a major milestone for baltimore police. the big drop in the murder rate and what's behind the sudden decline. hello everyone i'm vic carter. here is what people are talking about tonight. the city known for its highest murder rate is about to record the fewest homicides in 10 years. it's a big accomplishment for police who vowed they would decrease the numbers. >> reporter: 175 people were murdered in baltimore, if that number holds it'll be the lowest homicide in the city since the 1980s.

christmas eve this cherry hill neighborhood the site of baltimore's 195th homicide. this year investigators aren't stretched to thin. with days to go less than 200 people have been killed in 2011, that's a drop from 219 this time last year and a far cry from 315 murders in 1993. since 2007 the murder rate has fallen in baltimore. last night police commissioner told wjz more work needs to be done. >> the goal is beyond the numbers because here's what we know. while the numbers have come down over the last four years, it hasn't changed people's perceptions. >> reporter: but criminologists credit better policing nationally. >> they are using technology, data, crime patterns, maps to figure out what the hot spots, what the trend is in terms of

crime. >> reporter: they're cracking down on repeat offenders like a man who murdered a john hopkins researcher. john wagner now serving a life sentence for killing pitkaren. >> i want to thank them for their help in prosecuting mr. wagner who in many ways is the poster child for the type of offenders that my office is committed to prosecuting. >> reporter: taking violent criminals off the streets, helping make neighborhoods safer. >> more progress, the number of nonfatal shootings has been cut in half since the year 2000. juvenile homicides are at a 30 year low. megan mckorkel. the number of robbery, and deaths are dropping since july. firefighters are battling a two alarm fire on washington boulevard in elk ridge.

firefighters were called to help battle the flames. we have a crew on the scene and we're working to get more information. a scare brings the bomb squad to baltimore city hall, someone noticed a package outside of city hall. it was wrapped in a t-shirt with the word bomb on it. turns out there were no explosives just a box of chicken. offices were closed today for the holiday, police are looking for surveillance video to see if they can catch the person behind the hoax. jerry lewis turned himself in to police in laurel. he's suspected of killing his exgirl friend and 2-year-old son. he will be sent back to new york to face murder charges. five relatives are killed in a christmas fire.

investigators investigators spent the day looking for what caused the flames. >> reporter: crews knocked down the building that killed a family. >> attempted rescues within the structure that were pushed back by intense flame and heat. >> reporter: the fire gutted the victorian style home that sits along the long island sound. a well known advertising executive, madonna badger owns the house and escaped along with a male contractor who was helping with the renovation. but badgers' two daughters and parents did not survive. >> it's so terribly sad. you would hope that everybody would have gotten out at least so they would be alive to enjoy another christmas. >> reporter: monday neighbors dropped off flowers for the victims while investigators work to figure out what sparked

the deadly fire. in new york, manuel gallegus. officials believe embers from a yule log may have sparked the fire. a pickup truck slammed head on into that car on cold spring lane near green spring avenue. firefighters cut the driver of the car out and rushed her to the hospital. caught in the act, anne arundel county police are looking for johnson. he tried to cut catalytic converters from vehicles. another suspect has not been found. >> reporter: baltimore's grand prix may get a second chance. the next schedule lists the

streets of baltimore lists the sites of a race november 2nd. but mayor blake has said she will pull the plug behind unpaid bills. >> they need to pay their debt. so we can move forward. >> reporter: last month the state the placed a tax lean on baltimore racing development. >> i know they owed money to baltimore and owed money to vendors but when they owe money to the tax man they're in trouble. >> reporter: race organizers owe half a million for amusement tax. $250,000 for a race event fee and $50,000 for parking at city owned facilities. despite all of that some city officials are optimistic that the financial problems can be resolved. >> i want to make certain that the city taxes are paid, the amusement taxes are paid and if there is a 2012 race there has to be a plan that allows it to be sustainable moving forward.

>> reporter: jay davidson stepped down amidst the controversy. >> we don't have the money sitting around other wise we would have paid it. >> reporter: the 2012 schedule is subject to change. the mayor is threatening to end the grand prix five year contract with baltimore if these financial problems are not solved by december 31st. that's just a couple of days away. downtown baltimore, i'm adam may, wjz eyewitness news. this year's grand prix brought in $47 million into baltimore for less than what race organizers expected -- far less than what race organizers expected. the person responsible for this gooey mess is having trouble paying for clean up. the tar damaged vehicles last month. a leak in a truck caused that premess. the roads to malls have been packed all day as people have been trying to change

gifts. >> reporter: in the season of giving this was the day of returns as many hit the malls in maryland to exchange or leave behind presents that weren't so welcome. >> there's a lot of long lines this christmas, it's kind of irritating. >> we're just about to return one of my brother's airplanes that he got because it was broken. >> reporter: nationwide $46.3 billion in gifts will go back. a number that's up 4% from last year. that's about 10% of the total sales throughout the holiday period. changing policies are changing some frustration. at target, the return period has been shortened to 45 days from 90. but the restocking fee was dropped. at best buy the return deadline was shortened too by one week. toys r' us and sears have both shortened the return time for electronics, and amazon.com has 30 different policies, returns are tied specifically to the product you buy. >> even if you've been shopping at the same place or with the same retailer, they may have changed the rules this year so

you have to pay attention. >> reporter: many retailers are still trying to ring sales out of an especially good holiday season before they ring in the new year. >> everyone has a lot of sales going on, so any gifts you missed for christmas is a great day to pick them up today. >> we're getting games, clothes and i just got this today. >> sales are wonderful. you should try it. you need christmas gifts for next year, start now. >> reporter: make sure you check the return policy before you go. mike hellgren, wjz eyewitness news. nationwide sales are up 3% from november 3rd to this weekend compared to last rear. coming up, striking it rich in las vegas, a man leaves sin city $10,000 richer. what he did next with the cash that is just as surprising. and i got up and i threw my hands up and i said, take the money if you want it. that clerk didn't give up without a fight. see the stunning video of the worker stopping a robber right

in his tracks. waiting for a winner, i'm derek valcourt in elkton where some lucky soul struck it rich. wait till you hear how much, i'll tell you coming up on eyewitness news. i'm meteorologist bernadette woods in for bob turk tonight. it's going to be a dry weekend but there is some rain on the way. we'll have the eyewitness forecast when eyewitness news returns. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

it's 31 degrees and cloudy in central maryland right now. crime doesn't play especially when you're up against a carolina clerk with a one-two punch. clerk derrick motherhead gave him a punch to go with it. his head started bleeding. derrick called police and while waiting he tossed paper towels and made him clean his own blood. protesters have a hard time keeping the peace in tennessee. these women started fighting right in the middle of a christmas celebration at occupy nashville. the woman in the right is reportedly pregnant. it's still not clear why they started fighting in the first place. police in texas are looking for a motive after a man dressed as santa claus goes on

a shooting rampage. the family of six started opening gifts, that's when a relative dressed as santa claus went in the apartment and starting firing. police have not said how the victims are related. friends of alan gross are protesting for his release from cuba. the contractor is accused of trying to undermine the laws of cuba. supporters say they still have hope. >> we need to see justice everywhere. we stand in faith, in hope, in love and in peace that the government will have a heart and let allen gross go.

>> the cuban government announced it would free 300 prisoners but gross is not on the list. the maker of a baby formula tries to put an end to some parents fears. there -- enfamil says there is no bacteria in their formula. no one expects to become a saint in sin city, but a colorado man may have come close. mitch gilbert was waiting at the airport in las vegas when he found two cesar's palace envelope with thousands of dollars cash. instead of trying to keep the money, he tried to return it. a man from el paso had reported the cash missing. >> i knew right then that was the guy. >> i will always thank mitch for doing this. >> the man says he won the money gambling and dropped it while he was running to catch a flight. lucky man in cecil county

won't have to worry about money for the restover his -- restover rest -- rest of his life. derek valcourt went searching for the winner. >> reporter: folks are scratching their heads. >> we don't know who it is. >> reporter: some lucky person bought the winning power ball jackpot ticket here on christmas eve. the number is 14, 16, 30, 51, 52 with a power ball of 19 and a power play of two will make someone rich. but even westly's owners don't know who. >> a lottery was in today. they secured the machine, they checked some stuff in the machine, they told us what time the ticket was sold, it was sold at 3:13 p.m. we checked our cameras to that time place. i sold the ticket to a gentleman and i don't know who he is or his name. >> reporter: the guy that is holding the ticket has already called in to the store to confirm his numbers he says he's going to wait a few days

before coming forward to claim his prize. what a prize, take the cash option it's just shy of 79 million. after taxes nearly 52 million in cash. >> most of the time power ball mega millions they could be hit in ohio, washington state. so just to have it in maryland is like hitting the lottery yourself. >> reporter: the store itself gets a prize, 25,000 cash for selling the jackpot ticket but it's the winner who has people here green with envy. >> whoever won i hope it's somebody that really needed it and will do good stuff about it. >> reporter: the lottery will open offices on tuesday, that's the earliest the winner can come forward to claim his mega prize. you have another chance strike it rich tomorrow, the lottery is worth 152 million dollars. you can buy a lot of things, make a lot of people happy. >> i wonder who it is that won.

>> what's going on? >> not much you? >> i'm just happy to be here. >> i am too. weather wise too was beautiful. >> yes, it was. >> we have rain headed our way, over all the pattern is not that bad. let's get in here to show you. we topped out today 49 degrees. not too bad above average and we're going to remain above average for most of this forecast. coming in at 31 right now. temperatures have been dropping with winds dying down. tonight those winds are turning around to the south. they will be picking up and that's all because there's a storm moving our way. here's a look at that storm, it's passing just by the gulf right now picking up a lot of moisture along the way. at the same time there's another part of the storm right up here and that's going the leave cold air behind it. this is all getting directed our way, the clouds are already on the increase. this is really picking up a lot of rain. rain could become heavy at times, maybe a thunderstorms with this. the cold air is far off to the north, any chance of rain around here is pretty much for

western maryland at the end of this storm and that's about it. this is going to be a wet one not necessarily a white one. then the rain gets out of here. that's going to bring the colder air and even though temperatures will take a hit closer to average we're still going to be in the 40s for our high. out on the waters with this going on, we have the average going into effect tomorrow. advisories again on wednesday with those winds up. notice sunset getting later now already. 4:50p.m. today's forecast we're going down into the 20s with those clouds increasing, tomorrow we are going up close to 50 degrees. rain coming in heavy at times. gets out of here by wednesday, temperatures taking a bit of a hit but close to average that's about it. by friday we see more clouds coming in. that's going to get out of here as we head into another holiday weekend. at this point though, doesn't look to develop temperature, we're back up in the 50s by friday. by saturday still in the 40s.

vic. >> thank you very much bernadette. check in with jessica cartalia and marty bass tomorrow afternoon starting at 4:55 for the weather forecast. the injury buff bites the ravens again. sam has the latest player knocked out for the rest of the season, next in sports. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

throughout the season the ravens have been pretty healthy. stan is here with the sports report. >> there are a lot of changes going on. for now there are no plans to bring in a wide receiver to do something about those guys dropping the football lately. let's keep talking, the ravens did a roster move regarding a player that sometimes seems

ininjury ridden. reed making a cut during his only kick return to the game, his knee buckles. today lee was placed on injured reserve, he's done done until next year. this after leading the nfl in kick off average next season as a rookie. sunday's game in cincinnati will feature a play off atmosphere with play off implications at stake. the ravens need this to clench the wild card. coach john harbaugh explained what winning would do for the purple birds. >> what it would mean is that we would be the division champs and that's the opportunity that we have. if you want to see it at home, if you win all the games in your division you're probably going to be in pretty good shape at the end of the year no matter what happens. >> don't forget the only place to watch the ravens wrap up the regular season is right here on wjz13 live from cincinnati. college bowl, college football bowl action this evening under the lights of the

independence bowl in shreveport louisiana. the tigers tore too the tar hill, 41-34. finally among 12 games played on this second day of the nba season, john wild and the washington wizards -- john wall and the washington wizards. no look past from williams to chris humphreys. you remember him, the kim kardashian, i don't think she was on his mind today. it's how you finish not how you start. >> thanks stan. talk about a memorable holiday, this is a christmas one boy will not soon forget. >> oh my god, oh my god.

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they were hoping for santa but a utah boy got a reindeer instead. the family was putting their children to bed when a deer crashed into the window. they hid for about three hours until animal control was able to get the animal out of the house. that's a big deer. he crushed a few boxes but luckily none of the presents were damaged. president obama receives a christmas surprise by an 8 -month-old baby. the president was posing with the baby, when the baby boy put his hand right into mr. obama's

mouth. the baby is cooper wagner, son of captain wagner who has served in the means for eight years. the first family is currently on his family vacation. the grinch strikes in north ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

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