Transcripts For WRC News4 At 5 20171219

Someone tried to steal those shoes, and there was a fight, there was gunfire, and 17yearold James Anthony smith ended up dead. Today i talked to his mom. She said she last saw her son alive yesterday afternoon. He said, ill be back, ma, i love you. Reporter thats the last you saw him there . Thats the last time i saw him. Reporter here at your job 4 00 yesterday afternoon . 4 00 yesterday afternoon. Reporter now hes gone. Hes gone. Reporter it has to be tearing you apart. It tares tears me apart him being shot, his life taken for tennis shoes. Reporter mike lives around her lives here. He was around last night. He heard the gunshots. It more than ten. Reporter he said there is a lot of lead in the air in this neighborhood. He says cars get shot. People get shot. Why, just last week, he says, he picked up all these shell casings right in front of his house. You could be sitting watching television. The next thing you know, its 100 gunshots, you know. You dont know whether to duck, get under the table, try to slide under the sofa, whatever. Its din dru its dangerous. Its just that dangerous. Reporter people who live around hearsay they want more lights, more surveillance, cameras, more protection. As for ms. Smith, she wants justice for her son. Jim, back to you. Absolutely horrifying. Pat collins. Thank you, pat. Were following news out of virginia now. The results of an election day recount are in finally, and there is now a rare 50 50 tie in the states houseof every vote does count. Democrat Shelley Simons picked up 11 votes in that recount to win the seat by just a single vote. A threejudge panel still has to certify those results. Its scheduled for tomorrow. This will be the first time in 17 years that republicans havent held a majority in the virginia house. An anc commissioner in the district is facing a number of charges after a suspected drunk driving stop that ended with him allegedly urinating on the floor at the police station. Officers stopped paul tranthem over the d. C. Line in Prince Georges County after they noticed he was swerving. Blood shot eyes, they smelled alcohol. He failed a field sobriety test and shouted he knew the county executive. Officers took him to the station where he allegedly shouted racially charged words, and then urinated on the he is charged with d. U. I. And resisting arrest. A woman pulled from a burning apartment here in the district is now the fifth person to die from fire this year. First responders rescued monica allen from her unit on downing place, northeast, but overnight she died in the hospital. Last year our city had three fire related deaths compared with six in 2015. When you see these flames, you wonder how everyone got out alive. And while everyone did make it out from this raging inferno at Hillcrest Heights, they now have no place to live. This fire has now displaced more than 30 people and its just a week before christmas. News4s chris gordon is in Hillcrest Heights this evening and we understand the fire was so intense, some people had to jump from upper floors to get to safety. Reporter wendy, imagine the of his parents. He was leaving the smokey apartment. Once he got outside he saw them standing on the garden balcony. He urged them to jump and he would catch them. Once firefighters got to the scene they did have to use ladders to rescue two others. Flames are intense by the time firefighters arrive on the scene at 7 00 a. M. It quickly spreads, requiring more than 100 firefighters to battle the blaze. The assistant fire chief on the scene issues this warning. I encourage residents dont assume someone else calls 911. If you see a fire, make that phone call. Dont assume someone else already has. This fire was so advanced by the time our firefighters arrived here. Reporter two residents are rescued from windows. Neighbors who live in apartment buildings nearby realized they could be next. I seen some flames coming from one of the buildings that was to get my family. I was terrified because i didnt know what was going on and i didnt know if that fire was going to spread into any of the other, you know, buildings next to it. Reporter five residents injured, three taken to a local hospital for smoke inhalation and minor injuries. 12 families left homeless by the blaze just days before christmas, including children. The American Red Cross is providing money for shelter and food, and hoping to make sure the holiday spirit isnt completely lost. One of the things that we do is we dont give the kid a teddy bear, but we give the parents a teddy bear so the parent has the opportunity to take care of the child. So, were passing out to the adults stuffed animals so that they can give it to their kid. Thats helping the parent get in that role of being the protector of their kid. Reporter the cause of this devastating fire is still under investigation. A big plan to correct a big problem within Prince Georges Countys Public School system. The ceo of the system will be talking to parents tonight after a state audit over that grading scandal. Heres Prince Georges Countys bureau chief Tracee Wilkins with what he plans to outline tonight. There is no company, there is no district in this country that isnt setting metrics and saying, were going to seek these goals. Nobody said cheat to get there. Reporter dr. Kevin maxwell leader of the Prince Georges County Public School sis is hoping to convince parents and the state that he has control of the School System. This after a state audit found more than 5,000 students graduated last year without proof they met graduation requirements. Were the people purposely doing the wrong thing, did you find that . I would say that work is not complete yet. I would say it is in progress. Reporter according to the audit the School System last monitoring does not adhere to policy. Has poor grading and irregularities. He presented solutions to the parents and the school board. We limited the number of grade change managers that we have, and weve instituted some visits by Central Office staff and others to go into schools and sort of spotcheck records. Reporter documents obtained by news4 shows the School System was aware of its Record Keeping issues after conducting its own internal investigation back in 2016. They looked at the school years from 2013 through 2015. The report shows there is no Standard Operating Procedure to ensure full compliance with state of maryland mandates regarding student records. We did take some steps to address some of these issues. Others did require budgeting and staffing projections and schedules. At the same time, when the state audit was launched, that looked at something else. That looked at specifically grading and graduation certification. Reporter for the past two years, the county has boasted the highest improvement in state graduation where the Prince Georges County School System was now that these corrections are being made . Well, tracee, i certainly hope not. Reporter school spokes men tell me they shared this audit and other internal audits with the state Auditing Agency that looked into the grade tampering investigation. In about an hour this School Board Meeting is going to begin. Reporting live in upper marlboro, Tracee Wilkins, news4. Republicans appear more ready than ever to pass that tax overhaul bill. A bill that Many Americans think wont actually help them. There is a new nbc wall street journal poll and it finds nearly twothirds of americans believe this tax bill is designed to help corporations and the very wealthy. 41 of those people polled say its a bad idea. Leon harris is here with a closer look at whats in it and what it means for you. Leon . All right, it may be a bad idea, but its coming, folks. The senate is expected to vote tonight and the measure is the house is going to have to revote, though, tomorrow based on some provisions that were in the bill that werent supposed to be there so they have to take those out. But the bottom line is it looks like this thing is definitely going to go through. Here now are four things to know about the final version of the republican measure. First, look at how much youll pay. It will still be seven tax brackets, but the percentage rates in them are going to be changing. Some falling as much as 4 Percentage Points depending upon your income. And current child tax credits will double to 2,000 and the income cut off will also increase. That goes up to 500,000. Standard deductions are doubling. So, for individuals youll be able to claim 12,000, and for married couples 24,000. And perhaps the biggest cuts in the republican tax plan, the corporates, they will fall from 35 to 21 . We said in 2016 that it would take real tax reform for families and businesses to get the American Economy growing and we were serious. And the American People placed work for them and today we are making good on that promise. Up next well see the senate vote and then the bill will go to the president for his signature. Now, some portions will take effect immediately. Starting early next year you should see less money being withheld from your paycheck because income rates tax rates rather will be lower then. Other changes you wont see them until you file your 2018 tax returns. And one final thing. While the measure eliminates the penalty for not having health care, it does not take effect until 2019 and that means youll still face a fine if you dont have coverage in 2018. Now, there is still a lot to unpack in this measure, and weve broken it all down for you in our nbc washington app. Check it out. You can see which bracket you and your family will fall into under this new bill. Go there and search tax bracket. I know what im doing for Christmas Eve. Its going to be fun. Fun . Enjoy. Turning now to storm team4, dougs continuing his holiday lights series, the the best so far. Yeah, we have zoo lights at the national zoo. And hes down there. Hey, doug. Hey, guys, a beautiful night for zoo lights. High temperature today in the low 60s in many areas and still very nice now. You dont even need the coat. You can see everybody out here just with the jackets, no hats, no gloves. Theyve seen zoo lights before. Your first time. Hes so excited. Look at that smile. Hes just so excited ready to go take a look and show you the temperatures out there right now. Those temperatures looking nice, down to 57 degrees right now at the airport. The rest of the area for the most part into the upper 50s. Thats where were going to stay the next hour or so as we see the temperatures begin to drop. Tomorrow much cooler temperatures moving in. Were back into the 40s tomorrow. The coats, hats, gloves, probably back on, were going to talk about our rain chances as we head toward the weekend. And of course that tricky christmas forecast. We have changed it and really weve changed it big time, significantly from where we were just during the day yesterday. Well talk much more about that as well from zoo well send it back inside to you. Was it also your first time on tv . Yes. Yes, awesome two firsts for him tonight. Yes hell always remember this day. Thank you, doug. Coming up next on news4 at 5 00 tonight, a disturbing case and a cautionary tale for parents. News4 learns new details about how a registered sex offender was able to sexually assault a 12yearold he met online. So, what caused that deadly Train Derailment in Washington State . What thelack box is now b [ splash ] [ horn sounds ] dang ok, i gotta run. Hey, wait, theres something i need to tell you dang. Dang dang dang. Dang. See zero in a whole new way. Get zero down, zero deposit, zero first months payment, and zero due at signing on select volkswagen models. Now with the people first warranty. This evening its clear that speed did play a role in this crash, but why the train was going so fast is still a mystery. Nbcs kirk hawkins has the latest. Oh, my god, that train is derailed over the freeway. Reporter a black box recovered from amtrak train 501 confirms it was traveling at 80 Miles Per Hour in a 30mile zone as it approached a curve and flew from the rails. If a train is going around a curve and it is going too fast, yes, it will derail. Reporter speed is the cause that is now under investigan, but investigators are still trying to determine how it happened. Amtrak 501, emergency, emergency, emergency. We are on the ground. Reporter the train derailed just south of dupont, washington monday morning. Some railcars crashing down on the busy interstate 5 during rush hour leaving three dead and dozens injured, some grateful to be alive. Its a blessing, yep. Try to live day to day. Reporter this stretch of track hadnt been equipped with positive train control, a hightech Safety System that keeps trains from crashing. Just two weeks ago, a local mayor issued this warning. When there is an accident, the train is putting in enhancements. Reporter they plan to take a closer look at Surveillance Footage at two cameras on the train. They are hoping it will give them a better idea of why it was going so fast. Kirk washington. Back here in our area, there are new concerns tonight about a proposed mag lev train that would run between d. C. And baltimore. Kent state lawmakers wrote the transportation secretary asking them to reconsider using the amtrak penn line corridor. In the letter the delegates and senators said their constituents are opposed to what they say would disrupt their neighborhoods. The highspeed train is powered by magnets and would travel between d. C. And new york in just about an hour or less. Lets head back to the national zoo, zoo lights night. Doug is out there. Its a beautiful evening. Very springlike. You timed this one, buddy. Yeah, guys, ill tell you, we almost did zoo lights last week and then we went into weather alert mode with the colder air and snow chances were coming in last week. The cold air was really quite brutal a week ago. Tonight completelyif there is the slide up there, pulled off, some people out of line here to be on television. They said, we watch you guys every day youre covering up the lights, though. This is taylor, you said you saw us on television and you had to come down. Yep. Thank you guys for coming down. What do you think . Its so awesome wait until you see the cool thing here. Were going to the green screen and actually do the weather live. Youll be able to watch me do that, too, okay . You like the weather . Uhhuh. You know i like the weather. All right. Theyre going to get back in line. I told you id save you a space in line. Have fun out there. Have fun out there. First off, though. What school do you go to . Pointer elementary. I went to scotts town hill elementary school. Take a look, all the kids there had a great time. These were the first and second graders i believe, over 200 kids earlier today. Now, as we move on through the rest of the afternoon, take a look from our tower cam shot he area lit up here as we continue to move through zoo lights. You can see the area we were in right there. Temperature wise this is where we are sitting in the upper 50s, 57 degrees at the airport. Were going to continue to see those numbers drop as we move on through the night tonight, too. Now, look at the numbers across our region. First off, downtown weve got the clouds starting to come in, 57 degrees. Winds out of the south at about 9 miles an hour. That southerly component bringing everybody into the. 50. 57 in annapolis, were at 55 degrees in leesburg, 56 toward the fredericksburg area. As we move on through the day tomorrow, one thing were looking at, not a lot of rain here. And again, were going to stay on the dry side i think all the way through the day tomorrow. The exception could be the far southern zones. Were watching a storm system. You can start to see some rain out of the storm system in kentucky trying to move our way. It should stay just to our south. However, it is going to continue to bring us some cooler weather as we move on through. So, 57 now, 48 state college, you reallyn our region. Even tomorrow, were going to be about 10 to 15 degrees below average, but were still going for a High Temperature thats right around that average high, 47 degrees tomorrow at noon, 48 degrees by 4 00. The average temperature today, 46. Were still a little bit above average there. 7 00 down to about 42 degrees. As we look towards thursday and friday, temperatures a little bit cooler. Friday looking good, a high of 52. Saturday a good chance for some shower activity. 65, we could see showers early, then sunny afternoon. Beautiful saturday, breezy sunday with a High Temperature of 48 degrees on Christmas Eve, looking really good Christmas Eve but cold. And right now monday, christmas, we now have a chance for rain, snow, that would be early in the morning as we move on through the day. The temperatures look like they will be falling as we move on through the afternoon. Thats something were going to be watching, a temperature of 45, but falling temperatures, and getting colder as we head into next week. What did you think of tha pretty neat . Pretty neat stuff. Good. Im glad they were able to come and watch me. You all love holiday lights, right . So does yan mahini and Sheree Burruss is live from the capital one center. They have lights everywhere. Everywhere, doug. When you go back to visiting houses with lights, you absolutely have to check this out. As you said, wizards player, his family takes the holidays very seriously. Here at capital one arena, the team hosting the pelicans, back at his home, he and his family lighting holiday cheer. Youre seeing it now. His house is decked out. All the lights, you cant miss it when you drive by. You see santa, frosty, even the grinch. He is french so they even have an eiffel tower all lit up. He told me he and his wife really are dedicated to decorating as parents of two young girls, they are cherishing thes we turned out for christmas. Like, you know, we start early. Actually we start on thanksgiving, we started decorating the house. My house is like the north pole. Its like santas house. We have the christmas decoration. We have the christmas p. J. S, were all matching, Christmas Card pictures. I was very impressed, beautiful two little girls and thank goodness his wife is great looking. [ laughter ] as you see here, this is their holiday card with their two daughters. They handout over 200 of these gift cards excuse me, holiday cards. But the wizards claim a much anticipated game at boston on christmas day. So, he wont actually get to be with his family, but can you believe it, guys, christmas only six days away. Send it back to you. Counting down. All right, sheree, good stuff. Thanks. I want a french accent for christmas. Rosetta stone. 92 years old and tough as nails. Man who spent a night in the forest in subfreezing weather. Wait till you hear how he managed to pull t hi this time ea to be part of ours. So our chevy employee discount is now available to everyone. You pay what we pay. And not a cent more. Were so happy to share this with you. Its our way of saying happy holidays. And welcome to the family. The chevy family. Use your employee discount for everyone to get fortyfive hundred dollars below msrp on this 2018 chevy equinox. Find new roads at your local chevy dealer. Hows it going down there . Thats good. Though. laughter thats fine. I miss her more than you anyway. Hey, my window is closing. Yeah thats okay. Alright miles. I love you. phone hangs up yeah i love you too. Another blow to your privacy, a Cyber Security Research Team revealed a massive consumer database leak. And it reportedly affects 123 million american households. Consumer reporter susan hogan is know. Susan . All right, jim. So, its a little confusing as to exactly how this happened, but bottom line, information on millions of people was sitting in a massive database left unprotected. In other words, exposed. So, the information included a wide range of personal and details on home addresses, income, what kind of mortgage the house was under, the number of kids in the household. But what it did not include ironically were names, but of course a quick crosscheck, anyone could probably figure it out. So, where did this happen . So, according to the cyber researchers, the information was found sitting in an Amazon Web Services storage, socalled bucket. That was left open to anyone with an account, an account that you actually had to pay for. Now, the information reportedly belongs to a Marketing Analytics company who has now said thei issue has been resolved. The impact remains unknown, jim. Susan, how congress handles Sexual Misconduct cases. Ahead at 5 00, new information about how much settlements are costing taxpayers. And news4 has uncovered new details about how a registered sex offender lured a boy online, got him out of his home, and what if more of the came from Renewable Resources . What if the electric grid could detect, fix and even prevent Power Outages . What if our grid were less vulnerable and more secure . Well, they are. At dominion energy, were completely transforming our power grid and the way we think of energy. To move from what if to whats next. Dominion energy. Announcer youre watching news4 at 5 00. A disturbing story now at 5 30, a 12yearold boy says he was lured away from his home in the middle of the night and raped by a 63yearold man. This is the man who police say carried out this crime. Investigators tell us the assault took place inside the suspects home at the Leisure World retirement complex in silver spring. News4s Mark Segraves is live there tonight with more details on this. Reporter yeah, we can tell you that the suspect is behind bars tonight, but news4 has learned this is not the first time that he has been charged with sexually assaulting a child. This is the man who police say raped a 12yearold boy. 63yearold ramon de los reyes pled guilty to sexually a semiautomatici assaulting a minor. They met online and spent hours chatting before he convinced the boy to meet him. He wasnt representing he was younger than what he was but he misrepresented his ien the rape happened on the evening of the 10th. Three days later the Police Searched the home and arrested him. Police used a battering ram to break in the door of the Leisure World apartment. Thats where the raid happened. He convinced the boy to sneak out of his grandmothers home after she fell asleep. He allegedly drove from the boys home in frederick to his home in Leisure World, raped the boy and then drove him back to frederick. Cant even imagine my kids being subjected to this type of enticement, you know, false representation and then ultimately raped. So, it definitely tugs at your heart. Reporter now, he is facing three charges in Frederick County including one charge of raping that young boy. Police say they believe there may be other victims so they say if you recognize him, if he has had contact with your children or you know of any contact that he has had, they want you to department a call. Wendy, back to you in the studio. Mark segraves. Thank you, mark. We are following some breaking news right now. Plumes of smoke pouring from this auto body shop in landover. Prince georges county fire Officials Say a car caught fire inside the r b automotive on Columbia Park road. One person was taken to the hospital with burns. The building has since been evacuated. The fire is now under control. No word on the cause. Warning tonight from Fairfax County police about a scam targeting elderly people. Detectives are trying to identify these three people. They tell us the suspects are targeting the elderly as they walk into an od out of local hospitals. Heres how it works. One of the suspects distracts the victim while another pick pockets them. Then they go straight to a local department store, use the credit cards to buy items. A local congressman will be helping to lead a formal investigation into Sexual Harassment, a case by one of his colleagues. The high profile case has raised questions about why taxpayers foot the bill for harassment lawsuits on the hill. New figures released today show harassment claims involving members of the house cost taxpayers 115,000 and that was just in the four years from 2008 to 2012. We have Team Coverage tonight. Were going to start with scott macfarlane. Hes in our newsroom. Scott. Congressional leaders have ordered an investigation into Blake Farenthold whose case has captured attention after it was revealed he settled a lawsuit with a former aide for sex harassment and taxpayers foot the bill for it and other harassment settlements. Prince georges county democrat Anthony Brown was chosen to lead the investigation. Brown will serve as democratic head of an Ethics Committee subpanel that will handle the farenthold case. The congressman tells hell have three colleagues join him in the investigation and will use staff attorneys from the u. S. House Ethics Committee. We have learned they met today to discuss the probe which remains confidential until a report is released at its conclusion. It is important that we investigate them, we do it thoroughly, and we do it with an eye towards making sure that congress, whether its a members office, whether its a committee office, whether its the halls of congress, are free of Sexual Harassment and that its a safe workplace where we value everyones contributions. The man under investigation, texas congressman Blake Farenthold has announced hes resigneding at t resigning at the end of his term, january 2019, and he said in his words, less than professional behavior in his office. Scott macfarlane, news4. Im tom sherwood in the district. The d. C. Government, more than 30,000 employees. All sorts of jobs, occupations and responsibilities, and now all about to get updated training against Sexual Harassment in the workplace. Certainly we wanted to look at all of our rules and regulations and policies, make sure they were up to date, current, and effective. Reporter for example, social media is increasingly harassment prone. It wont just be rank and file employees learning. The mayor says all 1500 government supervisors will get extra training on how to handle complaints. They need to know if they are approached with an issue, how each and every employee should be treated. Reporter the mayors decision, in part, sparked by increasing reports of Sexual Harassment across the nation. I think that the National Conversation is appropriate. Its called everybodys attention. Reporter the mayors move is embraced. It comes from every level. The fact they are going to start making the people who allow this to happen accountable is a great thing. I et if ed ral government does that. Reporter bowser says she expects the new training to be finished by february. It is urgent employees know the guidelines and follow them. In the district, dom sherwood, news4. Imagine getting out of prison just days before christmas with no presents for your children and no means to get any. Not the best way to get a fresh start. But in alexandria, the sheriffs elf program is saving the day. Today families of prisoners picked up toys collected by the sheriffs office. Toys for tots and other donors, too. The effort helps keep families connected and make for a smoother transition once the inmate is released. Hundreds of children will see gifts under the tree thanks to this program. A special delivery for families. Im without words. I dont know what to say other than thank you. Reporter on news4 at 5 00, how the Salvation Armys Angel Tree Program is making the holidays better. Flu season is getting some traction. Reported. Ahead, the new guidelines that could mean more people getting the flu shot. The zoo once again, you have a spectacular night out there. I tell you, weve done zoo lights the last fewears and this is the best weather possible. Temperatures right now in the 50s, looking really, really nic nice. The lights look great, too. This is kevin who i met last year at the kidney ball. He was with me on the stage. You have something to say to everybody. Well be right back. Thats right, baby, well be right back in news for your health tonight, a National Panel of experts says the flu shot is safe for people who are allergic to eggs. For years people with egg allergies have been told to avoid the flu slavaccine becaust contains egg protein. In new guidelines from the u. S. Preventive task force, experts stress that no special precautions are needed because there is not enough egg protein to cause an allergic reaction. Of course, talk with your doctor before making any medical changes. Meanwhile, flu season is picking up speed. This map from the centers for Disease Control shows how the virus is spread over the past eight weeks. Officials say there are 12 states showing widespread flu outbreaks. Those are dark brown on the map and include virginia, maryland and both include virginia and d. C. And maryland, you should know, both have fewer cases. A warning tonight about a loud blast that may be heard and felt in our area tomorrow. The controlled explosion will take place at the Medical Center metro stop in bethesda. It should happen between 10 30 in the morning and 1 30 in the afternoon. Crews are building a pedestrian tunnel underneath rockville pike. A massive search and rescue effort after a 92yearold man out on a hike goes missing. All of a sudden, it got pitch black dark. And i couldnt go forward because of the brush. Straight ahead, the technology that helped find him in less than 20 minutes after a long night in the woods. Doug is checking out the lights at the national zoo, and kng caristmas fore really . Really . Really . Really . Really . Really . See zero in a whole new way. Zero first months payment, and zero due at signing on select volkswagen models. Now with the people first warranty. Chopper4 staying on top of breaking news in landover here. One person is injured after a fire at this auto body shop on columbia road. Its columbia pike there. We are told the fire started in a car and then looks to have spread to that building. The victim has been taken to the hospital with burn injuries. Well keep an eye on this and update you as more comes in. We have more breaking news right now. At 5 45, a man has been arrested in connection with the shooting of a toddler in southeast d. C. D. C. Police say they have taken 27yearold edwin reid into custody. This weekend, a 3yearold was accidentally shot inside a home on pomeroy road. The boy was taken nonlifethreatening injuries, but reid is now facing a long list of charges. A loudoun sheriffs drone is being credited with helping to rescue a 92yearold hunter who spent a night in the woods over the weekend. Bill mcdonald was in the laurel run area of the George Washington National Forest near woodstock, virginia, on saturday. When darkness fell before he could make it back to the road. Our bureau chief julie carey caught up with him today to hear his story of survival and rescue. Reporter the first thing Bill Mcdonald wants you to know about what happened saturday is he wasnt really lost. Misjudgment of time and terrain. Reporter bill set out at sunrise carrying a gun, but says he rarely shoots a deer these days. Hunting is an excuse to get out there and roam around. I just enjoy it so much. Reporter he roamed in an area that was a b a rock gorge, when he realized it was late. His cell phone died. He took what he thought was a shortcut but hit thick bramible and brush. All of a sudden it got pitch black dark. And i couldnt go forward because of the brush stopped me. I couldnt go backwards, i couldnt go left, i couldnt go right. I was stuck. Reporter so he did what anyone who had been in the army for 20 years would do. He made a bed and settled in. I built myself up a brush bed about that thick, kept me off the ground. Reporter by then a large multiagency search team had been organized. A chopper flew through the night sky looking. One of them came right over top of me and put his spotlight on me. And i jumped up and waved my hat, to no avail. It didnt do any good. Winchester, bills wife of 69 years, joanne, feared the worst. Saturday night, all night long, i cried. Reporter on sunday at dawn, bill set out hiking again. Little did he know, the Loudoun County sheriffs drone had been brought in. In minutes, it spotted the 92yearold. They would call me, bill, william i said, im right here. Reporter this is the moment when bill was reunited with a very grateful grand daughter. When he came home, i grabbed him and kissed him. Reporter now bills family made him promise no more hiking alone. I didnt want to promise. I just love being out in the woods by myself. Reporter in winchester, im julie carey, news4. It will be tough keeping him inside. Thats a great story. Lets head back outside. It is a beautiful day, a beautiful evening. Weve got some changes coming, but look at the lights he yeah. Guys, its just perfect out here today. High temperatures in the upper 50s, low 60s. Really quite nice. We almost came out last night and the wind chill last week was in the 20s. So, im feeling a little better about that. A lot of people coming out, even cowboys fans. [ booing ] i have to give him credit. He said he knew we were coming down here. Theyre from falls church. Theyre down here even in cowboys gear. Well give them a pass. Im with craven, friends of national zoo. This is a huge night every single year. It is. We love to light up the zoo for the holiday season, have the guests come in, eat great food and learn something about conservation. You have about 500,000 lights. Its nothing i havent seen. Im excited to take a look. We have a great new laser light show at the Elephant Community Center Thanks to our sponsor pepco and friends of cultural d. C. Brought in a the focus is on bugs and conservation. Bugs and conservation, i love it. Craven, thank you very much for having us. We appreciate it. Lets talk more about the weather because couldnt be any better than this tonight. Were going to try to keep nice for you. Take a look now from our camera up high above our truck right now. You can see the lights that are out there currently across the region. What were going to continue to watch, guys, over the next few days is the temperature trend. And of course that trem tour trend going up and then coming back down. Up today, and back down as we move on through the day tomorrow into the day on thursday. As temperatures get down. Now take a look at these current numbers. 57 degrees currently. Down into the 50s, though, and eventually into the 40s by around 11 00 tonight as the lights continue to go on behind me. Temperatures around the rest of the region, 54 right now in montgomery county, rockville, 59. Fort belvoir, mt. Vernon, 60 degrees in clinton and upper marlboro. A nice evening. No rain to talk about. Were not going to see any real rain chances. System just to our south tomorrow, most of us remain on the dry side. Temperatures tomorrow afternoon at the bus stop, 43 degrees. Where the kids may have not needed the coats today, theyll need them tomorrow. 48 degrees by the time you pick then up, a fairly chilly day. It gets coldser during the day on thursday. But the big deal here, guys, is whats going to happen over the weekend and into christmas. Still an incredibly tough forecast. First, though, amelia is going to talk a little more about traveling. Amelia, tomorrow and thursday some of the biggest travel days of the year. Yeah, absolutely. And thank goodness that the weather is going to be quiet, especially locally tomorrow and thursday as well. Take a look at your travel outlook. Now tomorrow if youre heading down south, richmond and areas south later in the day you are going to be dealing with rain. For the most part youll be just fine. On thursday unless youre heading out to the rockies and encounter mountain snow, great travel weather there. As we look to friday we will be tracking rain in the midwest. That system trying to come our way and thats where we talk and cold air. Take a look. Were starting you off saturday during the evening hours, we have a front just to our west and thats allowing really warm air in our area and very cold air back to our west. This is High Pressure coming down from canada. So, if you are traveling to the midwest, make sure you take a look at the forecast on our nbc washington page. It is going to be frigid in these areas of the dakotas through the great lakes, even through northern texas. As we head through the holiday weekend, that front eventually pushes through our area and it looks like it will happen a little bit earlier than it was looking like yesterday. So, take a look. Here is christmas day. The cold is in place, not just cold, but the chance for some rain showers and maybe a little bit of wet snow mixing in now for christmas day, and then cold air continues for our tuesday. So, take a look at your storm team4 four day forecast. Wednesday, thursday, friday, were quiet. High temperatures around 50. Its breezy and mild on saturday with a chance for some rain, n means. Saturday looking overall mainly dry. Christmas eve day looking dry and heres christmas. 45 degrees, but that would likely be during the morning and midday hours. Temperatures kind of fall during the afternoon and evening hours. So, any rain showers could start to see a little bit of snow mixing in, something were going to continue to keep an eye on. We closed out 2017 and start 2018, it looks like, guys, on a chilly note, wendy. Good to know, amelia. Nbc4 responds to a former seller of a popular Clothing Brand called lulu row. She took advantage of the companys change and refund policy. Months later she is still waiting for thousands of dollars back. Our consumer reporter susan hogan learned shes not alone, huh . Thats right. The clothing is sold by thousands of consultants across the country and last spring the Company Changed its return policy offering a 100 refund. But nbc responds started hearing from numerous consultants across the countryho those refunds. We briefly spoke to that woman right there from greenbelt, maryland. She tells us shes been waiting for hers since july. I have not received anything. I cant even get in touch with them to get an update. The best they can give me is an automated email saying we process returns in the order they were received. And there is a multistep process to getting your money back. That was not told to me when i put my notice in to cancel. Now, news4 responds reached out of course to lula rose. They are working on refunds as quickly as they can. Tonight on news4 at 11 00, you will hear from other consultants who say that response just isnt good enough. Jim . [ laughter ] and finally tonight, the toy machine is working hard there at the Salvation Army, jim. With the help of dozens of volunteers, the ape gengels, the distributing dolls, bikes and other goodies collected through its annual Angel Tree Program. News4 is a proud partner in that effort. Our molette green served as todays emcee at the toy warehouse. She also participated in the Ribbon Cutting and firsthand what all this means to these families. Reporter christmas cheer fills the Salvation Army angel tree warehouse. It takes an army of staff and volunteers, bags and bags of donated toys and gifts go to families in need. Imagine the happiness these bikes will bring christmas morning. Merry christmas. Reporter tamika hall feels gratitude. Im without words. I dont know what to say other than thank you. Reporter hall says she turned to Salvation Army for help because her six children deserve the world. But providing is hard. This is my way of giving thanks to them because i wouldnt be anything without these guys. Reporter this christmas, the Angel Tree Program is just as important for tina harris and her kids. I cherish them. Seeing em matters. This allows them to enjoy christmas and feel equitable with all the other kids. Reporter and that means everything. Their faces christmas morning. Thats enough for me. Their faces christmas morning. Reporter in the district, kristin wright, news4. Now at 6 00, a mother says her teenage son was killed because of the shoes on his feet. I still dont believe it. Its untrue, its unreal. Tonight her plea for justice as Police Search for the person who pulled the trigger. Dramatic survival stories from this apartment inferno. They were jumping from the balcony so we had to catch them. Comforting children without a home for the holidays. A deadly derailment in Washington State. 501, emergency, emergency, emergency. What we know about the final moments on board. First tonight, a grieving mother shares her story after a senseless crime. Christmas gift she gave him. The victim, james smith. Gunned down on a Basketball Court last night. His mother says it may have stemmed from a fight over the sneakers he was wearing. News4s pat collins is at the Douglas Community sten tcenter southeast d. C. With more on what happened. Pat . Reporter doreen, this is a playground. Last night it was wrapped in police tape. It was a case of murder. The victim, a 17yearold high school student. His mother says he was on this Basketball Court, that he was wearing the brandnew jordan sneakers. The sneakers may have cost him his life. Murder on a Basketball Court. Witnesses say they heard more than ten shots fired. The victim, 17yearold James Anthony smith. The m