there was people jumping from the fourth floor to the third floor and swinging from the third to the second. >> reporter: a thanks giving night fire forces residents of this apartment building in suitland out in the cold. >> reporter: the stores are already open and thanksgiving day shoppers are hunting for the deals. you may call it crazy. they call it savvy. >> blustery winds moving in giving us feels like forecasts in the 20s for your friday shopping plans. but first residents in a

prince george's county apartment building left the thanksgiving dinner table in a hurry after a fire prompted them to evacuate. some of them even had to jump off their balconies. good evening. i'm lesli foster. >> i'm debra alfarone. our jim osman reports from suitland on the scary moments and a man who got his family to safety first and then jumped into action to help some others. >> reporter: it's a thanksgiving folks in this apartment complex in suitland won't soon forget. at 5:00 this thanksgiving night when people in this apartment building were about to eat thanksgiving dinner flames started to pour out of a corner unit in the 3100 block of good hope road, an eight-story building. >> they were swinging from the fifth floor balcony into the fourth floor balcony kind of like spider-man. from there they were swinging from the fourth to the third and there was a silver toyota tundra pickup truck that pulled up under the balcony. >> reporter: david gomez was the driver and helped those residents to safety, a humble hero this night. >> not me. i thank god, you know. he's the one that gave me the

idea to get the truck. >> reporter: residents say the unit where the fire started was occupied by someone described as a hoarder. the fire department tells wusa9 the resident had oxygen tanks which may have prompted the fire. the hoarding didn't help matters. you can see the pain on resident carol jones' face with all the uncertainty. >> i don't know what to do. can we go in or if we can't go in tonight or what? >> reporter: there are thanksgiving lessons abound in the story despite the people who had to jump from balconies, the damage done to the building, no one was hurt in large part because of first responders. >> i was with my family in the middle of thanksgiving dinner, but it's important for us to be out here with the community and in this case our firefighters were actually together eating at a fire station, this battalion was together eating, when this call came. >> reporter: it's not clear how many not will be temporarily displaced, but at least a handful.

in suitland jim osman, wusa9. new information tonight in a howard county shooting. police say a family was targeted today when someone knocked on the door of their columbia apartment, barged in and opened fire. a 29-year-old man was shot and is in critical condition tonight. police are questioning several people found in a nearby suv. tonight d.c. police are investigating a fatal pedestrian accident in southeast. the person walking was struck and killed in the 1800 block of alabama avenue around 8:00 tonight. that person was taken to medstar with life threatening injuries and ultimately died from them. maryland state police say a woman was killed and three people hurt when the car they were in crashed into a tree in snow hill and two of those injured passengers were children. the passenger in the front seat died at the scene. the driver was flown to shock trauma in baltimore. tonight a plot to bomb the st. louis arch is averted.

our sister station in st. louis is reporting two men were arrested last week on federal weapons charges. the two were reportedly planning to bomb that city's iconic gateway arch. the men also allegedly planned to kill st. louis county prosecutorring attorney bob mcculloch and ferguson police chief tom jackson. we're told the suspects had been under investigation for months. more trouble tonight for entertainer and comedian bill cosby. the university of massachusetts amherst has decided to cut ties. cosby raised money for the school in the past and, of course, wusa9 has reported that multiple women have come forward claiming that cosby raped them. no charges have been filed. cosby denies the claims. he the unrest in ferguson may have led to the cancellation of the annual thanksgiving day parade in st. louis, but it appears the area has paused for peace this holiday. cold and snow brought some calm wednesday night. scores of demonstrators protested outside the police department where hundreds have

squared off the previous two nights, but this time there were just two arrests and the presence of 2,000 national guard troops helped, too. their numbers were tripled after monday's violence. the anger and outrage triggered by the racially charged shooting of michael brown continues to spread. in new york the thanksgiving day parade was briefly interrupted by protesters as they broke through barricades and smashed windows. seven people were arrested. >> in los angeles 130 people there were arrested after blocking traffic in oakland. a march ended with rock throwing and 33 arrests. now officials fear a new round of protests may threaten black friday sales. last night one group of marchers went through a st. louis mall chanting shut it down, but there was no damage and no arrests. this thanksgiving was served with an extra helping of weather headaches. a storm in the northeast knocked out power to over 338,000 homes and businesses,

the same storm that gave us a nice dusting yesterday. the snow and ice made driving to your local day destination dangerous and air travel nearly impossible with close to 1,000 flights delayed or canceled. >> reporter: the first major storm of the season dropped as much as a foot of heavy wet snow taking down trees and power lines. airports already slammed by 700 cancellations yesterday were struggling to catch up, another 400 flights scrubbed today. many of those lucky enough to get home for the holiday arrived to find a cold dark welcome. 200,000 here in new hampshire alone are without power. it could be several days before crews get to some hard hit rural areas. many were forced to improvise their thanksgiving plans. no electricity at home meant newlyweds patty kenyon and her husband dined at whole foods. >> it's our first thanksgiving together. i'm sure we wouldn't forget this one.

>> reporter: mark nozell sent us pictures of his family's candle lit thanksgiving, canned yams heated on the backyard grill. keeping the beer cold was the only easy part. mother wendy thomas was thankful nonetheless. >> that's the big thing. everybody is calm. we're safe. it's a story we'll talk about at the table for years to come. it looks like we're in for a mild end to november. >> let's get right to first alert meteorologist erica grow. >> we still have a few days to get through before the milder temperatures. now it's downright cold, 34 in hagerstown, gaithersburg. some of you might be about to head out the door for maybe one of those sales that begins at midnight or is just wrapping up now. it's only 36 in leesburg and manassas now, 41 in downtown washington. so it will be a cold start. a lot of sales tomorrow starting at about 5 a.m., 6

a.m. those breezes will make it feel even colder than the temperature will be. so you need to bundle up if you're heading out. it will be blustery with wind chills in the phenes and 20s through about midmorning friday -- teens and 20s through about midmorning friday and as we head into the nighttime hours it will remain cold, but the wind will sub skype we have better temperatures coming -- subside and we have better temperatures coming up in the rest of the weekend and that detail is coming up as well in the first alert seven-day forecast. happy thanksgiving! >> thousands of u.s. soldiers are in afghanistan this thanksgiving away from their families but not missing out on a traditional feast. the u.s. military flew in nearly 30,000 pounds of turkey, 6,000 pies and 840 gallons of eggnog to american forces in kabul and around the country. >> i will eat home next year. i'm looking forward to that more than anything. >> i'd like to say happy thanksgiving to family, friends back home. be safe. take care.

>> there are about 24,000 u.s. service members in afghanistan and this is the last thanksgiving celebration before the combat mission ends december 31st. this may be thanksgiving, but the holiday shopping countdown is on. the national retail federation expects 25 million people to go online or into stores today. that is still pretty small compared to the 95 million expected to hit stores tomorrow. overall the federation expects shoppers to shell out more than $600 billion for their holiday purchases which would be up by 4% from last year. forget the turkey. people all over the country camped out, lined up and no doubt maxing out their credit cards instead on this thursday. what better place to spend thanksgiving than the most famous macy's in the world? shoppers at macy's harold square in new york city packed in hoping to get some deals. target, wal-mart and toys r us also opened this year on

thanksgiving day, a tidal wave of shoppers spilling into the toys r us on times square today. thousands thankful to get a good deal. to the delight of some and the dismay of others more and more stores are opening tonight on thanksgiving as retailers try to get us up from the table and into their stores a day early. >> away from the anchor desk. one store open for at least part of the day on the holiday is best buy where we find our mola lenghi joining us live from college park. what's going on there? >> reporter: since the last time we've spoken folks are still walking in and out of this best buy here in college park. thanksgiving is technically not over, but christmas shopping has already started. the first person in this ridiculously long line arrived at best buy at 5 a.m., 5 a.m.! he waited 12 hours for the doors to open. robert allen and his sister showed up a little later in the day. are you crazy to be waiting in

this line? >> no. >> reporter: what are you doing here? >> i'm with my sister. >> he said he would drive. >> reporter: couldn't do this any other day? >> i could have, but it's cheaper today. >> reporter: while shopping on thanksgiving day may not be everyone's cup of tea, everyone hear share common ground. they're willing to pay the price for a good deal. >> she's looking for a laptop. it's on sale. >> reporter: good day to get a deal, i guess. >> yes. >> reporter: there's deals today. >> yeah. fantastic deal, you know. where can you get 50-inch tv for $200? >> reporter: is it worth coming out on thanksgiving, waiting in line, doing all this for that kind of deal? >> if you're spending a lot of money, i think it can be. if you're only buying one small thing, maybe not. >> i got the 199 50-inch panasonic, the $99 insignia 29- inch and i'm waiting to get a 299 dell laptop. >> reporter: not bad, perhaps worth the chaos, after all. >> we have cops here, everything organized, opened at

5 a.m., been awesome. >> reporter: nobody throwing any punches? >> it was perfectly fine. >> reporter: if your idea of perfect is to wait in a long line in the cold only to get inside to wait in more long lines with hundreds of other people scrambling to get electronics on thanksgiving day, then yes, it was perfect. you might imagine this to be a stressful experience, but a lot of folks we spoke with throughout the day throughout the night really tried to enjoy themselves, whether it was the folks waiting in line who brought chairs and coolers and were hanging out waiting for the store to open or the other folks who brought their entire families and spent hours in the store. they really tried to have fun. for them, certainly not for me. i would never do. this are you kidding me '. >> you're doing it now. >> i suppose if you're standing in line for 12 hours, you got to have some entertainment. one dog owner has a lot to be thankful for this

thanksgiving. >> don't go anywhere. this joyful reunion is up next. >> plus not any pooch can be a secret service dog. coming up you're going to meet the breed trained to protect and serve. a secure retirement. a new home.

earning your diploma. providing for your family. real associates, using walmart's benefits to build better lives for their families. opportunity. that's the real walmart. in recent months secret service agents have come face to face with fence jumping

intruders at the white house. >> behind the scenes some of the greatest heroics have been carried out by members of the k- 9 unit. andrea mccarren introduces us to the breed gaining recognition and high praise. >> i'm very proud to see them patrolling the white house. look at that. >> reporter: the belgian belgian malamute has become one of the key weapons ofch ce for the secret service. >> they're not doing a job. to them it's a game. >> reporter: images from the white house and eliminateswhere are striking as -- elsewhere are striking as these highly trained working dogs use their speed and strengths to take down intruders. >> super fast. because of their smaller size, they have an incredible amount of speed and they can hit somebody pretty hard, knock them off their feet. >> reporter: according to the secret service, each dog and handler has to complete 20 weeks of training before they're ready to work and from that point on the dogs will

retrain eight hours a week for the rest of their career. >> they will drive in. they'll bite, shake and regrip if they need to. it just depends what's going on. >> reporter: some of the dogs angela mccullough has bred have gone on to sniff out explosives and detect drugs for federal agencies. the dogs are not for everyone, but with extensive training they can be loyal family dogs. >> they're incredibly intelligent and athletic and they're driven. so you can either get them engaged in playing soccer or get them doing agility or chasing after the arm of a bad guy. >> reporter: remarkably the breed has even gone mainstream. the hit cbs show person of interest features a scene stealing belgian malamute named bear. andrea mccarren, wusa9. >> this breed is often mistaken for a german shepherd, but it's

roughly half the size. it's also used by navy seals and law enforcement agencies nationwide. call this a black friday sale like none other, an animal shelter in wichita kansas giving away mostly black pets this friday to adopt out as many animals as possible, but specifically the darker colored animals. >> hopefully the families that get them will know how to care for them. >> that's very important. on the day we give thanks for all we have one woman is so happy to have an important family member back in her arms. >> we told you about a yorkie that went missing after a break- in in southeast d.c. last night we helped reunite the dog with her owner. >> oh! hi! hi! >> just after our report aired last night a viewer called to let us know that someone just gave her a yorkie. our mola lenghi confirmed it was adrian king's beloved dog.

king is in new jersey visiting her family and was worried she'd have to drive back home without one of her therapeutic dogs. always watching always tracking wusa9 first alert weather. >> so they're camping out tonight, need blankets, hand warmers, foot warmers. >> whatever you've got because we've got wind chills dipping overnight tonight. we'll look at the feels like tracker so that you can get an idea exactly what it's going to be like when you combine cooler temperatures with the winds on the increase. we'll start off with a look at the michael and son weather cam and the washington monument 14th street bridge there, 45. temperatures ditching to the 30s in the suburbs and the wind chill is below freezing in many suburbs, but the wind will only increase right now out of the west, northwest at 9 miles per hour. we'll see winds gusting to

around 20 miles per hour at times early tomorrow morning. it's because of a weak cold front. maybe you got a couple snowflakes. we had some up along i-270 earlier this evening. maybe you had a quick rain shower. that's gone, but the breezy cooler weather will stay with us through at least midmorning friday and the winds relax friday afternoon. the milder trend doesn't arrive until the weekend, but then it will be pleasant, so good news in our forecast. if you are visiting from somewhere else in the country, welcome. we have some delays possible if you're heading back to the pacific northwest tomorrow. this storm system will continue to bring rain and could bring rain as far south as the bay area. so if you live in san francisco or oakland, you might have travel delays as well. we're also watching a clipper system moving toward the twin cities, also toward the chicago area. so there is potential for a few snow showers in the great lakes region tomorrow. here we're drying things out. you can see a few snow and rain

showers and a lot of that didn't reach the ground because we had cooler drier air in place. that will stick around. again that feels like forecast i was telling you about, the cool dry air in place and with the winds tomorrow morning it's going to feel like it's in the upper teens in gaithersburg, 19 in hagerstown, 21 in leesburg and frederick. in the afternoon we'll rebound to a feels like temperature of 29 in leesburg, 32 in la plata and downtown d.c. getting better heading into saturday, notice these wind chills are no longer in the 20s and teens. they'll be creeping into the 30s. overnight look for mostly clear skies, 26 to 34. it will be breezy and cold. that stays with us friday morning as well, mostly sunny skies, temperatures in the 30s. by afternoon we're only going to rebound to highs between 38 and 44 degrees, partly cloudy, a warm front moving through with those clouds and that will bring us milder weather saturday, a high of 48 degrees. it gets better sunday, up to 56

with a partly to mostly sunny afternoon. in the first alert seven-day forecast we're going to look for a dry weekend and then mostly dry on monday, just a few raindrops possible and it looks like the biggest chance for rain in our entire forecast is on wednesday. so not bad. it could be a lot worse. remember yesterday? >> let's be thankful. >> we do, we do. burgundy and gold, they are thankful for a whole lot. >> absolutely. they actually got a little work in today before they got a chance to go home and stuff themselves and enjoy the local day with their family and friends. tonight they tell us what they're thankful for, plus rg3 sporks fth e first time

now wusa9 game on sports with kristen berset brought to you by xfinity. >> after robert griffin, iii's postgame comments last sunday created some controversy he decided to speak less and repeat one phrase. i'm focused on san francisco. well, he's taken that approach again regarding his recent demotion to back up qb. griffin spoke for the first time today since getting benched, but he didn't have much to say. he was asked four questions. it lasted about 40 seconds and all he basically said was, "it was coach's decision. i'm here to help this team

win." when asked what he does now, he said he would be ready to play in case he needs to help this team win about, all we got. today is a day we give thanks for the blessings in our lives. i'm thankful for my loving family, that job i get to enjoy every day and most importantly my health. i know many of us have been giving our thanks today, so we wanted to find out what some of the redskins players were thankful for. >> i know the things that i've been through through my career. i'm probably as thankful and appreciative as anybody to be playing on the field again. >> so thankful for my family and all the blessings i've received so far, wish i could be with them, but they know how thankful i am for them. i'm thankful for this team and the opportunities we have here. >> just life. a lot of people take it for granted. see tv day, somebody is dying, man, these young kids. got a lot of youngsters, man, that haven't got a chance to really enjoy what we have and it's sad, but i'm always thankful just for life, that we get to live.

another honor for ravens running back justin forsett who has gone from the shadows to the spotlight, fedex player of the week after rushing for 182 yards and two touchdowns in the monday night victory over new orleans. he was also named afc offensive player of the week the second straight game. plenty of nfl action today, nfc showdown eagles hosting the cowboys. philadelphia came out firing. mark sanchez throws across the field to jordan matthews. eagle scored on their first two positions, but the star of the game, shawn mccoy, 159 yards and this 38-yard touchdown run, not too many highlights for you cowboys fans this thanksgiving, sorry. eagles win big 33-10. the 45th annual turkey bowl, woodson taking on ballou. woodson 7-0 lead, but down four less than two minutes to go,

ballou with a last ditch effort. terry jones is picked off by charles peeler. woodson holds on to win the dciaa championship. congratulations. some college hoops, georgetown enjoying their time in the bahamas taking on no. 2 wisconsin, a big day for devonte smith-rivera. he couldn't get it to go, his only miss from beyond the arc, but it was a big one, wisconsin winning this one, 68-65. a little time to enjoy down there before they get back to the cold. >> it's so tough being down there in the warmth. >> basking

make us stronger. when a girl connects with a science mentor... her confidence grows. when schools connect with technology... a 5th grader's world opens up. and when a worker connects to online degrees... his opportunities multiply.

the at&t aspire initiative. helping students and communities across america.

final look at the first alert seven-day, it's going to be awfully chilly tomorrow, especially in the morning. wind chills will be in the 20s and teens early in the morning, but we rebound into the 50s by sunday, not bad. >> i'm already feeling it here. >> thank you for joining us on this thanksgiving night. we really appreciate it. of course, letterman is next. so ha=vgqve a

♪i want it all! ♪and i want it now! your toys want more. they need more. so get more guaranteed from verizon fios. including your favorite movie channels, blazing fast internet and $400 back. all for this amazing price online, guaranteed for 2 years with a 2-year agreement. so take the hint. and get more guaranteed today.

call the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800.974.6006 tty/v

( band playing "late show" theme ) >> from the heart of broadway, across the nation and around the world, it's the "late show" with david letterman. tonight... plus paul shaffer and the cbs orchestra. i'm alan kalter. and now, still unpierced and goatee-free, david letterman! captioning sponsored by worldwide pants and cbs ( band playing "late show" theme ) ( cheers and applause )