everybody. i went back inside, and my mom was scared, and i was scared because i did not know what was going on. >> police say as they executed a search warrant, 48-year-old ronald cox jr. attacked offices using a martial arts sword. police shot him. >> they opened the bedroom door, and a man attacked them with a sword. the officer opened fire after his bunker was struck. >> the storage warrant was not for cox. it was part of an attempted murder investigation. a tip led them to the house where they arrested two people charged with attempted murder, kidnapping, assault, and gun violations. police say a boy was picked up and driven to a field in howard

county and then shot in the back of the head. he survived. police also say the suspects -- suspects matching descriptions have been seen dealing drugs in the area. christina is extremely concerned and has lived in the neighborhood. >> it is sad, scary, and i am ready to move out of the neighborhood. >> the baltimore county officer is on administrative leave right now. police picked up a third suspect. they believe a 21-year-old was also involved in that attempted murder. >> thank you. meanwhile, our shooting investigation tonight in elders bird. police say two people were shot, one of them fatally, inside a tavern overnight. >> maryland state police are calling this a very out of the ordinary crime, but they tell us that they have charged a 24- year-old for murdering a man

they say with a 40-caliber weapon. >> in all the years that i have been here, we have never had anything like this. >> the restaurant and bar in the 2000 block of liberty road has been there since 1966 with a family restaurant downstairs and pulp and pool upstairs. the owner and his wife took it over from his in-laws in 1993, and as far as trouble, he says there have only been a handful of scuffles over the years. early friday morning, just after midnight, the unthinkable happened -- a shooting in the parking lot of the bar that left one man dead and another injured. >> we do not know specifically yet if words were exchanged or if there was any kind of controversy, but apparently the suspect began shooting, fired multiple times into this group of people. >> police say just after midnight, 24-year-old jacob bircher of westminster and two

other men went outside, witnesses say to smoke. police say for an unknown reason, bircher pulled out a crystal and opened fire. >> they all said they heard several shots real fast in a row. there was no fighting outside. there was no argument. he just shot the person. >> he says witnesses described bircher as weird and unfamiliar and that he was staring at both victims intensely while they played will poo -- pool. >> nobody knew him at all. most of the people that patronize us pretty much know everybody. >> not long after the shooting, police were evil -- easily able to find and arrest bircher because he had started a bar tab, and they had his credit

card. he turned himself in at a church in westminster. the only question at this point -- the motor. >> the fact is that they do not have a clear motive identified right now as to why this occurred. >> bircher was arraigned a short time ago on charges of first and second-degree murder and charges of first and second-degree attempted murder. the surviving victim is recovering tonight at shock trauma. we are live outside of maryland state police headquarters. >> thank you very much. an update tonight on a story we first broke on thursday. authorities now say it was a cleaning solvent to blame for the grounding of a southwest airlines flight. we're told more than 130 passengers were on board the plane that was headed for chicago. two flight attendants were taken off the plane and taken to a hospital to be checked out as a precaution. fire ripped through an apartment

complex in montgomery county, leaving more than 70 people without a home. it happened around 7:30 this morning. authorities say the fire was so intense and so fast moving that more than 100 firefighters were called in to the scene. they also say eight people had to be rescued from the flames. luckily, no one was seriously hurt. at this hour, no word on a cause. the baltimore city fire chief is enacting a new social media policy. >> it is in response to what the department use as inappropriate tweets by some union members. david, i would guess we would know what most of those are probably about. >> there generally are gripes. there are also a number of questions involved. are there limitations to free speech when it comes to the workplace? where do employers draw the line on social media? the fire chief is upset about the tone and content of some of the tweeds, and he is in the

process of crafting a policy that does not interfere with the freedom of speech but also protect the image of the department. some city firefighters are upset over the latest contract offer. and the fact that their boss, the chief, and his command staff all got raises. tweets are airing gripes about policies. the baltimore sun first reported that the chief is looking into the social media policy. a statement was issued that says in part our goal is not to silence the voice of the membership but simply to establish concise guidelines and boundaries to communicate their concerns. we want members to communicate in a constructive way. a communications expert says the department has the right to do that. >> there are certain constraints you may visit on public employees that are perfectly legal. there was a supreme court -- when the supreme court defense your right to free speech, the mean you cannot be put in jail.

if you criticize your employer, that does not mean that employer cannot fire you. >> the tone was strong. "fire chief has zero ties to the city. these cuts are a resume boost for him." fire station 34 president says he will tell his members to follow the advice of the union attorney, not the administration. >> you are off duty. you want to say something in a twitter account, freedom of speech. i do not think the fire department feels that way. that is why we need to get the attorneys to decide what they can and cannot say. >> the u.s. supreme court extended the first amendment to britain, visual, and spoken expression on the internet. a 2006 supreme court ruling declared public employees are not protected by the first amendment when pursuant to their official duties. >> the attorneys say the fired a part is good to go on this one, what are you going to do? >> just this year, the maryland

general assembly passed legislation prohibiting employers -- employers from asking for twitter handles or other social media passwords. they will have to find other ways to monitor social media content. >> it is censorship, but you have to assume that people who are employers have a right to have employees who are not going to undermine the business they are in. >> a draft of the social media policy is currently being scrutinized by the fire union attorney. union leaders will be briefed tuesday. >> thank you. political consultant julus henson is a free man, released in the middle of his 60-day sentence for his role robocalls in 2010. prosecutors say those calls were designed to suppress the black vote. he petitioned to visit his dying mother. a hearing was scheduled on monday, but he was released this morning with two reasons cited

-- jail overcrowding and time off for good behavior. >> speculation continues to grow about who mitt romney will pick to be his vice presidential running mate. >> the chatter is growing. according to some reports, connolly's a rice --condoll eezza rice has emerged. >> she has repeatedly said she's not interested in the job, but that has not stopped speculation. rice is the latest name to surface to the top of the vice- presidential short list. the chatter trend among political circles from twitter to inside the beltway where we sat down with conservative analysts. >> she gave a very good speech. and that is it just hype? >> it is really not a very plausible kind of suggestion for a variety of reasons. her role in the bush administration. >> or is there hope? >> incredible choice. >> the senator praise rise in an

interview with our sister station, but wait -- he is also rumored as a potential pick. >> it is a great honor to be mentioned. >> also mentioned, florida's senator marco rubio. >> is this a fund-raising audition for you? >> i am just here to help. >> wisconsin congressman paul ryan is also keeping mum. >> everybody asks me the question. it is not in the campaign interest to comment on it. >> what about a wild card? >> obviously, in 2008, we had the sarah palin debacle, but i think the campaign will be very methodical, very precise. >> the campaign is not commenting on the search, but in an e-mail to supporters, it says an announcement can be expected between now and the republican

convention next month. >> some anger tonight among some u.s. lawmakers over this year's team usa uniforms for the olympics. >> what the speaker of the house says the olympic committee really should have known better. >> it has already been a great day even before the game against the tigers. we will tell you why coming up later in sports. >> we finally dropped out of the 90's downtown. 90's downtown. rain chances

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>> there is controversy over the uniforms teen usa will be sporting at the olympics. famous american design house ralph lauren created the look in a style influenced by the 1948 games also hosted by london, but the uniforms were actually manufactured in china. >> a think that should be embarrassed. i think they should take all the uniforms, put them in a pile and burn them and start all over again. >> today, there are 600,000 vacant manufacturing jobs in this country, and the olympic committee is outsourcing the manufacturing of uniforms to china? >> a spokesperson for the u.s. olympic committee called the issue nonsense and defended the choice saying ralph lauren is an american company. >> ann arundel is cracking down

on distracted drivers in an operation called operation eagle. at different points throughout the county, police will be looking for those distracted drivers. >> we want to make the roads as safe as possible and do everything we can as a police department to reduce serious, life-threatening, or fatal crashes. and i would be remiss if i did not let you know it is not just enforcement. we are doing education as well. >> distracted driving is a growing problem throughout the country and it is the cause of many serious automobile accidents. we would like you to take our pledge to not drive distracted. log on to our website, wbaltv.com. you will find a link to download and sign the pledge. >> it is a busy friday afternoon for some. others, a leisurely afternoon at the beach. we have a live shot of ocean

city. you see a few beachgoers out there. a couple of thin clouds in the sky. pretty pleasant evening shaping up for ocean city. 85 tomorrow. slight chance of a thunderstorm. about 30% chance for a shower. the storms are most likely to happen later into the afternoon. no reason to cancel any plans, but something to keep in mind. right now, the current risk is looking low for ocean city. temperatures are around 80 degrees, but much warmer as you head towards baltimore. very cool as you head into the western part of the state. that is where we have seen a lot more cloud cover, a couple of white sprinkles as well. that has definitely brought the temperatures down. we compare our temperatures to what happened earlier today. 88 was the high at the airport. 95 degrees downtown.

fortunately, it was not too humid. still a little bit on the warm side for this summer day. normal is 88 for the airport. normal low -- 67. compare that to the records of 99 and 55. we had a couple of light sprinkles pass over northern california county, just a couple over no. baltimore county. just a couple of raindrops, and all this seems to be heading towards the north and east into pennsylvania. that is the real rainmaker right now. right now, the heaviest activity across the carolinas where they have heavier showers and thunderstorms right now. pretty active weather across the eastern part of the nation. a stalled out foundry in place across the carolinas, and that will continue to influence our weather patterns through the weekend and continues to throw some moisture our way, enough so we could have some showers and thunderstorms even into the weekend. shell is more likely tonight as a front gets closer into our

area. high-temperature tomorrow in the upper 80's 4 baltimore with a mix of clouds and son. showers and thunderstorms possible at any time. no reason to cancel your outdoor plans, but keep an eye to the sky. even check our radar app on your phone. variable winds around 5 knots. the next high tide, for top-10 in the morning and 3:42 in the afternoon. seven-day forecast -- a little unsettled. chance of storms this weekend. 30% tomorrow. storms on sunday as likely into the afternoon. an isolated storm chance in the early and middle part of the week. high temperatures -- right around 90 degrees each and every day. >> good evening. coming to you live from camden yards where it is a good day for the baltimore orioles even

before they take off their series, the second half with the detroit tigers. that is because today was the deadline date to get their draft picks signed, and we were not sure it would happen until he let us know via twitter. here is what you put out. happy to be the newest member of the baltimore orioles organization. living my dream. #gobirds the orioles know a little bit more about what they are getting, somebody that is an impressive young man. he has great control. he is a package deal, and he is expected to be able to do what was done. it came down to the end. not getting it done before just a minute or two before that deadline, but more importantly, the deal is done.

press conference right now, and we will bring you some of that coming up tonight at 11:00. as for the team itself, the orioles get to the second half of the season for the first time since 2005, above 500. the three-game series beginning tonight against the tigers. we saw nick on the field a little earlier. here is a man who was chomping at the bit to get back on to the field, it was ridiculous. he has never missed any significant time in his career, so to not place since may 19 -- it was significant for him, but as far as what it means for him in the second half any pressure of being the guy to get the line of billing -- that is just fine for him. >> it is a good thing. it definitely puts us in some form or fashion -- it is just good to be back. ready to get this thing started. >> the second half is basically

-- this is what we want, what we put ourselves in place for. we created all the expectations for ourselves. we have to basically go perform them. we played good baseball first half. the fans, the media are all behind us. we have created the expectation to win. >> how about in the nfl? there was a signing of some note today. drew brees got the deal done with the new york sens. five years, $100 million. they have until monday to get a deal done. they continue to try to get a deal worked out. we will see if they can get that done before the monday deadline. done before the monday deadline.

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>> here's a look at what we are working on. much more on the police involved shooting now tied to what howard county -- now tied to a howard county attended murder, and the largest free arts festival in the nation is just around the corner. corner. those stories and much more

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>> some much-needed rate in the forecast. >> scattered showers and storms throughout the weekend. no major heat waves, but storm chances all the way into next week. >> thanks for joining us, everybody. nbc nightly news with brian williams is next. we will see you back here at 11:00. >> have a great evening.