and shocking. this church is going to have a special prayer service tonight at 6:30. it's hard for everyone to understand how a 32-year-old mom of two boys is gone. candace helm's minivan was struck head on tuesday morning. >> she was doing the normal mommy thing taking the kids to school. something that we many of us do everyday. and do not think twice about it. >> firefighters arrived to help but candace was dead. >> you never know. you never know what is going to happen when you ride down the road. split second your life can change. >> highway patrol says the minivan was truck by david boyd's red truck after he crossed the center line and sideswiped another vehicle. they continue to investigate. and served boyd with misdemeanor death by vehicle. >> it's emotional. we have a stress debriefing and one setup this afternoon for our members on the scene in case

get it off their chest because that helps. >> firefighters are processing what happened. as are candace's friends and family. >> the one thing we have all held hands and prayed together the one thing we've talked through is just getting not thinking about what tomorrow brings or what tonight brings just how we can get through every minute. >> she was a mother dedicated to her children. >> candace was an amazing mom. >> they will surround the boys with love. >> those little boys thank god they made it through. they will need a lot of support. >> the pastor of the church here tells me that he went to the hospital that the three-year-old had his neck checked to be safe and that the seven-year-old was not physically hurt. but he is asking that our viewers pray for the family tonight. live here in lincoln county, pamela escobar wbtv on your side. >> we know so many people will be doing that.

troopers said at one point the driver told them that driver of the truck, david boyd, that he saw a deer. and they say no other witnesses of the crash claimed to have seen a deer. >> a man is charged in the 2012 murder of a pregnant charlotte woman. darne nicholas brown is charged in the murder of 17-year-old hawa gabbidon and her unborn child. brown shot and killed hawa gabbidon in a north charlotte park. brown was in police custody from an arrest in august of 2015. >> right now police are searching for a driver who they say took off during a traffic stop and hit a pedestrian. this was the scene in uptown charlotte after the incident. police tell us they tried to stop the car near trade and poplar streets when the driver took off. police say the vehicle hit a pedestrian on east trade street. and the pedestrian was taken to cmc with serious injuries. >> and right now police chief

troops after video surfaced of an officer hitting a man during an arrest. the suspect on the ground in the video 26-year-old malcolm elliott charged with hit-and-run and resisting an officer. kerr putney spoke out for the first time and sharon smith talked to the chief today and is live with more. tell us more what the chief had to say? >> paul, a lot of people in the city have seen that video so the chief is trying to respond to the concerns. he told us there is no evidence of any criminal wrongdoing from his officers but there is still a cmpd internal investigation about policy to finish. the chief took questions before and after a demonstration over at the training academy about use of force. he wants people to see the resistance his officers encounter and how they try to overcome it. the chief talked about community trust and internal trust at cmpd. how race factors in. especially like in this case,

officers and a black suspect and said that use of force is a situation that no one wants. >> what i can tell you is this... right out of the gate, no use of force looks good. there is no way we can use force against a citizen or a community member and have it play well. >> we also learned that that video a lot of people have seen out there is not the only one related to this case. the chief says there are several angles that he has seen from the body-cameras that the officers wore and that helps him make his decision in this case. he said he is not going to release it. because that is a personnel issue. and we stuck around to ask questions about the use of force policy at cmpd and we are editing that story right now for you to see at 6:00. sharon smith wbtv on your side. >> right now hundreds of supporters of republican presidential candidate ted cruz lining up to hear the senator

we have a live look at central baptist church where cruz is expected to hold a rally at 5:45. we have a crew inside there and we will bring you more live pictures once cruz begins to speak. and a live report tonight on wbtv news at 6:00. >> maureen voting is underway and donald trump is leading big in the polls in mississippi and in michigan. hillary clinton has a lead over bernie sanders in mississippi and michigan but the two states holding the primaries today. hawaii and florida are the next big prizes. they both vote next tuesday with illinois, missouri and here in north carolina. right now a dangerous situation in rowan county. in a neighborhood there deputies serving warrants at a mobile home discovered a large scale methamphetamine manufacturing operation. the chemicals used are flammable and the process is potentially explosive. wbtv's david whisenant has more

found inside this home. >> investigators worked into the night and early morning at this mobile home in southern rowan. today it's hard to tell that anything unusual was happening and neighbors say they were not suspicious. >> they were cars coming in and out and just thought they had friends. on the weekends. i did not know it was anything more than that. >> investigators say it was. >> total of five, one-pot meth labs found in the residence and 17 gas generators used in the process. >> this burned trash can told investigators there had been one fire here. >> and it was clear that the fire had been caused by the remnants of a meth lab. >> john hopkins, jr. who lived in the home and richard thompson were charged and a loaded gun was found in thompson's vauvment. investigators say what they found inside the home was so

back out of the home. >> gas generator inside of a closet that was venting off gas. and the fumes actually made contact with the officers that were conducting the investigation. >> knowing now what was found here neighbors say it is frightening. >> scary. my kids could have been in harm if anything happened. >> david whisenant wbtv on your side. >> right now police are trying to find the person who crashed the vehicle into a huntersville jewelry store. can you see the shattered glass doors. and this is on burke daily commons parkway part of a burglary attempt. investigators are looking over the video and employees are working to determine if anything was stolen. >> a gorgeous warm and sunny afternoon across our viewing area. >> it was nice outside. but you know what? this is severe weather week and this storm system is slamming texas and that one well that is

coming days. >> but for a check how things are right now over to chief meterologist, eric thomas with the best look what we can expect. >> maureen good evening and are you right. severe weather awareness week. and the wbtv weather app go to the app store and search for wbtv and download it and get all the alerts and get alerts here on wbtv.com. and, boy, that is a big system rolling through the middle of the country but it will be a while before it gets here. ahead of it cloud cover. no disruptions heading out. thin variety and no rain-producing clouds and the headline remains this warm air right back into the picture as we take you into the wednesday time-frame. and our high today 75 . our average high is 61 we are not going to get back to an average high until 10:00 p.m. what a pattern. i will let you know how long this lasts in the first alert forecast. >> and your first alert traffic is sponsored by people's bank.

of independence from 277 we have a lot of traffic around the area. more than usual for tuesday evening commute. and around center city, a lot of problems. an injury accident in providence road and queens road. east boulevard is a great alternate route around center city we have the problems on trade at poplar. and a problem at trade and caldwell. you may notice this volume on i-77 southbound starting to build northbound as well. another accident here at mcdowell street and baxter close to 277. morehead is a great alternate route. and to i-77, slow-moving traffic southbound due to an earlier accident. paul and maureen back to you. >> thank you. local former teacher is sentenced after she pled guilty to having sex with a student. >> the evil that has been shown to my son is sickening to me. >> all new you will hear from the victim's mother who says the

>> and next, caught on camera, an officer hailed a hero after

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back to the breaking news. we have a crew on the scene of one of the two charlotte shootings. straight to alex giles live in the alert center. >> developing quickly. we know the scenes are less than a mile apart. and you can see this one on brookshire boulevard one of our crews is setup and cmpd vehicles on scene. and officers work to figure out what happened. one person was taken into custody at this scene and one person shot and injured taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. this is again brookshire boulevard that other shooting

and we know another person has been shot and is suffering from life-threatening injuries also taken to the hospital. not sure if the incidents are connected. we are working to get you followings. >> new at 5:00 a gaston county mother is outraged over the sentence handed down to the former teacher who had sex with her teenage son. tika helton pleaded guilty to having sex with the 18-year-old south point high school student. michael clark spoke with the victim's mother. michael clark joins us live with the mother's message. michael what does she have to say about this? >> the teacher predded guilty to having sex with the student. and the mother says the

somebody. >> the person was supposed to protect our children not each them evil ways. >> helton will not go to jail instead she will give up her teaching license and probation and community service. >> it's sad that our elected officials talk the game of protecting our children but they do not. >> the victim's mother says helton was a student and was not in her class and though he is 18 it's illegal for a teacher to have sex with any student. it would have been difficult to prove it happened before graduation. >> it's not whether it happened they admit that it happened. we would have to prove that it happened on one date versus another. >> his mother is warning other parent it is can happen to anyone. helton befriended her inviting her to eventsism talk to your sons about the pedophile women they are out there. >> this mother is disgusted by helton's punishment and they were only a year apart in age. >> i feel for all the good

embarrassment people like this cause them in the professions they care about. >> now, all of this could be removed from helton's record if she does not violate probation but prosecutors do not think she will teach because she had to surrender the license but they cannot speak for the other 49 states. michael clark wbtv on your side. >> thank you. an officer hail aid hero after helping save two children from this from this burning car. this is monterey, california. the officer pulled one child out and handed over to a woman and went back for the other child in the backseat got this child out. and handed it to the lady in the front seat. he was driving along the highway when he noticed the car smoking and flames. he pulled it over and then got everybody out in the nick of time. call the fire department and can you hear the kids crying.

>> and the fact that he just happened to be there. somebody was watching out for the kids. >> happened to see the car. right now let's check the roads here is tonya rivens. >> paul, it's busy. it's been quite sometime since we have had this many problems. three accidents one at central morning and another near the plaza and mathison and eastway. all of these accidents in the area. close together and some of them are main arteries for alternate routes. and notice the volume we have on independence boulevard headed eastbound. and independence we have two accidents. one at independence and w.t. harris. and the other is at independence and sardis road north. mop row road is a great alternate route. >> thank you. and did you enjoy today? i did. went for a walk and it was hot from the sun. >> yes. you are in the sun there was not much of a breeze. and it's got to be warmer than

>> way warmer, maureen. we ran about 14 warmer than normal. in july we would be 105 right now. let's not do it in july? >> we will take it right now. >> january. >> well, here are the numbers. 75 that was the high and that was 14 warmer than the average high temperature. no question. that is the headline. 44 paul mentioned and it was mild when he was getting out this morning. your hd towercam. a glorious day and the pollen levels are sky high and you will see milky look. perhaps some of that pollen up there. 74 that is the number at the moment. we are still close to that daytime high. 45 the dew point so we are dry beyond charlotte you heading outside. you are in great shape. low 70s across the entire viewing area until you head up into the elevations and 65 around boone and blowing rock. we advance this through the late night hours and still in the

in boone and through the overnight hours we do not drop off much. we are still hanging around 50 at 7:00 a.m. and 45 in boone. so there it is. a quiet weather map. just a few clouds through the overnight hours. thin variety. that is it. maybe making just enough for a pretty sunrise. mild. 55 . how about that? let's pull the map back and show you what it looks like for wednesday. all the commotion hanging around the mississippi valley they will have real flooding problems that way because the rain has been relentless we are east of it. 72 at noon and 74 at 4:00 p.m. what progress does this make on thursday? somewhat. but it's out around nashville and that means a quiet day coming up for us in the areas and the wbtv viewing area. later in the weekend is when the showers will start to get here. perhaps showers out ahead of it saturday. better chance sunday and a low

we'll keep the showers in the picture through monday and things taper off on tuesday. and notice that every single day we are still in the 70s even on the cloudy rainy days. back to the studio. >> eric, thank you. still ahead at 5:00 a sexual assault happened within earshot of a group of soldiers. >> officers say what they did girl. >> and next at 5:00 an escaped inmate from rock hill now suspected in a crime spree in georgia. including killing a dog. hear what else investigators say he is accused of doing. >> and all new at 6:00 hear his woman's emotional apology for a crash that killed the love of her life.

on wbtv news is sponsored by... >> we have new information the inmate who escaped from i arock hill correctional facility is now the suspect in an atlanta area crime spree including the shooting of two dogs in an animal hospital. 26-year-old zachary reeves escaped from the center in january. he was caught last week in georgia. police say reeves is now suspected of four burglaries. you are looking at pictures. they say he broke into this animal hospital last week and shot two dogs. one died and the other survived. those charges are pending. >> soldiers jump into action after they heard a young girl scream for help. and you will hear from one of the heros. >> what controversial law has the state paying big money to

land next at 5:00 p.m. there are two democratic visions for regulating wall street. one says it's okay to take millions from big banks and then tell them what to do. my plan -- break up the big banks, close the tax loopholes, and make them pay their fair share. then we can expand health care to all, and provide universal college education. will they like me? no. will they begin to play by the rules if i'm president? you better believe it.

>> announcer: wbtv on your side. wbtv news starts right now. >> new at 5:00 dozens of dogs are saved after police say they were found in just awful conditions. >> and coming up, wbtv investigates. >> i'm wondering if you are concerned about the appearance? >> i rely on the general counsel for those matters. >> the transportation department is facing more tough questions over a state senator whose private law firm has billed the state for legal work. >> and we are going to hear from a man in the national guard who helped save a girl being sexually assaulted. welcome i'm jamie boll.

let's go ahead and start with alex giles in the alert center. right now, alex has information on shootings in charlotte one on the brookshire boulevard and the other and those are not far apart. what do you know? >> they are less than a mile apart and both in north charlotte and active scenes. a live picture of that scene on brookshire boulevard. this is a gas station where something happened involving a gunshot fired. several squad cars on scene from the cmpd and you see the crime tape. and we know one person was shot taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuriesment another person detained in connection to the shooting. we are not sure what happened there. and we can show you pictures we have from the other crew on mcginn drive and the other street where another shooting happened and squad cars there as well. another person was shot taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. again we don't know if they are

a mile apart. as soon as we get new information we will bring them to you. >> thank you. new at 5:00 deputies are looking for a thief with a wolf mask. investigators sent us the pictures of a break-in that happened yesterday morning at the convenience store on highway 27. look. the wolf mask crook pushed an air-conditioning unit and got away with money. authorities will not say how much. >> the two teens are accused of breaking into a charlotte-mecklenburg high school. robert cutshaw and vincent white 19 were able to get inside at 12:45. another person got away before police caught up. investigators could not tell us if the teens were students at the school. >> 50 dogs are safe after being saved from a hoarding situation in south carolina. abbeyville county deputies say the dogs were living in harsh conditions.