. a mishap on a metro escalator sends several to the hospital. why one rider says metro's explanation can't be true. a strong storm rips into a school sending windows, walls and people flying. strong storms roll through the region spawning a tornado in southern maryland. >> tonight we are getting our first look as the wild weather

moves on. viewers sent in pictures of a water spout in calavert county. >> amazing. any time we talk about a water spout normally this type of tornado, as soon as i saw the tornado warning come out i knew this was not going to be anything of significance. and we have not seen any damage reports. this is the radar right now. nothing to show you here. but between 5:00 and 7:00 look at the storms developing here over the patuxent river. this is one where we saw that tornado come down on top of the patuxent river. a water spout is a tornado which touches down on the water. i don't think we'll see a repeat of this over the next couple days. but our severe weather threat will increase over the next couple days. out there right now we're talking about temperatures still at 80 degrees at this hour. we are in for more heat too. we'll talk about it coming up.

thank you, doug. complete chaos is how riders described an escalator accident that five people injured. one witness says that metro is the one to blame. jim rosenfield has an account of what went wrong. >> reporter: we're on the upper level of the metro station and this is the escalator that sent three people to the hospital with cuts and scrapes this morning. see that missing section of the side panel? that's where the problem started. >> catastrophic. >> reporter: that's how ronnie cusack describes her morning commute. she noticed something wrong with the escalator as she boarded ahead of the group that would tumble behind her. >> it was loose and loud. >> reporter: what was it hitting? >> the escalator stairs. >> reporter: then an alarming sight. >> it was flipping up. >> reporter: into the air?

>> yeah. >> reporter: one commuter's injury was bad enough she had to look away. >> i'm hurt, i'm hurt. and that's when of course you saw her gaping wound. >> reporter: metro said a rider's bag got caught on the panel and dislodged it. cusack is not buying a rider is to blame. >> it was already dislodged when we got on the escalator. >> reporter: metro says that's what investigations are for. and in the meantime this escalator will remain closed. in southwest, jim rosenfield, news4. we now know the details of a bill on gambling expansion in maryland. the governor summited the legislation in order for a sixth casino to go up the state of maryland has to vote in favor in november. the governor's plan would expapd table games to all casinos in the state not just the one at national harbor. it would not allow internet

gambling. a special session to consider the legislation is set to convene on thursday. now to the outrage that still lingers from this summer's derecho storm. thousands lost power and pepco quickly became public enemy number one. locals got their chance to sound off against the utility tonight and erika gonzalez is live in rockville with their complaints. >> that meeting just ended a few minutes ago, proving to be a very long night for residents and pepco executives. this is the first meeting of eight scheduled for maryland. >> if you cannot make the utilities work for the very people who they are supposed to be serving, what the hell are you doing here sitting here? >> reporter: about 100 residents like ed who was left without power for six days after the derecho stood before the

maryland public commission to express their frustration. half a million pepco customers were without power. >> i rely on a medical device, neither of which were not operational. >> reporter: judy brought pictures to drive home her point. others crafted poetry. >> mocha is a nice place to be unless you like electricity. >> are pepco execs sat quietly as the insults came one after another. did pepco do the best it could have done during the storm? >> i believe we did. i think this is a storm that hit us without warning. >> reporter: others took the psc to task for not holding the company's feet to the fire. >> you the last thing we have to protect us. >> reporter: instead of contemplating rate hikes. they are seeking a rate hike in the fall.

you have customers saying how are you going to charge me more for power that i didn't have during a storm? these are all questions that pepco will still have to answer. meanwhile the second meeting will be scheduled for tomorrow night in largo. this evening live in rockville, erika gonzalez, news4. police have arrested an a man who is charged with abducting and sexually assaulting two young girls in lewis dale. he is accused of abducting a six-year-old from the value village thrift store. the parents called police when they realized their daughter was missing. an officer at a park saw the man with the girl and arrested him. he did admit to sexually assaulting her. >> he wasn't able to get out of his car while the girl was running toward him. he started somewhat crying and got down on his knees, hugged

the girl and at this point the only thing i can say is, it's only one in a million. >> police say he admitted to kidnapping an eight-year-old from the thrift store last month and said the girl fought back and got away before he was able to harm her. police are trying to figure out the circumstances behind two suspicious deaths in arlington. 59-year-old keith sprigs and 39-year-old karl moton found death in a north culpepper street apartment. the men knew each other but investigators are not saying how the men died. a popular summer camp has been shut down amid allegations of a possible fight club. police are investigating the claims which involve counsellors and attendees at camp brown in scotland maryland. there have not been arrests but the youth workers have been fired. camp brown is run by the boys

and girls club of greater washington. the group decided to cease activities during the investigation saying that the safety of the youth they serve is their highest priority. the man behind a shooting rampage in arizona strikes a plea deal. jared loughner pled guilty to an attack that left six people dead and 13 others injured including gabrielle giffords. he will spend the rest of his life in prison. >> reporter: he was rushed back to the courthouse behind the tinted windows of this suv. inside the courtroom, he had nowhere to hide. his competency and change of plea proceeding began with testimony from a prison psychologist who described loughner as a psychopath. but who now after more than a year of treatment has quote, become human, crying for the victims of the killing spree especially the 9-year-old. evidence, she conclude that

loughner was capable of understanding what he is accused of and competent to stand trial. >> the judge agreed and moved forward with a hearing to consider a plea agreement. prosecutors waving the death penalty in exchange for a guilty plea and life in prison without possibility of parole. the judge describes the day that six were killed and 13 injured and referred to all the victims by name. loughner responding after each i plead guilty and burns accepted the pleas. >> we feel this is a certain, just and appropriate resolution of this case. >> been a difficult day. we remember the six that aren't with us today. and it hurts. >> reporter: a pain survivors say that can't be eased by anything that happens in a courtroom. jay gray, nbc news, tucson. a copy cat or just

coincidence? tonight an explanation from an ohio man who was arrested for bringing several knives, guns and ammo to a screening of the bat man on saturday. he said he used it for protection. he felt a sense of fear about going to the movies and chose the dark knight rises by coincidence. dozens of trees in great falls virginia will be removed after a driver was killed after a tree crushed his car. residents told v dot about other trees that might be unsafe. inspections turned up 60 trees that are dead or in decline. they will be started to be removed next week. the damage as a tornado barrels through a school with people still in it. a drink for kids lands two men behind bars. what they tried to sneak through dulles airport.

another big night for team usa as a gymnast captures two medals in one day. and a dramatic finish means two u.s. teams will compete against each other for gold. dan hellie has the latest from london. [ cullen ] take a day off? i don't even take a morning off. [ danell ] i haven't ordered dessert in two years. [ gwen ] you know that best selling book everyone loves? i haven't read it. [ carlos ] i haven't watched tv since last summer. hey, i've been busy. [ breathing heavily ] [ male announcer ] citi is proud to sponsor our dedicated u.s. athletes, every step of the way.

i know what it's like to hire people and to make ends meet. from those experiences, i had the chance of running the olympics. the games were in real trouble. there'd been way too much spending. and in massachusetts i found a budget that was badly out of balance. our legislature was 85% democrat. and every one of the four years i was governor, we balanced the budget. i want to use those experiences to help americans have a better future. we believe in our future. we believe in ourselves. we believe the greatest days of america are ahead. i'm mitt romney and i approve this message. [ male announcer ] before they soar. ♪ before they perform. ♪ before they inspire. ♪ before they amaze.

♪ before they move us, we move them. proud to fly team usa for over 30 years. united. some surveillance video just released shows that tornado ripping through a school in kentucky, the same storm system that damaged henryville, indiana in march. you can see the winds knocking down walls and tossing a maintenance workers. students started their new

school year today. while their school is rebuilt they will hold classes in a warehouse. four pounds of cocaine hidden in drink boxes and a spice bottle over the weekend. investigators found the drugs tucked inside the luggage of two men from el salvador. the faa is implementing a new policy nationwide. air traffic controllers are banned from using a traffic reverse procedure. it allowed planes to take off and land opposite the normal flow of traffic. three u.s. airways jets came close to each other. controllers redirected the planes for weather. the faa plans to have a new policy next month. a big night for u.s. women's gymnastics but disappointments for a veteran and newcomer just missing out on a medal on the track. dan hellie has what wrap up.

>> a good day for aly raisman. she takes a bronze in the balance beam and a gold on the floor. you combine that with her overall gold for her team and she has three medals. raisman raised her game on the biggest stage of the game. her floor exercise was nearly flawless. so much height on her tumbling basses she could have touched the top of the tower bridge. and her landings were stuck time and time again. raisman with a gold-medal performance, surprising even herself. >> it felt amazing and just really exciting. it still hasn't hit me yet. this day has been amazing. women's 100 meter hurdles, dawn harper won silver and lolo jones, a very disappointing fourth place finish. speaking of disappointing the men's 1500 meter final featured

matthew centrowitz. but leo manzano had a late surge coming up with the silver. centrowitz misses the bronze by one-tenth of a second. but his father, an olympian himself in 1976 still extremely proud watching his son perform from the standing. >> coach, unbelievable feeling just to be here in the olympics. but to finish so close from a medal what was going through your head? >> we have to start from the beginning. today i'm dad. and it's a different feeling being a father. very, very proud of my son, obviously coming from maryland and working through the high schools and being here at the olympic finals. 12 best in the world line up and

they shoot the gun. and obviously, his goals were higher. but you know, a couple tenths out of second or first place is amazing to me. and very, very proud of him. and so is our whole family. >> matt centrowitz sr. the track coach at american university for 12 years. he qualified for 1980 olympics as well as 1976 but we boycotted those games. that will do it from here in london at the olympics. i'm dan hellie. back to you in the studio. tomorrow night it will be an all american showdown on the beach for women's volleyball. kerri walsh jennings and misty may-treanor are headed for their third olympic final match. they will face ross and casey who beat brazil. you can see who takes home the

gold tomorrow on news4. >> that will be fun to watch. >> we almost lost a number of times. great for them to pull it out. >> so are we going to have a calm night tonight and good rush tomorrow? >> calm night tonight and good rush tomorrow. >> thanks doug. coming up next. >> we're going to see storms. we're going to be fine. but if you have friends down around maybe cozumel, mexico, not so much. this is down to the south of cozumel on the yucatan peninsula, hurricane ernesto making its felt but is it the storm itself making its way on land. that storm has intensified. it now has winds of 85 miles an hour. it's just now to the south of cancun here. a well-defined hurricane at this hour. it was not so about 12 to 24 hours ago. it will bring heavy rains to this area.

and winds gusting up to 100 miles an hour. they could see damage here. the one good thing here is south of cozumel which is right up here there is not a lot of people that live down in this area. a lot of farms. it doesn't look like it will affect too many people. but they are still going to be watching this closely. as far is as our weather is concerned a calm night after a high of 90 degrees and low of 77. the 42th day at or above 90. not much in the way of thunderstorm activity tomorrow. but today we spawned a tornado in the southern portions of maryland. and southern maryland will be under the gun again. 80 right now with winds calm with cloudy skies. we'll continue to see clouds coming up from the south. a warm night. 73 in leesburg. and 76 in fredericksburg. a few storms out there on the

delmarva. and down to the south this is where they will be tomorrow. in fredericksburg calavert county across the bay south of washington that is the area where you have a chance of seeing the storms. you can see the storms from today. we're still under the cloud cover. over the next few days this boundary will work its way up. we'll see the thunderstorm chances increase. they increase a little bit tomorrow. but increase during the day on thursday for just about everybody. not a lot of widespread storms on thursday but just about everybody has a chance of strong to severe storms. on friday everybody has a chance of significant rain, a half inch to an inch. we need the rain out here but not the severe weather. and friday could be a day with severe weather. tomorrow 65 to 75 degrees in the morning. in the afternoon, partly sunny, very warm and humid. isolated storms, most likely in

through southern maryland and along the potomac river on the northern neck. temperatures 88 to 93 degrees. tomorrow it will be humid with a heat index around 93 to 96. same on thursday. and once again a lot of rain on friday with strong storms. a high of 90 degrees there. saturday storms early. a 50% chance of storms through 1:00, 2:00. and things improve. late saturday into the day on sunday, sunday and monday are some of the nicest days we have seen most of this summer. a lot of the summer has been hot and humid. those days are nice. >> something to look forward to. >> two days. coming up in sports, mike shanahan looks for his rookies to step up. over the next four months, you have a choice to make. t just between two political parties, or even two people. it's a choice between two very different plans for our country.

governor romney's plan would cut taxes for the folks at the very top. roll back regulations on big banks. and he says that if we do, our economy will grow and everyone will benefit. but you know what? we tried that top down approach. it's what caused the mess in the first place. i believe the only way to create an economy built to last is to strengthen the middle class. asking the wealthy to pay a little more so we can pay down our debt in a balanced way. so that we can afford to invest in education, manufacturing, and home-grown american energy for good middle class jobs. sometimes politics can seem very small. but the choice you face, it couldn't be bigger. ♪ i'm barack obama and i approve this message.

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in the middle of me where the world revolves around you. can i go now? [ sea ] sure! ♪ ♪ [ female announcer ] now sailing from baltimore.

did that baseball game ever end? >> extra, extra, read all about it. baseball fans will be tired and happy. >> good. >> does that give it away. extra innings again tonight for game two of the nationals and astros. it only fprolongs the agony for the houston fans. the astros are 0-10 in extra inning games going into tonight. let's look at the tyler clippard mini-me in the stands. top two dan wheresny espinoza t at two. top 12. espinoza facing mickey story. the single scores and the nats

take a 3-2 lead. bottom of the inning, clippard. he blew the save last night and gets a second chance tonight and a smash. but roger bernadino in the wall. is that crazy? >> can we show it again? >> we cannot. we're out of time. the o's come back against the mariners. down 7-4 in the seventh. the three-run home run ties the game at 7. this one's going to go to 14 innings. top 14, adam jones, bases loaded. buck showalter and the game winning run scores and the orioles win 8-7 in 14 innings.

20 rookies on the redskins training catch roster. only one at the top of the depth chart in his position and that is robert griffin iii. everyone else eager to impress. it's one thing to do it in practice and the test comes in the pre-season games. mike shanahan tells us why it's not meaningless to them. >> that's why they're here in the ota days. five, six weeks to get a chance to practice the rookies and get them ready to play in the first game and go through the camp and now you see how they do it under pressure. that's part of the evaluation of the pre-season games to find the best 53 players and obviously on your team and the practice squad as well. and it takes a few games to find out who are those players and how they adjust under pressure. >> nbc 4 is your official redskins station.

we'll have the complete highlights on news4 following the olympics. we're nonstop in the sports office. >> don't wait till thursday ♪ ♪ [ rob ] i'm rob fluhr, and i work at ge. our team builds advanced imaging technology that can show why biceps need triceps... how shoulders create torque... and why a longer muscle is a swifter muscle. ♪ there is so much we know about the human body. ♪ but we're still amazed... by the human spirit. ge works. ♪

president clinton and a bi-partisan congress helped end welfare as we know it, by requiring work for welfare. but on july 12th, president obama quietly announced a plan to gut welfare reform by dropping work requirements. under obama's plan, you wouldn't have to work, and wouldn't have to train for a job -- they just send you your welfare check. and welfare to work goes back to being plain, old welfare. mitt romney will restore the work requirement, because it works. [ romney ] i'm mitt romney and i approve this message.

music food and an important message tonight in lewisdale for the national night out.

is it an initiative to build partnerships between police and the neighborhoods they serve. tonight we have our first color photo from nasa's mission to mars. this is from the rover curiosity. the black and white part is the nasa rendering of what the rest of the landscape would look like. the curiosity will attempt to explore that crater looking for possible life on mars. so exciting to get these pictures from mars. >>