what evidence led them to him in the first place. in the back of the attack truck, a dead polish man with gunshot wounds but no gun was recovered. the investigation is on going and police are warning the public to be extra vigilant in berlin, across germany where other christmas markets could be targets. president obama called german chancellor merkel today telling her the united states stood bill the german allies to defeat terrorism in all forms. as 20 people were released from the hospital today, merkel assured germany those responsible would be captured and punished. german police still don't have enough information to put out a wanted poster. they are chasing leads but they don't know who they are looking for. alison: back at home, d.c. has its own holiday market. it's near the verizon center.

gather could be considered a soft target. abc7 instapoll asking if the berlin attack changes the way you celebrate for the holidays with your family. let us know at wjla.com/votenow. maryland bureau chief brad bell picks up the team coverage. you spoke to police about securing the places. and it is a tough job. brad: it is. a sad fact of life these days. downtown silver spring tonight. the ice rink is open. there are people walking and there are street musicians and there is a festive atmosphere. you think fear would be a distant thought. we talked to people and it's not. >> they are simply the places we go. th

silver spring, prince george's county, national harbor, the new mgm casino, fedex field. places we go. which we must now worry about as what security people call soft targets. >> of course. all the time. >> i'm a school teacher. my work place is a soft target. we have so many school shootings. more and more i begin to think how ever where i go could be a target. >> stawinski says last nice after terror attack, they ordered a heightened state of readiness at the redskins game. >> we apply what we know happened to all the venues and we change the deployment posture. >> stawinski policing a place that is suddenly home to high-profile gathering places. the police repair.

federal authorities are far more sophisticated. there is quite a bit going on behind the scenes. we identify potential actors. >> all of that said, chief stawinski says he still relies on the public for help. >> in this day and age he is asking for people to be aware of the behavior of folks and try to understand if they have suspicions by all means they need to contact police. in silver spring, brad bell, abc7 news. jonathan: the attack on the christmas market in berlin did not stop people from attending today. >> it's too difficult to pull off a 911. it may be improcty call in the company. but it's -- impractical in this country but it's low tech to drive a car

start stabbing people. jonathan: at this point they are not planning to change the security plans. coming up at 6:00, a live report from f street market. alison: investigators found no ties to terrorist in a shooting in switzerland. the gunman wounded three people at the zurich mosque before killing himself. the attacker was already wanted by police for the deadly stabbing of a friend on sunday. jonathan: the body of the russian ambassador to turkey has arrived back. andrei karlov was gunned down on monday. two countries launched joint investigation in the assassination by the local police officer. he is the die you see in the videotape. tonight, turkey prime minister is blaming this on the exiled cleric that the government claims was involved in a failed coup in july. the cleric is now living in the united

alison: new efforts to find the person who shot at a person's car in arkansas and killed her grandson. the granted mother told police the driver of a black chevrolet impala started to shoot at her car in an apparent case of road rage. $40,000 reward is offered for any information in this case. jonathan: the police are crediting a group of good samaritans to help stop cell phone robbery in the metro. the police is jumping to arrest him. but this is after the good samaritans tracked him down and held on to him. brianne carter spoke to the woman taking the pictures. brianne: for metro commuters arriving at the station monday morning the work week was off to anything but a usual start. >> the guy starts running. brianne: they step in to

to stop him. riders were concerned that he would get away on the esra later -- escalator. >> he had nowhere to go. i stood in front. he knocked me over and knocked the wind out of me. >> brian: she was okay but said that the teen jumped on a train. hoping to stop him, they pulled the train doors open and others went to get the station manager. >> he runs into another car going the other direction. a group of people trying to stop him so they go and stop the doors from shutting. >> the capital police show up and they quickly made an arrest. >> it was cool to see everyone come together to support this woman, to make sure the bad guy doesn't get away. >> they are now investigating. a spokes penn tell abc7 two juve -- spokesperson tell abc7 two juveniles are facing charges in connection to the

brianne carter, abc7 news. jonathan: good teamwork! worked out well. alison: you know it. jonathan: another brisk day today but it could start to get better tomorrow. alison: that sounds good. stormwatch7's chief meteorologist doug hill is here with a check on the forecast. doug: sunshine today. more tomorrow but tomorrow the temperatures are milder. well in the upper 40's. this evening we are headed the other way through the 30 was the clear skies. light winds 5. 31 in 14, 24 -- i'm doing the math here live on tv. in 24 minutes or so the international space station will go over the metro area. be visible for six minutes. from northwest to southeast. get the bearings. but should have a good view of the space station overhead. tomorrow morning is a typical winter morning. the first morning of winter with the temperatures in the mid-to-the upper 20's. clear skies. looking through the day tomorrow. a nice bounceback. it will warm to 49 in the day at 4:00 in the afternoon. even warmer on friday.

weekend for you, too. coming up in 12 minutes. back to you. alison: thank you. let's get to breaking news from the top of the hour. skytrak7 live over the scene now. this is what we have been following this afternoon when a car hit a woman and two children in herndon at the intersection of centreville road and mcnair farms drive. it's near a shopping center. amy aubert is there. live with the latest information. what have you learned? amy: well, that is right. we are here on the scene at centreville road and mcnair farms drive. the scene over my shoulder. i'm joined here by the police department. what happened here? >> officers responded to a reported crash and injuries. it's early in the investigation. what we know so far it looks like a driver pulled up to the intersection, entered the

pedestrians. 52-year-old woman and her two children 11-year-old daughter and 14-year-old boy. the kids were transported to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. but her status has been changed and she is now in non-life threatening conditions. >> the driver stayed on scene? >> yes. we are trying to determine what happened. we are happy that the mom and the two kids are with dad at the hospital and will be okay. >> where does it standn now? we talked about the northbound lanes being closed for a while. >> the traffic is affected with the investigation. centreville northbound will be tied up for another hour or so. they are diverting traffic to the shopping center. avoid the area or if you are coming to the shopping center be extra wary of additional traffic cutting through to get

around this. >> were they in a crosswalk? >> that is part of our investigation. it just happened. we are talking to everybody right now to get more information. >> thank you so much. the 52-year-old woman injuries were classifying that early todayer as life threaten -- earlier today as life threatening but they have downgraded it to non-life threatening injuries which is good news. we are live out here in fairfax county. amy aubert, abc7 news. jonathan: huge relief with the update. thank you for that. coming up next at 5:00, more charges in the flint water case. find out how these trace back to city hall. alison: then later, she thought she lost everything when her basement flooded. that was until "7 on your side" stepped in to help. jonathan: tonight tune in a town hall meeting on the clemens. watch "your voice, your future" on the sister station newschannel8. that starts at 7:00 tonight.

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hello. i'm perry taylor with the united states corps of engineers stationed in afghanistan. i would like to say merry christmas and happy new year

to my three c -- christopher, kiante, christina, and the isaiah, keshon, dayna, taylor and aubrey. i love you. happy holidays. alison: we have breaking news in the abc7 newsroom. the d.c. county approved a paid family leave by a vote of 9-4. this will be one of the most generous in the country. we will have more on this in a live report from the wilson building at 5:30. jonathan: get the mayor's take. she was pushing back on it. let's talk about the weather situation. it's cold today but going to warm up. alison: get better. doug: 40's tomorrow and maybe 50's on friday. cooler over the weekend. not terribly cold. no bitterly cold air in sight. take it and run with it. this evening is clear. a time lapse from damascus elementary school. a ba

thin cirrus clouds overhead but generally, look at it going by. high pressure is sitting overhead. kept us clear and mainly the light winds. that is a big thing. we have light winds. speaking of the sunshine. fall is almost completely behind us. winter begins at 5:22 tomorrow morning. look at the effect of the daylight as we get to the winter solstice and beyond. the daylight hours will lengthy. tomorrow, we have sunset and sunrise. it will jump up by four minutes by january 4. by the end of january it jumps ten hours and 14 minute of daylight and so it goes until the third week of march and the equinox when we are over 12 hours. if you like a lot of daylight, even though winter is just starting the way it works with the atmospher w

you might notice it on the way home. it's 35 in culpeper. 32 in winchester. tomorrow morning will be clear. quiet. we will make a nice recovery from the numbers. the same story. 23 in warrenton tomorrow. 24 in orange. nice warmup as well. plenty of high pressure and push from the southwest to give us a boost out of the 30's to the 40's. on thursday we look for a front to come through. before that we may see clouds. there is no rain associated with the

energy from the far west coast that comes across the country to possibly give us scattered showers. friday looks like a great travel day. almost coast to coast. certainly the atlantic and the i-5th corridor from florida -- i95 corridor from florida to maine. 49 in the sun tomorrow. 53 on thursday. cooler on friday. good end to the week. the weekend forecast 48 degree on saturday and partly cloudy skies. through the evening, scattered showers are a pocket. 40% chance. cloudy christmas day, a chance of sunshine in places for the afternoon. give you the first seven and three more to make it ten. yeah, that's ten. christmas day is okay weather. warming up monday and tuesday.td as well. i think we are going to be in

end of 2016. alison: we can deal with it. doug: no big storms. alison: thank you. jonathan: the votes are in. find out who makes the cut for the next induction class of the rock 'n' roll hall of fame. alison: later, they have been recognized by the department for bravery, but find out a national armor the two montgomery county police officers are getting for this rescue. but first a look at what is coming up tonight on abc7 --

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jonathan: "7 on your side" with health matters. tonights the fear of carrying for a loved one with alzheimer's are hitting home for people around the region after a woman living in burke wandered around the house and drowned in a nearby pond. northern virginia bureau chief jeff goldberg found ways to try to keep your loved ones safe. jeff: fairfax county police and fire descending on the neighborhood in burke at 4:30 a.m. after a call of a missing woman with alzheimer's. 67-year-old francis robinson. she wandered from her home and at 6:00 a.m. the investigators found her a few blocks away fully submergedded without a coat in a shallow area of burke pond. christine lives near the pond and is

>> you wonder if you heard something or had seen something. if you had been out there at the right time you could have done something. >> individuals wander at specific times. announcement with the alzheimer's association say the individuals think they need to go to work or shopping or can't find the bathroom so they wander. >> the more structure that a family care-giver can offer the family member the better it will be. >> you can prevent wandering like putting bells on the door so if they try to leave you can hear it. or moving the dead bolt up above because they don't look up often. virginia, maryland, d.c. nearly 250,000 are currently suffering from alzheimer's. the patients need help and the

>> they can't do it alone. >> in fairfax county, jeff goldberg, abc7 news. alison: coming up at 5:00 -- >> we deliver justice and hold those accountable who broke the law. alison: filing more charges after water problemming in flint, michigan. jonathan: "7 on your side." a woman fights to get back her possessions after a flood in her basement.

jonathan: we are following a developing story out of the district where they voted on a paid family leave bill. richard reeve is live outside the wilson building with the result of the vote. what happened? richard: yeah, you can see behind me the celebration going on the, for the supporters of the bill. it passed 9-4 by the d.c. council. eight weeks for the folks. we have video of the celebrations going on in the hallway. this would be paid by a .62% payroll tax that would be city wi

required for the employers that have people with the family leave to pay for the bill. that did not happen, though. it would have cost some employers as much as several thousand dollars. the supporters are ecstatic. >> this is huge for d.c. residents. my husband and i have a house here. we want to have a family and having access to paid leave is something neither of us have. we work for small non-profits. >> this drama is not yet over. mayor bowser made it clear she does not like this particular bill. she has not set if she would veto it. i would take nine votes to override the veto. they had nine votes today. we will see what happens. repor

abc7 news. alison: thank you. so for people who do get paid vacation, whether or not they are using it is another story. according to bank rate.com, almost 60% of people working. now between the ages of 18 and 25 say they are not going to use all the vacation days this year. 25% of them say they won't use any vacation at all. can you imagine? jonathan: no. alison: that works out to average of seven days left on the table. for comparison only 6% of generation x and 7% of the baby-boomers say they won't use vacation time. jonathan: vacation recharges your batteries. refocuses you. you spend tame with your family which is a huge importance. alison: of course. you got to rest. jonathan: leaving seven days on the table. alison: can't imagine. jonathan: bad employee. bad employee. "7 on your side" with a health report of children suffer concussions. many of them are ordered to take a break from the physical activity. there is a new study that challenges the practice. the study out

children that take a break suffer from ongoing symptoms but those who took part in light activity like walking and swimming had a reduced chance of lingering symptoms. alison: the criminal investigation in flint, michigan, contaminated water is turning now to city hall. today, the state attorney general charged four people. including two state appointed emergency managers with conspiracy and misconduct. >> the tragedy that we know as the flint water crisis did not occur by accident. no. flint was the product of disdain, arrogance and shirking responsibility. alison: the water system was contaminated with lead when the water from the detroit river was not treated for 18 months. 12 people died

many residents are still drinking bottled water. governor john bell edwards says he is standing by the residents of st. joseph, louisiana, after high level of lead and copper were found in the water there last week. he was in town to meet with people and announce he had every home and every business tested over the next month. he says he plans to speed up the construction of a new treatment facility and distribution system. originally a two-year plan. >> to deliver the products in 12 months, not 18 months. jonathan: in annapolis a panel of state lawmakers debating whether the new regulation on the gas drilling should take effect next year or wait another year. they deal with the process of fracking in th

the lawmakers are expected to consider a ban on the practice in upcoming legislative session. alison: a few hours ago, president obama designated most of the u.s. waters in the arctic as off-limits to oil and gas drilling. this designation applies to certain areas in the atlantic ocean including canyons off the coast of maryland and virginia. the white house says he used a provision in a 1953 law. jonathan: north china are limiting the number of the cars allowed on the road in the national alert for pollution. the air is horrible there. more than 700 companies temporarily halting production in beijing to help clear the air. look at the air behind it. that is not fog. that is pollution. terrible. dozen of schools are closed down. the alert was issued friday. it will stay in effect until to

in the holidays, memories are made at the dinner table. we know that. help us set a place for the table for those who sacrificed so much to nominate a veteran to win a dining room set at $3,000. just go to the website wjla.com/7salutes to nominate a deserving veteran. do it today. nominations are accepted but december 28. we did not forget the animals that go hungry as well. the children are delivering food and blankets to the animal shelter on monday. the students have been collecting items for the shelter all month. today they got to meet all the animals they are helping. alison: so cute. the kids had ear plugs because it was loud. cute. across the riverer, prince george east county leaders want to make sure the needy families have enough to eat for the holidays. brad bell was

put food baskets together. >> enjoy the holidays. brad: for 32 years now the prince george's police, firefighters, sheriff and the correction officers have been gathering and distributing the holiday food baskets in a tradition that never gets old. >> public safety is truly concerned about the lives and this is a way to impact people. brad: it's much appreciateed. >> looking forward to it. >> give us food and the blessings that it gives to me and my family. >> a big job. they gather to pack boxes with donated food. the fire truck is loaded. in all the public safety santas will deliver 2,000 of the boxes to people in need. >> it makes a big differe

food in the refrigerator or the pantry. brad: that is bill, the volunteer organizer. >> we love y'all and look forward to this every year. >> the holiday food basket deliveries continue all week. brad bell, abc7 news. alison: still ahead at 5:00, hailed at heroes. the new honor for two police officers who pulled a man from the burning car. jonathan: at 6:00, the real-life grinch hit a real-life neighborhood. they want him to come forward. that's coming up at

steve: here we are tuesday and looking ahead to christmas weekend. christmas ease, scattered showers here or there but should not cause travel delays. sunday christmas day are mostly cloudy skies by dry. on the cool side with the temperatures in the upper 40's. the beautiful day is not quite. however, a few clouds here and there. look at the ten-day outlook. 53 on thursday. 47 on friday. a busy travel day. upper 40's for the first day of hanukkah and christmas eve. 46 on sunday. middle 50's come monday and tuesday. back to the lower 40 to ♪ ♪ ♪

♪

jonathan: does this look different? each dot shows space station. it shows the silhouette against the sun. the station was moving at 5 miles per second when nasa recorded the image over the weekend. alison: wow! journey, yes, electric light orchestra and joan baez. that is two-third of the inductees in the rock 'n' roll hall of fame.

yeah, we got pearl jam. also tupac shakur round out the inductees. this is the first year that the acts were eligible. rock hall announced niall rogers will be given an award for musical excellence after his band chic didn't make it for the 11th time. jonathan: the carnegie hero fund commission recognized bravery of the two montgomery county police officers. amazing what they did. september 2015, officers cody fields and brian nesbitt rescued unconscious man from a burning car. they got him out and saved him. that is him. those are the officers. another recipient is peter poncer of fairfax who helped rescue a drowning boy in north carolina. all three, congratulations. much deserved. alison: public memorial service honor

craig sager. even san antonio gregg popovich was in attendance. family members, colleagues at turner where he worked for machine -- more than three decades. he passed away last thursday after a two-year battle with cancer. jonathan: the hit of the night. how the redskin cheerleader is feeling after the collision with quarterback kirk cousins. oh! boom! alison: uh-oh. but first, "7 on your side" troubleshooter stepped in to help one woman get back what was in her

alison: a 90-year-old d.c. woman turns to "7 on your side" after being stuck with a huge bill and a dismantled basement. last year we first told you her story when sewage came flowing in her basement. it was awful. now the bill has come due. a bill she was told she didn't have to pay. that is when she called troubleshooter horace holmes again for help.

horace: every christmas, 90-year-old sharp and her family go all out to get in the holiday spirit. >> we have all to put up. horace: all the beautiful decorations are gone. it started last christmas. >> all that gone. now there is no christmas, no decorations. usually we put out a big yard display. horace: when raw sewage flowed in their basement from a broken water utility pipe in the neighborhood. back then they called "7 on your side" and we got d.c. water to fix their problem. today, there are no more sewage down there, but there is also no more furniture or walls or any of the christmas decorations that the family stored here. >> it was a complete room but now it's a wreck. >> the company that cleans up and helps put together homes after calamities came in and moved everything out, put it in storage, drained out the sewage and

the bill. >> we didn't have to spend a dime. use homeowner's insurance or anything. >> it's clean but a shell of what it was and their belongings remained in storage for a year. the family says serve pro told them d.c. water hadn't paid the bill. if sharps called "7 on your side" again. cleaned up the problem with the miscommunication the spokesperson told me. the mixup was in the payment for the storage. that was quickly resolved. a check sent. a few days ago a moving crew brought the sharp's belongings, including the decorations back home. work will begin now to rebuild the basement. now their basement and the holiday is safe. they will have them up in time for christmas. >> i'm very happy. i don't know what we would do without

horace: horace holmes, abc7 news. alison: all right. let us know how 7 can be on your side. call the hotline or e-mail the team at tips@wjla.com. jonathan: new at 6:00, the search for a grinch who stole frosty from a neighborhood. who does this? plus increased security at christmas markets. what is being done at the d.c. popular celebrations after the deadly attack that took place in berlin yesterday. and a new option for commuters in a community for now had to dodge traffic who have to catch a bus. that is coming up. alison: let's get a check of the roads now with jamie sullivan. jamie: we are starting off with the heavy traffic on the beltway near river road. the thing is we typically do see the inner looped and the outer loop traffic in the northwest corner. tonight is different, we have police activity. we are blocking the right lane. this is on the inner loop, the outer loop is heavy heain

take a look at 66 traffic. bumper to bumper from the beltway to fairfax. big picture look. we had red on the map on the beltway near greenbelt. the bottom said of beltway to virginia approaching alexandria. talk about 395 for a moment. traffic outbound near hollywood boulevard is bumper to bumper. if you are heading inbound it's easy drive. watch out for this. southbound, d.c. 295 near the n.r.l. that is taking out the left lane. on suitland parkway, a disabled vehicle taking out the lanes as well. minor issues. but a lot of volume in the district jonathan: thanks. listen to this. 7 on storm watch as the wicked winds across wyoming. we were trying to get the sound. doug did it earlier. doug:

jonathan: it made for miserable conditions in the plains. thousands of people lost power. you can hear the winds blowing horribly. but hurricane force winds. but that is even pretty. alison: i don't know. can you do sound effects for hot in florida? jonathan: waiter, another drink, please. alison: but it is feeling more like summer in florida. miami shattered a record yesterday with a high of 86 degrees. jonathan: we have to get the people from wyoming to florida. alison: tropical weather expert at the university of miami say the cold fronts that typically cool the area this time of year are fizzling out before they arrive. jonathan: hmm. alison: big difference. we are kind of in the middle. doug: we had a cool spell and now we are coming out of it. be back to average, maybe above average temperatures to christmas and next week. let's talk

weather. this morning meteorologist brian van de graaff was at sterling for the lunchbox weather program. had fun to show the kids experiments. showed more about that and he showed them video of how we do the weather on abc7. get outside for hands on the storm track 7. the kids had a good time. enjoy getting out of school for a while. there they go. the kids. we had a question from jeffrey. jeffrey was on the camera. he photographed the classmates linda and amy with this question. >> we are fourth graders. we have a question. how long does it take to predict the weather? doug: how long does it take to view the sky and predict the weather? we can't predict the weather by looking at the sky.

clue. but today was crystal clear blue sky. cold but looking at the sky doesn't tell you what the temperatures will be tonight or what happens tomorrow or the next day. looking at the sky tells you about the short-term. but we can't predict the weather on what the sky looks like. alison: red sky at night -- doug: that is real. doug: that is the way it works. doug: there is a trend showing the high-level moisture coming in. it gives you a clue that you might get precipitation in a day or two. good question. jonathan: all right. alison: thank you. jonathan: we know this. last night the redskins' road to the playoffs got bumpier. alison: yeah. robert burton joins us with more on their post-season hopes. robert? robert: if you want to call them that. it was not the performance the redskins were hoping for last night. the result a 25-16 loss. before last n

controlled their own destiny. if they won out the last wild card spot was theirs. they didn't do that. so now it looks pretty grim. weigh in on the instapoll question. what went down last night. only two games left in the season. do you think the redskins will make the playoffs? go to wjla.com/votenow. they are two spots back behind the wild card spots. they have to win the last two games and they will need all the help they the get from the other teams to make the playoffs. >> to be honest with you, i'm up on it. i understand that we are on the outside looking in. one fact i do understand. i understand a couple of teams have to lose. we go from there. it starts with chicago to have a chance at all. we have to take care of business. play better. coach better. coach better and play better get ready for chicago. on the schedule for saturday. we can't wonder what we do

around here. hogwash. get ready for the next opponent. be prepared. chicago don't care. robert: the jacket, though. this pretty much sums up the redskins' night. not kirk cousins but the cheerleader. cousins headed out of bounds and there goes the cheerleader. her legs. now she is face first in the ground. she took the hit of the night. although it look like she was able to get her hands up to break her fall. got up and waved to the cameras afterwards. look at her. she is okay. proved there were no hard feelings she posted a message on the instagram page. nice running into you, too, kirk cousins. i'm okay. split screen action. that summed up the the night for the redskins. falling on their faces. jonathan: i wonder when they are on the sidelines what are you looking at when the guys come? jonathan: she is a cheerleader. robert: she is focuse

the dance moves down. alison: i'm glad you let josh norman wear the jacket. jonathan: it's not like you to give up your wardrobe. robert: i was feeling generous. jonathan: you are a give

jonathan: something we are just getting in to the abc7 newsroom. the d.c. council confirmed wilson as the new chancellor of the d.c. public schools. the confirmation was unanimous. mayor bowser is excited for city schools to begin a new chapter. alison: you have seen the people who work for the u.s. postal service and all the delivery companies hard at work in the weeks before the holidays. jonathan: what you don't always see are folks behind the seens scrambling to make sure that everything gets where it is supposed to get on time. montgomery county reporter kevin lewis is at a sorting center at gaithersburg with that start of the story. this is a busy time. kevin: it's busy at the gaithersburg processing center for the united states postal

right now. you can see there are more than 20 truck bays peeling with the incoming and the outgoing mail. we walk in the processing center i can tell you this is one of four in the d.c. area. this processing center handles most of the mail in montgomery county and the other d.c., maryland, suburban communities. this purple machine is the machine that puts the postal date on your letter. this woman here is in charge of making sure that the letters on the conveyer belt will be able to withhold and sustain the conveyor belt. if they are potentially damageable they will be put in a special container and handled otherwise. as we round the corner there is a green machine. they have been putting the letters on the belt. the machine tips them over and places them on th

there are 400 employees that work on the processing center. but a lot of the work is mechanical in this day and age. i want to show you the cameras monitor the inside of the conveyor belt. this is a more graphical representation of the grapes. -- representation of the belts. this keeps a close eye and if there is a jam they can get it back up online. this is the busiest time of year for the postal service. they have a volume of 400,000. yesterday the number was 1.7 million. busy here. that is the word of the day. reporting from gaithersburg, kevin lewis, back to you. maureen: thank you. that is it for "abc7 news at 5:00". alison: berlin says they arrested the wrong man after the terror attack. the hunt for those responsible and security m'ses t

this is no celebration. where a fireworks market exploded sending people running for cover. >> frosty the snowman stolen by a grinch. why neighbors call the senseless crime creepy. >> now, "abc7 news at 6:00". on your side. maureen: first at 6:00, the weapon used in a terror attack in germany was towed away as we learn the hunt for those responsible is black at square one. tonight peak from across berlin join together to remember the lives lost. investigators have a new focus. this afternoon they released the man arrested in the care yotic aftermath of the attack saying he was the wrong person. they now believe the driver of the truck that crashed through a christmas market is still at large. now

responsibility. 12 people are confirmed dead. 45 people recover from the injuries. residents of berlin are vowing not to hide. >> i think it's important that we are here to show that we are not frightened. >> the first victim is the man contracted to drive the truck. the attacker killed him and halftimed the vehicle. jonathan: it has u.s. stepping up the security around the holiday celebrations. in fact, there is a christmas market open now in the district. similar to the one in berlin. stephen tschida spent time talking to people in the market and has the story. stephen: free of fear and festive. >> it's important to come out and celebrate the holiday season. >> the downtown holiday market in d.c. is bustling with the holiday shoppers. some here say they are troubled by what has happened in europe. but they carry on as