4 dogs killed in DC apartment fire | FOX 5 AT 4AM

Well, good morning. I'm Julie Donaldson. It's 4 a.m. on this Thursday, November 12th. Thank you for starting your morning with us right here on Fox 5 and streaming on Fox Local. Here's what's happening today. Alexandria City High School referenced in threats on social media how police are responding this morning. At a desperate search for their daughter, a teen with special needs missing for a week. Today, her parents and the community, they will work to find her. And we are tracking the chance for rain as a storm system slides our way. We have your forecast as we get closer to the weekend. And welcome on in. Glad to have you here with us. Caesar Cornejo is here with us as well. So Caesar, again, I feel like I'm on repeat yesterday. I had my lunch outside. I went for a walk outside. I enjoyed that weather and the sunshine. Is it lasting? Was that like, because you were saying that might be the last of the days that I could do that. Yeah. So Julie, unfortunately, we are now starting to see not only just a little bit of a weather trend for today, but also after today. Cooler temperatures, so it's not going to be as comfortable. I know, right? So, yeah, all good things must come to an end. And unfortunately, that weather headline reads the end right here, right? Of course, scattered rain showers is what we're expecting to see as we head into parts of later on this morning and on and off throughout the day. So that's going to be something that we're just keeping an eye on. I will, of course, break down the timing of that and just talk about how cold we're expected to get here as we head in towards the our Friday and the weekend. In just a couple of minutes. Over to you, Julie. Thank you, Caesar. Well, at Fox 5 News Alert, Alexandria police are investigating threatening social media posts referencing Alexandria City High School. In a statement, the department says that they are increasing police presence out of an abundance of caution. Well, they add in part that we ask students, families, and community members to remain vigilant. If you see something, say something. Fox 5's Melanie Alnwick will have a live report coming up at 4.30. And new this morning, four dogs were killed in an overnight apartment fire on Atlantic Street in Southeast D.C. A fit dog made it out safely. Authorities say that four people made it out, but one man was taken to the hospital for non-life-threatening injuries, and a firefighter was evaluated on scene. Now the cause of the fire is under investigation. Well, the man accused of killing a mother and her toddler while driving drunk will have a bond hearing in Stafford County today. 22-year-old Malik Jeremiah Thomas of Fredericksburg, an active duty Marine, is charged with two counts of aggravated manslaughter. Now, if convicted, he could face up to 20 years in prison for each death. And this morning, a D.C. family is asking for help to find their missing 13-year-old daughter. These are pictures of Catherine Stollard, who goes by Ash. She has a developmental disability and was last seen a week ago in Petworth. Ash's mother says that she dropped her off at school last Wednesday morning but was not there when she came back to pick her up. Surveillance video shows that the girl walking on Rock Creek Church Road near her middle school, Creative Minds International. That was around 5 30 p.m. that evening. She was with two people her parents believed to also be students at the school. Now her parents say that she's left home before but came right back the same day. They have been going door to door putting up missing person flyers. Arshamari Stone spoke with them last night. Do you suspect foul play? I don't know. I am concerned. I'm really deeply concerned because nobody has heard from her in a week and it's incredibly unusual. No one's seen her. She just disappeared. Now today at 4 PM, the school Creative Minds International will have a community event to raise awareness The search continues for a driver who crashed into the Wells Quality Dry Cleaners in Chilham. about Ash's disappearance. It happened around 7 o'clock last night on Sergeant Road. As you can see, quite a bit of significant damage has been done to the building here. Again, police say the driver of the car, they ran off and they are still looking for them. Fortunately, nobody People living in DC's Ladrone Park are demanding action following repeated gunfire. Now there's been a series of shootings over two years, the latest just weeks ago. At least two people have been injured since early 2025. Police recovered nearly 40 shell casings after a shooting in May. I believe we need to do what Baltimore's been doing, which is to address root causes by offering a real carrot and a real stick to the vanishingly small number of people who are actually responsible for this kind of gun violence. It's a small number of people. The community knows who they are. The police know who they are. They just need to focus on those individuals rather than just trying to, like, beef up arrest numbers more generally. MPD says that it has stepped up patrols, adding surveillance cameras and brought in specialized units, making dozens of arrests. 4.05, let's get our first look at our weather as we take a live look at the downtown in Washington, D.C., at the National Monument. Cesar telling us that the sunshine that we've been enjoying for the past week, well, that may not be sticking around, keeping us warm as we move forward. No, unfortunately, Julie, what we're dealing with now is going to be a little bit of a gloomier day. So I hope everyone got to get their fix of sunshine. I like the sunshine. I know, right? Right? I need all the sunshine. That's just what I need. It makes me happy. Julie, same here, same here. But you know what? We do need some rain as well. So, of course, the drought conditions are starting to get a little bit out of hand again. So, of course, this any and all rain is going to be beneficial here as we head in towards the rest of our day. But you can already see that this one system is slowly pushing in towards our area. And while it is expected to bring in cooler air. Post system, right, as it moves off towards the north and to the east once it heads into the weekend, we are expecting to still stay slightly warmer at least for today. So temperature is not going to suffer too much, right? Yes, we are starting off a bit on the more cool to mild side here for the morning hours where most of us are still in the mid 40s to upper 40s and even some 50s around. But you can take a look at this, right, the planner. By the time we get towards later parts of the day, you'll see that temperatures mostly hang around those mid-60s once again, as we see a day of temperatures mostly hanging around the mid to low 60s. So not necessarily a bad start to our Thursday, but yes, we are expected to get much cooler as we head in towards the weekend. So certainly expect to have plans to at least try to be inside, more or less, here for Saturday and Sunday. We'll talk about just how cool we're going to get in just a couple of minutes. Julie? Thank you. Let's get a look at your traffic here. Nothing really to report, so everything should be smooth if you're going to be heading out on the roads. Taking a look at the D.C. Majors between the Beltway and 11th Street Bridge, just six minutes on 295. On D.C. 295, southbound drive time between Kenilworth Avenue and 11th Street Bridge, five minutes, and then nine minutes between Kenilworth Avenue and 3rd Street Tunnel on Route 50. Northwest High School this morning, the loss of a student killed in a crash. 17-year-old Ethan Ramos was killed in the crash around 3 o'clock yesterday morning on Rifle Road near Seneca Creek Trail. Police say that Ramos was thrown from the vehicle. Police say that he turned 17 just last month, that he loved sports, driving his Jeep, and he was also on the school's swim team. The coach tells Fox 5 that practices were canceled yesterday out of respect for the students and families that are grieving his loss. No word on what caused the Over in Chantilly, a teen boy hit by a car outside Chantilly High School has died. The crash happened last week along Springfellow Road. The teen, who has not been named, was trying to cross the road outside of a marked crosswalk when he was hit. The driver of the car did stay at the scene. Well, the ATF is investigating after two explosions rocked the same D.C. home in just a few weeks. The latest blowing the door off of the hinges early yesterday morning. Take a look. Now this was on Kenyon Street Northwest. Nearby homes were evacuated. Hazmat found no hazardous materials, but neighbors are questioning if it was intentional. Yeah, I heard a loud noise. I was thinking maybe car crash. It's just a big bang. It sounded like a massive firework, but it resonated like a bomb. I was inside and it shook the building. About 10-15 seconds after this went off, two kids were riding e-bikes or down the alley laughing and giggling. Meanwhile, the home's resident says this is actually the second explosion. The first happened back on October 21st. It sounded like a bomb. It shook my house. I don't know if it's a target hit. Or kids just playing, but it's starting to really like get dangerous because now we have to leave our home right now. I don't feel safe in this home. I lived here three years. I never had this problem. We're not sure what they use. It's not safe to stay here. They did it the first time. They did it the second time. I don't want it to be a third time. Unfortunately, no injuries were reported Well, this morning, investigators in New York City are searching for survivors of a deadly building collapse in Brooklyn. Two people are dead and 17 others hurt, including several children. be The collapse happened yesterday afternoon in the Flatbush neighborhood. right Nearly a dozen people were pulled from the rubble, including a pregnant woman that was found alive. Teams say that the effort proved challenging because of the cause of the collapsed structure. back. Now, they shared a wall with another Unstable situation. building. The adjoining building that remains partially intact be is always a danger. Our main concern is a secondary collapse. right Officials say search and rescue will continue for several days as they look for answers. That's according to New York City's buildings back. commissioner. Now, construction workers, they were doing work on the neighboring site at the time of the collapse. Let's take a live look now at the Capitol building. Today is Lobby Day, an opportunity for residents and advocates to meet directly with lawmakers on Capitol Hill. One group of D.C. leaders is expected to rally together to urge Congress to place strict limits on President Trump's proposed redevelopment of East Potomac Park until seawall repairs are complete. They are also seeking assurances that the park will remain an affordable and a public multi-use space. Meanwhile, the historic Senate flip in the Deep South, Mississippi, has elected its first black senator since Reconstruction in the late 1800s. Democrat Scott Colum beat incumbent Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith with only a few thousand votes, separating them. Sweeping wins for Democrats who will take control of Congress next year. There were many times where I had to have faith. There were times that I couldn't get donors to answer the phone. They did not believe a moment like this was possible. But I kept the faith. The Democrats now have at least 55 seats in the Senate for the new Congress. One more Senate race is left to be called. That is out of Alaska. Well, a bill to legalize driverless taxis in D.C. faces a Council Transportation Committee vote today. But several members, they plan to vote no over potential job losses. The plan requires wheelchair-accessible vehicles and limits fleet sizes. It also allows unionization efforts by rideshare drivers and robo-taxi maintenance workers. Coming up, multiple judges rejecting dozens of plea deals in Fairfax County. We are diving into the reasons why. In an effort to find the remains of Civil War soldiers, an expert weighs in on the latest discoveries near Manassas National Battlefield Park.