he said the boys came from behind and had a bat and was banging him, knocked him on the ground, kicked him. >> brutal beating. a 76-year-old man viciously attacked. police say it's a hate crime. >> new information from one of the suspects, and hear from the woman who called for help. >> hello, i'm denise koch. >> i'm vic carter. here's what people are talking about tonight. a 76-year-old man beaten, police say, simply because he is black. derek valcourt has an exclusive interview with a woman who called 911. >> reporter: the victim is still recovering here at the hospital. police have made one arrest. they say he's a rapist and a convicted sex offender who calls himself hitler. it was at fort armstead park

where three men brutally attacked a 76-year-old man. >> he was crying and just was blood everywhere, and his eye was just hanging out, and he said the boys came from behind and had a bat and was banging him, knocked him on the ground, kicked him, took his keys, and sped off with his truck. >> reporter: soon after police spotted the truck and it crashed, leading to the arrest of 28-year-old calvin lockner. court records reveal he told investigators this wouldn't have happened if the fisherman was a white man. lockner has a tattoo that says he lives and is a member of the aryan brotherhood. >> reporter: neighbors disappointed by the news. >> i am terribly surprised. this is a community that we

live in, and we don't seem to have any problems around here like that. >> reporter: mayor dixon visited the victim in the hospital. >> but his family is understandably shaken from this, and by the violence and what was said to him, and what was done to him. >> i just hope that the gentleman is okay and that they can catch the people that did this to him. >> reporter: lockner faces a long list of criminal charges, including attempted murder charges. prosecutors say they would like to try him under maryland's hate crime laws. derek valcourt, eyewitness news. >> thank you very much, derek. the victim's family says police have asked them not to comment on the case until after the investigation is complete. breaking news right now out of baltimore county where firefighters are battling a fire at a townhome. a second call just went out for more firefighters to respond to a home in spicewood court in essex. we're told this is a pretty big fire. right now we do not have any words on injuries or what

started it. we'll bring you more information as soon as it's available. skyeye chopper 13 was over the area of pleasure island where a man's body was found in the water. police say the man drowned in a swimming accident but it is unclear how he got into the water. the man's name is not yet known. a major identity theft ring targeting people in four states is broken up right here in maryland. eyewitness news is live and kai jackson explains the suspect had the driver's licenses, credit cards, and social security numbers of a number of unsuspecting people. kai. >> reporter: that's right, they did, denise. police say this identity theft scheme netted at least 100 victims. police say there could be more. howard county police say this best western hotel in elkridge is where an identity theft ring all came unraveled. >> are you surprised to hear that a group of people was arrested for identity theft? >> i'm not really surprised, i guess, because apparently it's a pretty big thing.

>> reporter: howard county police say a housekeeper helped them crack this case when suspicious items were found in a trash can. police were called and say when they investigated further they found clear-cut evidence of identity theft. police say they found driver's licenses, credit cards, social security cards and bank statements from victims in a hotel room. they found cash and wigs in a car. police say four suspects are in custody and all are from florida. and their alleged crimes span four states. >> our understanding is that the suspects primarily gained the financial information from the victims by breaking into their cars. >> reporter: police say when they tried to stop one of the suspects, a 24-year-old florida woman fled in a car. a chase ensued and police say the woman tried to hit a howard county police officer with the car. she was eventually caught. >> all the suspects face credit card theft and other theft charges. the driver of the vehicle who fled from police also faces charges for assault on a police officer. >> reporter: police estimate

there are 100 victims and 18 of them from maryland. a major identity theft ring stoped at this hotel in the 6700 block of dorsey road, just minutes from bwi airport. >> reporter: are you concerned that someone could take your identity? >> it could happen to anyone really. >> reporter: police are working with neighboring jurisdictions and federal investigators in order to identify additional victims and file further charges. denise. >> thank you, kai. howard county police remind drivers to secure valuables in their cars and always leave important documents at home. he's huge, powerful, and is moving closer to the east coast. hurricane bill has now grown into a category 4 store. these are the latest pictures from nasa of the massive hurricane. bob turk is tracking hurricane bill live from the first warning weather center. >> an 11:00 report just coming in, bill now 880 miles

southeast of bermuda, 350 miles northeast of the leeward islands, winds as high as gusts of 161 miles per hour. the track, aussie, hasn't changed a whole lot. very consistent of taking it just to the southwest, that little dot there just south of the word saturday, 8:00 p.m. it should pass 450 miles east of our east coast, eventually making a right turn, probably brushing nova scotia and newfoundland by the weekend as a much weaker storm, probably category 1, but up there they are probably going to see some wind and heavy rain. for us, rough coast will be the he key, so watch out for that. >> bob, thank you. stay with eyewitness news for instant updates on hurricane bill and all of the season's storms. log on to wjz.com for the latest storm track and our special hurricane session. just 30 minutes ago polling centers opened in afghanistan for that country's presidential

election. this is video of hamid karzai placing his ballot into the box. he safely made it to the polls, but as drew levinson reports, militants are make going on their promise to try to scare or prevent people from getting to the polls. >> reporter: afghan soldiers are searching cars headed into the city of kandahar. they are hoping to keep blood shed away from the polls. the taliban has threatened violence against anyone who participates in thursday's presidential election. insurgents are already making good on their promise. roadside bombs have killed at least six elections workers trying to get ballots to the polls. security forces there have' work cut out for them with 6500 polling places to protect. marines are racing against the clock to secure parts of southern afghanistan. the military says three troops were killed in fighting on wednesday. the united nations sees thursday's vote in afghanistan as one of the most complex

anywhere in the world this year. just one kay before the vote, 20% of the polling materials haven't even reached the voting sites yet. officials are doing what they can. >> all the highways are open, all the roads are open. >> reporter: 15 million afghans registered to vote, but with so many living in remote areas, the taliban could suppress turnout by blocking a single road. fewer voters may hurt the chances of hamid karzai. he faces three dozen challengers, the biggest, abdullah abdullah, a doctor who once served as the country's foreign minister. though karzai is favored to win, if he doesn't get 50% of the vote there will be a runoff in october. drew 11 son, cbs news, new york. >> and the election does have a close connection to maryland. current president hamid karzai has family who live here in baltimore. in one month's times our

colleagues at cbs have lost two legends. first walter cronkite, and now mike hewett. coworkers decide him as a man with passion for innovative story telling. don hewitt was 86 years old. if you want to be an olympic swimmer there are now three u.s. centers to choose from, and one of them is baltimore's aquatic hub. the north baltimore aquatic club has an olympic track record. seven winners have trained here, michael phelps the greatest among them. even so it's an honor to be named one of only three professional and post-grad training centers in the u.s. by the olympic committee. what this means for the north

baltimore aquatic teams located here at meadowbrook is money and support. the united states olympic committee will help it become a state of the art training center, giving it everything it needs to create elite teams of potential olympic swimmers. the usoc will make sure top coaches provide athletes with training, education, jobs, physical therapy, and that they have the funds to travel and compete. the other two swimmers are in charlotte, north carolina, and fullerton, california. ironically, that's where north baltimore alum katie hoff has announced she is going. hoff is moving out west to train with fullerton's team in preparation for the 2012 olympics. as for eight gold medal wing michael phelps -- >> there's no better place to be than right here in baltimore. >> and with the north baltimore aquatic club joining the olympic program, that's never been more true. but the real buzz tonight had nothing to do with the

olympics. it had to do with sunday's match between michael phelps and shaquanda. shaquille o'neal. >> that ought to be pretty interesting. >> who you putting your money on? >> at least shaq has bigger feet. so what's the saying? no good deed goes unpunished? two best buy employees step up trying to stop bandits from robbing the store. how the move cost them both their jobs. >> how do you continue to support this policy as obama does. >> on what planet do you spend most of your time? >> the debate over healthcare reform. see how one democratic lawmaker took on opponents at an angry town hall meeting. >> reporter: i'm alex demetrick. coming up, testing the h1n1 flu vaccine on those most likely to

spread it. showers and storms possible through the end of the week. the complete first warning forecast coming up next.

it is 75 degrees and mainly clear in central maryland. the complete first warning forecast is coming up. but first, an air traffic controller was joking about barbecuing a dead cat minutes before the midair collision over the hudson river. transcripts show the joke was he made during a phone call to

another airport employee. the controller was guiding a small plane at the same time he ended the call with a curse word just before the plane collided with the helicopter, killing nine people. it was another heated town hall meeting on health care. this time mass which you says representative barney frank lashes out at a woman who called the plan a nazi policy. >> trying to have a conversation with you would be like trying to argue with a dining room table. i have no interest in doing it. it is a tribute to the first amendment that this type of vile is so freely propagated. >> frank was referring to the poster depicting president obama with a hitler style mustache. meanwhile a bipartisan group says that they are on track to write a comprehensive healthcare bill. they feel they can pass a

divided senate. researches began trials on an h1n1 vaccine, and the volunteers are among those most vulnerable, children. alex demetrick explains why young people are at such high risk of spreading swine flu. >> headaches? >> no. >> nausea? >> no. >> body aches? >> no. >> reporter: 11-year-old ethan opens the door to testing an experimental flu vaccine on testing now that tests on adults indicate it is safe. 120 children will undergo blood tests and two injections in the university of maryland study. >> can you take your thumb and hold that on there for me? excellent. >> reporter: the virus first called swine flu when it was erupted in mexico, and h1n1 now, has been sweeping the world since. >> i guess i'll have an

advantage. >> just wanted them to be healthy through the school year and since this is a new strain, we just wanted to make sure that they were as protected as they could be. >> reporter: the new flu is still mild, and it's that strain of the virus researchers have developed a vaccine for. even if the doesn't mutate, it's still nothing you can take lightly among the very young. >> the younger patients are going to have more severe symptoms. >> it's like flipping a coin as to what dose of vaccine he they'll receive. >> reporter: testing which level is more effective comes in follow-up lab work after the shots. running this child with children is critical because they are the age group most like toll spread the flu, because it's spread so else among them that, yes, you could create something like a firewall where you could have the ability to control the virus to a certain extent. >> okay, we are done. >> reporter: in all, 600 children nationwide will be taking part in this study. back to you on tv hill.

>> now, there is some disappointing news about the vaccine. there may not be enough of it to go around this fall. the number of available doses dropped from 120 million to 45 million. two employees at a best buy store in denver stop a shoplifter and tussle with him on the sidewalk. for their efforts they were fired. he grabbed a man and he fell on the pavement. a coworker came to help. best buy says they violated store policy. the men say they were just reacting to the situation. they remain fired tonight. new york's famed central park is site of some major storm damage. this cyclist had to navigate around a large fallen tree after last night's storms there. another tree fell over a fence on to some tennis course. one official said it was the most severe destruction he has seen in central park in over 30 years. >> up and down the east coast

there have been spotty storms that caused damage last night. >> we had some very strong storms across st. mary's county. hail reported this afternoon down there the size of baseballs about two miles away from the leonard town area. that's all gone now. just a few showers left across pa. nothing here at all. take a look at temperatures right now around the region. 75, a warm night, dew points way up there, and where did it rain earlier there will be some fog overnight. south-southwest winds at 5, barometer steady at 29.96 inches. around the state, 70 in oakland, 80 ocean city and hagerstown. we're in the mid-70s around the baltimore metro. again, mostly clear skies right now. i don't think we can see anything in way of showers. just to the north of us there are a few left, but probably not going to make it in here. 70s everywhere, so another warm night with very little wind going. any of that rain we saw earlier across southern virginia,

southern maryland, and you folks on the eastern shore did see some pretty good rain. cloud cover this afternoon started to build, and then we saw the showers developing. as you can see, most of them now to our south, and just a little bit showing across northern york county. really nothing headed for the baltimore washington area at this particular time. although slight chance overnight. now to the west, a really strong front. look at this thing. it looks like it's a big comma. that's a cold front that's going to be heading across the great plains. eventually it will be clearing the east coast and helping to actually kick all this moisture out to the east and also doing a good job at kicking bill out to the northeast away from the east coast. so we get a couple things working here. warm, humid overnight, warm and humid for tomorrow and friday. early saturday this front will cross the region with a good chance of showers and some storms and heavy rain again possible under these, and then it turns cooler and dryer for

the second half of the weekend. looks very nice for next week. bay temperature around # 2 tonight heavy showers are probably not in the forecast, maybe up to our north there could be a little bit of activity, otherwise clouds and sun tomorrow, thunderstorm in the afternoon, a good bet 88. next five days, continued chance on friday, 90. drying out, 86, 84, 84, maybe a leftover shower on saturday mornings but getting much nicer sunday and monday. denise. >> thank, bob. the o's get down and dirty in their attempt to sn a his losing streak. >> mark has more in sports.

down and dirty, that it was phrase we used to describe what went on in tampa bay. >> i guess that means they're trying hard. you can't use the excuse that the orioles are young, not tonight, because tam that bay used a rookie pitcher, too, and their guy was better than the

birds. the 6' 9" right-hander leads all rookies in victories. roberts hit a home run for the o's only run of the game. wasn't enough. meanwhile o's rookie chris tillman is victimized by, you got it, the home run. the o's have given up more home runs than any team in the league. three solo shots off of tillman this one by pat burrell, and the o's drop their fifth straight. their struggles continue. 3-1 the final. denver broncos top receiver brandon marshall says his relationship with that team is at a breaking point which now fuels more speculation about a trade, possibly to the ravens. sporting news radio reports that a brandon marshall trade to baltimore might include quarterback troy smith and

receiver demetrius williams going to denver. there's a feud with broncos management in the history. he met with management today. checking on a raven wlees job is to stop receivers, dominic foxworth was acquired as a free agent. foxworth tells me it's his responsibility to help youth. >> i think we need something positive. i'm not going to have it for long, but i think especially on this team people recognize that and we try to use whatever little bit of celebrity we have to build a good thing in this city. >> foxworth is slated to start at corner op poo sit fabian washington. the ravens are scheduled to practice tomorrow morning. it was nascar day in the nation's cap to. president obama welcomed jimmie

johnson along with tony stewart, jeff gordon, clint bowyer and carl edwards. johnson's 48 chevy parked on the lawn. at the present time said he wanted to take it for a spin, but the secret service suggested against it. richard petty was among those nascar greats also welcomed. the next race is coming up in bristol, tennessee saturday night. >> he's the president, and he can't drive

a san francisco landmark turns into a giant board game. lombard street went from the

world's most crooked street to a version of candy land. the sections were painted and patients from a local children's hospital dressed up as game pieces. this is the 60th anniversary of the candy land game. >> wonder if they're going to

letterman is next with mike meyers. >> thanks for watching eyewitness news on wjz 13, maryland's news station. we hope you have a good night.