday's tragic shooting in parkland, florida, affects everyone. but it really hits home for the flyers shane goss tis bear who went to that high school for two years. like all of us he was shocked especially considering parkland

tops the list as one of the safest cities in florida. so today he gave his condolences as a former student at marjorie stoneman douglas high school i am saddened way horrick news of yesterday and with a heavy heart, my thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected by the tragedy in park land, florida. there's talk of a flyers holding a moment center on tuesday at wells fargo center. >> nascar season kicks off with one of the biggest races around the daytona 500 on sunday last year's cup serious martin truex, jr., would love to start his campaign for repeat. now that last year title has finally sunk in, true he can says he's feeling cal cal cool , calm and collected. >> i feel great. i'm not feeling any pressure at all. i'm excited to get back to the race track and get on the race track and try get some more wins and go after another championship but just feeling less pressure than normal i guess i can say. >> the daytona 500 is right here on fox 29 on sunday.

our coverage begins at 1:00 o'clock. the great american race gets underway at 2:30. and he is a big eagles fan. >> is he he was at sioux super bowl lii got to watch them win. good momentum for him coming off last year watching that super bowl hoping to win daytona this year. >> take momentum from the eagl eagles. >> sounds good. what day will it be 70 again. >> that's all he's thinking about. >> that's all i saw. >> next tuesday. you won't be happy about the snow saturday night. >> weekend. >> the couple of inches. slushy out there roller coaster ride. you can see the clock saturday night we're watching that snowfall move n it's out of here bye-bye day break on sunday maybe accumulating grassy surfaces untreated surfaces so we'll continue to monitor the computer models and have update tonight at 10:00. >> all right. sounds good. thanks scott. that will do it for us here at 6:00. up next page six followed by dish nation at 7:00. thanks for watching. have a g

right now on "page six tv," who is accusing gigi and bella la deed's dad trading on their name to lure women into bed and sexual assault? a "page six" exclusive i. stormy daniels in a club. and why did kanye have a massive instagram binge on valentine's day? find out the answers on "page six tv." [cheering and applauding] >> welcome to "page six tv." i'm john fugelsang. here are today's top stories. bevy smith was hanging out with the cast of black panther into the wee hours of the night and now they all say they need a nap. elizabeth covers dogs literally canines taking over the runway. first carlos greer has sexual assault allegations against the father of gigi and