That led him to take the action that, unfortunately, resulted in this friendly fire death. Reporter colson was an undercover drug officers who was off duty and in plainclothes when he arrived at the district 3 station to find a shootout in progress. Police i was say he engaged michael ford in an exchange of gunfire before he was shot by krauss. Krauss, a district 3 police officer, was once officer of the month. What the ford brothers precipitated was a tragedy involving some of the very finest Police Officers on the Prince Georges County police department. Reporter for First Time Since their arrest, all three ford brothers appeared this court for a preliminary hearing. It was ruled the men will remain in jail while the states attorney prepares to indict them on seconddegree murder and assault charges. And we intend to take as much time as we need. Reporter the ford defense team maintained michael ford wanted police to shoot at him and his gunfire, more than 20 rounds, never hit police. We dont believe that there was sufficient evidence for a judge to specifically find probable cause for the felony charges facing malik ford. Reporter today during testimony, a detective revealed that ford asked his brothers to post the video of the shootout on the world star hiphop website. They were all hoping there would be some sort of notoriety that would come out of this as well. Reporter it was also said in court today that michael wanted that video to go to his girlfriend and some other contacts in his cell phone as well. It is still not clear exactly why officer krauss considered officer colson to be a threat. Were expecting more details on that to come out in court. Coming up on news4 at 6 00, it was an amazing sight to see these three brothers in court today. The family reacts as they maintain that these are not the brothers they know. Reporting live in upper marlboro, im tracee wilkins. Tracee, thank you. A Prince William county, virginia, woman accused of stabbing her infant daughter will remain in custody. Leah shes accused of stabbing her 3monthold this past weekend. Police tell us it happened because the infant was crying. Metro leaders have faced tough questions today on capitol hill. Lawmakers just wrapped up a hearing about the fixes needed to improve safety on the Transit Agency and restore public confidence. Adam tuss has been watching this all day and he joins us right now. Adam . Reporter thats right, wendy. And this got really heated at times. Basically the big highlight of this whole meeting was metros board chair jack evans coming here to capitol hill and telling the federal government that they need to kick in more of their share of money for federal workers who use the metro transit system. Now, right now the federal government kicks in about 150 million a year. Evans says that metro needs 300 million a year from the federal government. That would be an equal share from d. C. , maryland, and virginia and the federal government. Lawmakers here on capitol hill, they just didnt want to hear it and have it. Listen to this exchange between congressman mica and jack evans. These people need to step up to the plate. Virginia needs to step up to the plate. Maryland needs to step up to the plate. And the district with that huge surplus now needs to step up to the plate. You sure as heck aint going to get it out of my folks and the improvements can be made. So no other system in the country has the kind of resources into it. Adam, i understand that metros Safety Culture also came up today. What did the general manager say about that . Reporter yeah, absolutely. And obviously safety has been a big issue here in the weeks since the shutdown in the wake of all those safety issues that were noted in the metro system. The general manager saying that he has hired a new chief Safety Officer to bring into the metro system and kind of turn things around, and he acknowledged very publicly that there are some metro workers who do not focus on safety. That brought a response from congressman gerry connolly. A culture of mediocrity is no longer acceptable. Whats been particularly frustrating with each of the safety investigations is the revelation that metro does, in fact, appear to have good policies and procedures in place. Theyre just not followed. Theyre not implemented. Something i know mr. Wiedefeld aims to rectify. Reporter so it got really heated here on the hill after a while and, you know, what we didnt hear really specifically was the general managers plans laying out what he plans to do to fix the system. Well have to ask him those questions ourselves, guys. Ithe cdc has confirmed suggestions, suggested severe birth defects. This new report came out today in the new england journal of medicine. Cdc Officials Say the study marks a turning point in its research linking microcephaly to the virus. They will now launch more studies to figure out what other effects zika could have on unborn babies. Researchers say all women and their partners should take steps it avoid zika if theyre planning to get pregnant. But they also say not all women infected with zika will give birth to children with microcephaly. Back to you, jim. Pat, thank you. They handle your phone, internet, and cable lines too. Tonight nearly 40,000 verizon workers are on strike up and down the east coast. Northern virginia reporter david culver caught up with those on the local picket lines and he joins us to explain what they want from the company. David . Reporter and, jim, you can hear them chanting behind me. Now, some of these verizon employees have been out here since 6 00 on strike they say for as long as it takes. Pacing back and forth in front of verizon offices, employees walking off the job. We just want a fair contract. Were just trying to keep the jobs in america and we just want to work. Reporter we met tracy duffin, 16 years working for veriz verizon. Whats your daytoday job like . Start at 7 30, work until were done. Weve been working forced overtime for years. Thats not the problem. The problem is we want to keep the work here. No contract. Reporter in maryfield the Union Workers started early, many of them technicians who work on phone, cable, and internet lines. Just about all of them wearing red in solidarity. On their feet until as long as it takes well be here. Reporter in herndon and alexandria we found similar scenes. Small groups carrying signs marching. In a l said, quote, since last june weve worked diligently to try to reach agreements that would be good for our employees, good for our customers, and make the wireline business more successful now and in the future. Unfortunately, Union Leaders have their own agenda rooted in the past and are ignoring todays digital realities. Calling a strike benefits no one and brings us no closer to resolution. Verizon says theyre trying to talk too. You believe them . Reporter do you . No. Reporter as for those employees that showed up to work, strikers eventually made way to let them through only after a brief pause. So as to let their message soak in. So how is this going to effect those of you who are verizon customers . Our news4 consumer unit working to get answers on that. My colleague susan hogan is going to have the responses and the broader impacts for those of you ahead at 5 45. Wendy . All right, david culver. An in virginia with a driver pulling out a gun. This was in the busy neighborhood of arlington. Jeffrey volan said he pulled out a gun because another vehicle was pulling him too closely. Hes charged with brandishing a firearm near a school. A little boy who was hit while riding his bike over the weekend has died. 10yearold james maple died yesterday. He was with his mother and two friends when a car hit him. It happened sunday afternoon here along mcdaniel road in waldorf. Maple was in a crosswalk at the time and did have a helmet on. Police are looking into whether the driver may have been distracted. Reporter dont expect to see atlantas Hector Olivera when the braves play the nats tonight. He was locked up here in ar the scene, a hotel room. The victim, a woman. The story, coming up. And im Chris Lawrence following the candidates as they turn their focus to maryland. How some democrats and republicans are vying for local votes. And d. C. Is still running low on ambulances to help you during an emergency. And in a story you will see only on news4, find out why this is happening even with the new private ambulances on our street. Streetgreat time for a shiny floor wax, no . Not if you just put the finishing touches on your latest masterpiece. Timings important. Comcast business knows that. Thats why you can schedule an installation at a time that works for you. Even late at night, or on the weekend, if thats what you need. Because you have enough to worry about. I did not see that coming. Dont deal with disruptions. Get Better Internet installed on your schedule. Comcast business. Built for business. Delores kelley although we were all one maryland, our schools werent treated the same way. Narrator with neighborhoods getting unequal funding for schools, something had to be done for our children. Kelley it didnt matter where chris was from. He knew that we couldnt leave a child having less just because they lived in a region that was poor. Joanne benson he has not just talked about it. He is going to stand tall for all children to succeed. Im Chris Van Hollen, and i approved this message. Im Chris Van Hollen, at giant, shoppers low prices by the thousands, plus a thousand more that just dropped. All these low prices what are you trying to do, no. Just trying to save you a whole lot of bread. [ laughter ] thousands of blue tags, thousands of low prices. My giant. Funeral services were held today for a Loudoun County woman who was shot to death. Police say it was her exboyfriend, derrick lewis. Christina fisher had just gotten a protective order against lewis 11 days before police say he came to her home and shot her. In that protective order she described multiple attacks by lewis. Fisher had three children, including two of them with derrick lewis, who is, again, now charged in her murder. He played monday night against the nats, but just moments ago Police Charged an Atlanta Braves player with assault. Here is his mug shot. Hekt olivera is accused of attacking a woman at the ritzto pat collins is live in arlington city at the police headquarters. Reporter Hector Olivera locked up here for now. The charge, assault and battery, a class one misdemeanor. Hector olivera, he was on the Cuban NationalBaseball Team that won the silver in the 2008 olympics. Hector olivera, he defected fro cuba and signed for a 28 million bonus with the l. A. Dodgers a year ago. This year hes with the Atlanta Braves. Today he found himself locked up here in arlington facing assault charges. Police say the call for help came from the Ritzcarlton Hotel in pentagon city. It was around 7 00 this morning. The victim a woman. Police say she had noticeable bruises on her body. She told police she had gone to oliveras hotel room last night. At this point im not sure what led to the and the dispute had occurred in which he was assaulted. Reporter and how would you describe the relationship between the woman and mr. Olivera . They know theyre known to one another. What their exact relationship is, im unsure. Reporter tonight this statement from the braves. We are extremely disappointed and troubled to learn of the allegations involving Hector Olivera. Major League Baseball has placed olivera on administrative leave effective immediately. Now, olivera has retained two highpowered Defense Attorneys to represent him as this case moves forward. Now, the bond in this case has been set at 10,000. Its expected that hell be able to make that bond. Ill be back at 6 00 with more. Jim, back to you. Pat collins. Pat, thank you. Developing right now at 5 00 tonight. Seven gunshots in the to the chest killing former nfl star will smith over the weekend. In addition to the release of the coroners report today, smiths family attorney talked to reporters. The attorney for suspected shooter Cardell Hayes has suggested smiths mercedes hit his clients hummer first, but smiths attorney said smith avoided a collision during that initial incident. And seeing no damage whatsoever, they continued. Suddenly this hummer drove up at great speed behind them and rammed the back of their car. A passenger in the suspects vehicle claims smith was going to start shooting. Police have confirmed there was a loaded gun in smiths car, but the family attorney said the gun remained in the glove compartment. In the race for the white house, the democrats remain focused on the big apple as they prepare to face off in a prime time debate tomorrow night. While some of the campaigns look beyond the New York Primary with chris . The primary isnt until april 26th, but early voting starts tomorrow in maryland. Today john kasich brought his campaign down our way and Hillary Clinton sent her top surrogate. Kasich just wrapped up a town hall at historic savage mill taking questions from some of the voters in Howard County. Bob early joined kasich earlier in the day as they visited an ice cream shop. Kasich plans to spend a good deal of time in baltimore where he hopes to pick up some delegates. My path to the presidency is to keep telling people what my message is and go from a situation where we have coke, pepsi, and kasich and now all of a sudden its like coke, pepsi and kasich but people are still trying to figure out whether they like the brand because now theyre beginning to see more. All right. Hillary clinton is campaigning in new york, but her husband is stumping for votes right here in montgomery county. Right no clinton is speaking at a rally in leisure world. Again, early voting in maryland is open from tomorrow through next thursday. We posted everything you need to know about casting early ballot in the nbc washington app. Just search early voting. Back to you. Chris lawrence. Thank you, chris. And only on news4 tonight, our new nbc 4 marist poll shows a split between voters when it comes to Fantasy Sports draft. 40 say theyd support it. 43 say theyre opposed, and 17 just arent sure. The states attorney has advised those betting on sites may not be legal. Full disclosure, our parent company, comcast, and sister network, nbc sports, have invested in fan duel. It is ahead of schedule and under budget. The project to fix the dome of the u. S. Capitol is nearing an end and it could be done in time inauguration. House Speaker Paul Ryan gave nbc news an exclusive look at the renovations which are the first in more than 50 years. That cast iron dome was built just after the civil war, and it has taken a beating by the weather and, of course, with age. The restoration began in the late in late 2013 and since then crews have worked to restore the iron, replace the decorative ornaments, and even repair some of the windows. Theyre now in the final stage of just painting. I feel lick this is a pretty good metaphor for what most people think of washington. It was broken. It was broken. Thats right. Symbolism is not lost on me here. We had to repair this organization. We had to repair this place. If you watch the capitol, if you jog or hang out in that area, you know the scaffolding is slowly coming down. It will be gone in july. Scaffolding on the inside of the rotunda is expected to come down in august. Well, its now easier capital bike share. There are now 5 annual memberships available. Lower income residents can get the discount through nonprofits and government agencies. The regular price, by the way, 85 bucks. The program also includes a free bicycle helmet and cycling class. And riders can use the bikes for an hour instead of the formnorm half hour. Tired of those robocalls . Well tell you about a robo cop that could protect you from all that annoyance. Plus, have you heard of pickle ball . Well, it is gaining in popularity. This thing is skyrocketing, folks. I was schooled in it. Ill tell what you the fuss is all about. Pickle ball . All right. Jim, cant wait to hear that one. Tonight, another cold night. A frost advisory once again issued. If you had frost this morning, you may see it again. Ill show you when we hitthe ifor all the wrong reasons. Gical you may be muddling through allergies. Try zyrtec® for powerful allergy relief. And zyrtec® is different than claritin®. Because it starts working faster on the first day you take it. Try zyrtec®. Muddle no more®. Weve got a pothole Progress Report for you tonight. Its been two weeks since potholepalooza kicked off in the district and crews are making progress filling all those holes. More than 5,000 potholes are now smoothed over. And outside it is hallelujahpalooza. And now your storm team4 forecast. Right, doug . Say that im not sure we heard you. Hallelujahpalooza. There you go. Were talking about im exhausted from saying that. Just because of the beautiful weather. Weve got sunshine across the area. Plenty of blue skies. High pressure dominating the region now and thats going to be the case right through the next couple days. There is our look downtown. A really nice shot but were still really cool and the reason, that area of High Pressure way to the north. Only 57 right now with that sunshine. The winds though are calm so we dont have much of a wind. Its been a little cool today. We wont call it chilly but cool but a very nice afternoon. Without the wind, 50s and sun. Thats not bad at all. 60 degrees down toward warrenton, 58 in quantico, 55 in maryland. Cambridge one of the cool spots. Only 52. Tonight will be another cold night. Frost advisory in effect. Not for the metro area but for the same areas as last night. Winchester, leesburg, over towards frederick. Hagerstown you may see areas of frost, you may see it again tomorrow morning. Cover the plants if you need to and make sure that youre ready to