Der Mord kommt überall in den Nachrichten

I have just seen this sentence which means “The murder was all over the news”.
Would it be possible to use “war” instead of “kommt? and in which situations should you use “kommt” instead of “war”?
 

Hallo RexV, 

Yes, you could say Der Mord war überall in den Nachrichten. Although, this sentence is not interchangeable with Der Mord kommt überall in den Nachrichten.

The difference is that the former sentence talks about an event in the past, whereas the latter is set in the present. 

Therefore, the translation should be like here:

Der Mord war überall in den Nachrichten. - "The murder was all over the news." (past tense)
OR: Der Mord kam überall in den Nachrichten. - "The murder was all over the news." (past tense)

Der Mord kommt überall in den Nachrichten. - "The murder is all over the news." (present tense)
OR: Der Mord ist überall in den Nachrichten. - "The murder is all over the news." (present tense)

I hope this makes sense. 

Grüße, 
Leah von Rocket German