out there. veronica, straight to the stormcenter we go. what's the word? >> the word is we've had a number of severe thunderstorm warnings already for the potential of high wind and hail being produced from some of these storms. those storms have been just west of d.c. and south of d.c. as we zoom on in to where there is a current warning right now, it is for warren county, shenandoah county in virginia as well as frederick county in virginia and hardy county in west virginia. this cell making its way northeastward at 35 to 40 miles per hour. it will hit strasburg by 4:15 and on toward middletown by 4:22. off to the east another area i'm watching. this cell packing some lightning just south of bluemont headed toward western loudoun county, they may issue a warning on that. when i return i'll have a lot more on those storms that are out there right now and where ike we could see more coming up. just a few minutes ago, officials confirmed to us that

one worker has died after this parking garagecollapsed at the westfield montgomery mall in bethes bethesda. >> that rescue is under way to reach another trapped worker. the garage is being renovated so there were no customers or employees parked inside the garage at the time. the mall is right off 270 at democracy boulevard. mark segraves is live with a look at the efforts to free the worker. mark? >> reporter: that's right. dozens and dozens of first responders from all over the county are here on the scene. police, fire and rescue. we've seen the crews go in with the hard hats, going into the structure to do the rescue. one person is confirmed dead. they are providing medical attention to another person who is trapped inside. now, we just saw them take some construction equipment inside because they're trying to shore up the area where the person is trapped. we just heard from the chief of the fire department. he told us what that operation is all about.

>> we're working with the engineers on the scene as well as our own urban search and rescue task force engineers. we're developing a plan to stabilize the collapsed area first in order to make it safe for the rescue to take place. >> again, back here live on westlake drive, which is closed. we're on the back side of montgomery mall. if you're familiar with this area, this is the entrance to macy's, and this food court -- the garage that collapsed is what your entrance into the food court it is. it is on the second level of that parking structure, about a 40-foot area. that collapsed. this happened just before 2:00. we have no cause of the structural collapse here, but they say it is not related to the mall. the mall romai remains open. the mall itself has not been damaged. again, one person confirmed dead, another person still trapped. rescue workers are on the scene. maryland state police by helicopter have flown in doctors

who are specialists with dealing with this kind of trauma. that's the scene here at montgomery mall. mark segraves, news4. >> members of that go team, the doctors and medical personnel, do we know if they're talking with that second victim? are they communicate the with the worker? >> reporter: we have been told actually -- i don't know if the doctors are talking to them, but we know that first responders are able to communicate with the person still alive and trapped underneath that rubble. we're told the way that structure collapsed, it formed kind of a lean-to. if you can see how my pad is sla slanted here where it's promppp up on one side. >> we could see that tilt on that one panel. 40 feet long it is. mark segraves, thank you. this is near the macy's and the popular food court. this mall has been open throughout this rescue operation. >> tom sherwood was actually the

first reporter on the scene of the collapse. he continues our live coverage with reaction from one woman who was near that garage just minutes before the collapse. tom? >> reporter: pat, this was a typical preholiday crowd here at the mall. people were coming and going as usual, but suddenly police and rescue squads screamed to the site. police were blocking off whole sections of parking near macy's. shoppers scattered. one shopper described the scene. >> i heard a loud sound. i just stopped because it was pretty loud, to see what was going on. i didn't realize that it was the parking garage that had collapsed. i would say like a really loud bomb or just a really loud bang. that's why i stopped because i wasn't sure what it was. i didn't know, did a bomb go off? i had parked right there where now it's blocked off. it makes you wonder there's that saying where you never know what's going to happen the next

minute. it's really true. i'm just happy that i was out. >> reporter: as mark reported, the mall remains open and cars in other sections of the parking lot are being allowed to come and go. a lot of the store employees and customers coming up were totally unaware of what happened outside until they saw the police and emergency cars here. we're staying on the scene here to see what happens next. we'll be back and have new information. live at montgomery mall, tom sherwood, news4. >> stay with news4 for continuing coverage of this breaking news. we're on the scene and still making calls right now. of course you can find more updates on nbcwashington.com. now to the latest in oklahoma. actually we're going to the live desk right now with breaking news about the sentencing of swim coach rick curl in a sex abuse case. >> yeah, just a few minutes ago the sentence came down. he's being sentenced to 15 years in prison. part of that sentence was suspended so he'll end up serving about eight years behind

bars. this of course comes after his sex abuse trial. again, the actual sentence for 15 years. all but seven of that now suspended. a swimmer accused him of abusing her about 30 years ago when curran was just a teenager. she said the abuse started when she was 13, lasted for about five years until she was 18. curran also said that curl paid her family to keep this quiet for so many years. curl once ran a swim club here in our area. he has coached several swimmers, several have gone on to win national and international medals. now he's a convicted sex offender so he'll spend about eight years in prison. chris gordon was in the courtroom when the sentence came down. he'll have reaction from that woman who accused him and all the latest happening at the sentencing today. reporting at the live desk, i'm richard jordan. back to you. now to the latest in oklahoma. today in moore the first funeral

for one of the youngest victims killed in monday's massive tornado, the 9-year-old girl died when the twister hit the plaza towers elementary school. the mayor is also revealing new numbers on the widespread impact. he said 33,000 people and 13,000 homes have been affected by the tornado. oklahoma's governor is allowing residents to return to their homes to search for belongings, but heavy storms are now hampering cleanup efforts. >> news4 is teaming up with the red cross today and all evening to raise money for the victims of the tornado. we have a team standing by there to take your calls and donations this evening. if you'd like to make a donation please call us at 202-885-4949. chuck bell, you see him working the phones for us. we'll check in with him in just a bit. overseas, british police just made two more arrests in connection with yesterday's knife attack near a military base in london. they are suspected of

conspiracy. today authorities confirmed the victim was a 25-year-old active duty british soldier. one of the two suspects arrested right after the killing appeared in this amateur video while holding a knife. he boasted about the crime and even warned of more violence. police then shot and wounded them. today authorities said the men were investigated in the past as possible security threats. now they are trying to determine if they are part of a wider terror plot. police searched the scene and an apartment today looking for evidence. security near the scenery mains tight. children had to make their way through police tape to get to school this morning. the massive zippisinkhole oh street isn't just causing traffic problems back here. we'll tell you how the hole in the road has become an internet celebrity. plus rg3 shows what he can do with his knee. the new video that has football fans feeling optimistic today. i've been working at radar. a severe thunderstorm warning continues in virginia for

shenandoah county, warren county and for frederick county too in virginia. i've been tracking storms all afternoon and will continue to do so. here's a look at your good night forecast. we've got the threat for thunderstorms until 9:00, 10:00, possibly even 11:00. we'll go from warm and steamy to cooler and big, big changes for the memorial day weekend. i'll have the very latest as we continue with a look at storm team 4 radar in just a few minutes. and again, we're following breaking news out of bethesda. that partial garage collapse at montgomery mall. stay with us, we're coming right back. hey, so uh... what's going on here?

do you want the long or short answer? long i guess. chevy is having a big...huge, in fact...event. the-great-deals-on-our-most- fuel-efficient-lineup-ever- for-just-a-very-short-time-so- you-better-hurry-extravaganza! so what's the short answer? awesome. [ male announcer ] the chevy memorial day sale. now, combine current offers for a total cash allowance of $2,500 on a 2013 chevy malibu. offer ends june 3rd!

i'm storm team 4 meteorologist chuck bell and we are partnering with the american red cross today to raise money for disaster relief in oklahoma. we'll

it's going to be another tough road home today because of that 14th street zippisinkhole tonight. it opened up on tuesday. ddot is hoping to have two southbound lanes open in time for the evening rush but it may be doubtful.

the activity is near new york avenue and pennsylvania. maybe a couple of days before things get back to normal down there. d.c. water crews are working round the clock tonight to repair that gaping hole. and it was only a matter of time, folks, that sinkhole would have its own twitter account. that's right, the name is sinkhole. already 100 followers in the past 24 hours. @14th street sinkhole shows dozens of tweets including i'm here. i'm square, get used to it. it also has a few song lyrics and a twist on the classic don't fence me in. give me land, lots of land, under starry skies above. don't fill me in. veronica will fill us in on storms she is tracking in our area. here's a look at the radar. she'll tell us what storms will affect memorial day weekend. we're working for oklahoma this afternoon teaming up to

raise money for the tornado victims. to make a donation, please call 282-885-4949.

i'm richard jordan at the news4 live desk with an update on the breaking news at the montgomery county mall. the parking garage collapsed that killed one worker, still has another worker trapped. no mall patrons were involved here because this garage has been undergoing some renovations. montgomery county fire and rescue officials are confirming the death of that one worker. they are still on the scene trying to rescue the second worker, who is trapped underneath the rubble there. you can see from these pictures from chopper 4 taken earlier, a large concrete slab there fell into the garage. no word on exactly what caused that to happen. but westlake drive is closed at democracy boulevard and the mall entrances there are also closed to traffic right now. we'll keeping aeye on the scene and follow the rescue of the worker. the country watched in shock during monday's devastating tornado in oklahoma. the small town of moore was destroyed and residents need all

the help they can get right now. that's why nbc4 and the american red cross are teaming up to help people who lost so much in that storm. >> storm team 4 meteorologist chuck bell joins us with more on how you can help the victims of this devastation. chuck? >> hi, jim and pat. an absolutely critical effort under way here at nbc4. we're partnered up today with the american red cross to help bring some disaster relief to those so hard impacted out across oklahoma. thousands of people now completely displaced, their homes no longer available to be lived in. of course as is always the case whenever there is trouble in measure, the american red cross has stepped in and they are leading the charge to help bring some storm relief to all those in oklahoma. if you'd like to call in, we have three folks with oklahoma connections here and of course our celebrity all star wendy rieger also answering the phones as well. if you'd like to be part of the conversation, the number is on your screen, 202-885-4949.

more than 90 cents out of every dollar raised by the red cross goes to relief efforts. more than 90%. and that is critical of the and the reason that they're so effective at all that is because more than 95% of the people who do the work for the red cross are volunteers. we'll be here all afternoon through the 4, 5 and 6 manning the phones, talking to some of these folks once they have a minute to talk to us. for now back into the studio. let's get the latest now on the storms that we've had nnls area today. >> i'm still watching for the next ten minutes here. severe thunderstorm warning right up here in areas of warren county, around shenandoah county, around frederick county in virginia and eastern hardy county. the red that you're seeing there is now a flash flood warning for areas of frederick and shenandoah county until 7:15 because of the fact that they have had so much rain there. they have already picked up an inch of rain and could get

another inch before the cell moves on out. you can see areas that will be impacted the next couple of minutes. lebanon church. then high view manor in the next 21 minutes. i'm also looking at this cell too over northern loudoun county now. it's possible that it could be producing some hail. with any of the storms we get come through here, there could be high winds as well. upwards of 50, maybe even 60 miles per hour. this cell starting to decrease in intensity, moving through areas of western orange county now. we've got eanother one coming into western charles county, all packing quite a bit of rain. because of our high humidity today, the atmosphere again holding a lot of humidity. our main threat for storms this evening, let's break it down for you. our hail threat and our wind threat will be the highest. there is, however, the potential with any of these storms that come over some of the same areas, the potential for flooding and there's also the potential today, albeit much

lower, there is the potential for an isolated tornado. our temperature stands at 82 degrees right now. again, we're talking scattered storms, and scattered storms that will continue through the evening. probably not ending until blechb:blechabout 11:00 p.m. we'll go from 82 degrees to 68 degrees. the storm moves through about 5:00. here we are at about midnight, 1:00 a.m. in the morning when things really start to settle down. we'll be left with an overcast sky. there will be more showers just off to the west of our area for early on at 6:00. at 7:00 a.m. most of the day tomorrow is going to be overcast with some limited breaks of sunshine coming our way for the afternoon. so here's what to expect for your evening and early part of the night. strong to possibly severe storms packing with it some hail, some high wind and the potential also for some heavy rain and lightning throughout the area. so if you see storms come up, stay safe, get inside. 65 our temperature for tomorrow, but that high temperature will

be reached early in the day. falling temperatures, dramatic change coming our way for tomorrow. still again a threat of rain and it is going to be windy too. from the 80s today to the 60s tomorrow, look at your memorial day weekend. close to 70 degrees on saturday. 74 degrees on sunday with a mostly sunny sky. right now monday we carry the threat or the possibility of a few clouds. i'll be watching the skies closely for the possibility of a few showers that might come our way monday. right now, though, it is looking dry. we have a severe thunderstorm warning for about another five minutes in virginia, shenandoah county, frederick county and hardy county in west virginia. i'll keep an eye on radar. jim, pat, back to you. >> busy afternoon. veronica, thanks. he's aiming for a political comeback after risque photos forced his resignation. why anthony weiner says not to be surprised if even more controversial pictures turn up.

and then he said, loretta, don't leave me, i can't breathe. >> and the man stops breathing after it takes 20 minutes for the right help to arrive. the news4 i-team goes straight the news4 i-team goes straight to the top to find

let's see what you got. rv -- covered. why would you pay for a hotel? i never do. motorcycles -- check. atv. i ride those. do you? no. boat. house. hello, dear. hello. hello. oh! check it -- [ loud r&b on car radio ]

i'm going on break! the more you bundle, the more you save. now, that's progressive. there could be more lewd photos out there of anthony weiner. the former congressman made that revelation today while making a case for his political comeback. he made his public appearance today, his first in a long time, in the race for new york city mayor. in a radio interview this morning he said it's possible more women could come forward with more e-mails or photos of him. about two years ago you'll recall the risque photos he tweeted to women emerging leading to his resignation from congress. he said he'll probably be doing

a lot of apologizing during his campaign but he hopes voters will give him a chance. since we are right in the middle of prom season, here's a little thursday throwback, courtesy of "time" magazine. check out the guy in the middle. that's the president, president obama, just before his senior prom at his high school in hawaii. on the left is his former teammate from the basketball team. the girl on his left is the one who found the old photo and the girl on the right is his date. thought you'd like to see that. >> that's a wide tie. i like that jacket, huh? we have some breaking news that we continue to follow this evening. that rescue operation under way at westfield montgomery mall in bethesda after part of a parking garage collapsed there. and the parents facing murder charges after their baby died. the couple decided to pray for healing rather than taking the baby to the hospital. and we're working for oklahoma, teaming up with the red cross to raise money for tornado victims.

to make a donation please call 202-885-4949. the number again,

a landmark decision just hours away from the boy scouts of america. nbc's pete williams joins us to break down the decision about openly gay sco

welcome back to news4 at 4:00, i'm pat lawson muse. >> and i'm jim handily. we want to go back to breaking news and live pictures from chopper 4 in bethesda where rescuers are working to free a man trapped in this collapsed parking garage at westfield montgomery mall in bethesda. we have learned that a second worker has died at this scene. a medevac helicopter standing by and a special emergency response team from shock trauma up in baltimore is helping that injured worker right now and communicating with him. the garage is under renovation, so no customers or employees were parked inside it at the time. it's a three-level structure here. again, it's been closed for renovation for some time, was

set to reopen this fall. again, these are live pictures from chopper 4. this was a 40-foot whole slab or panel that came sloping down this afternoon shortly before 2:00. a long operation. we'll have new details coming up live from the scene at 5:00 tonight. let's get the latest details now from storm team 4, who's been tracking severe storms. veronica, what's it looking like? >> right now that area that i've really been focused on for most of the last 40, 50 minutes or so is right here, and the warning that was out until 4:30, that really has been now extended until 5:30, so for another hour. it's for frederick county. it's for warren county, it's for shenandoah county, also for clark county again until 5:30. you can see the tremendous amount of lightning and the potential for hail with this cell as it makes its way north and northeastward. it will head toward strasburg, middletown, into winchester in the next 20 minutes and on toward millwood in the next 29

minutes. potential for a lot of rain with this cell too, as is the case for this one out ahead of it in northern loudoun county. no warning issued for this one as of yet, but there is, again, a chance for hail and heavy rain with the cell coming through loudoun county, right around the leesburg area and headed through that area. i'll have a lot more from right here in storm team 4 in just a couple of minutes. redskins fans have something to smile about today. you're looking at an encouraging sign of rg3's recovery. this video of robert griffin iii is from earlier today out at redskins park. he's the one in the helmet, folks. you can see he is running, doing football drills without a problem. he still has that knee brace on for the knee that he hurt last season but he doesn't look to be favoring the knee. it's still not clear if he'll be ready to start for the skins first game this fall. it is the ultimate test of recovery. right now beach towns hurt by

superstorm sandy are welcoming thousands of tourists. >> the upcoming memorial day weekend marks the unofficial start of summer. nbc's danielle leigh is live in point pleasant beach, new jersey, where the finishing touches are being made to miles and miles of boardwalk. danielle? >> reporter: hi, pat and jim. doesn't this just say summer, this scene behind me? we are seeing entire communities just refusing to be beaten by disaster. take a look around, many of the businesses are back open and they're eagerly awaiting the crowds, starting with this big holiday weekend. thousands of loyal jersey shore vacationers are returning to the coast this weekend with memories of the devastation from superstorm sandy still fresh. >> it was horrendous is what it was. it was just brutal. >> reporter: many of the iconic board walks have been restored. >> let people enjoy the new rebuilt jersey shore. >> reporter: marilyn completely rebuilt her asbury park

restaurant. she's now hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. >> we're not trying to build a mansion here and retire, we're trying to get back to work. >> reporter: amidst the fresh wood, upgraded amusements, refurbished vacation homes and newly painted facades set reminders of the heart ache. >> life for the tourists when they come down, they are not going to notice any change from last year to this year. to the homeowners, it's very unfortunate. >> reporter: savannah has been visiting seaside heights since she was only 3. while she's glad the boardwalk is back in business, other memories are gone, like the iconic roller coaster ripped apart by sandy. >> it will change my memories, but at least i can rebuild them again. >> reporter: for so many tourists, the sandy beaches, blue waters and promise of family time is something no storm can take away. and the boardwalk here in point pleasant beach looks beautiful, but much work is still left to be done, depending on the town and the broker you talk, to

rental stock is down 5 to 90% along the jersey shore. demand is down too and that's something businesses are feverishly trying to change. i'm danielle leigh, news4. just over an hour ago president obama finished outlining new rules for overseas drone strikes and made a new push to close gitmo, the prison in cuba used for holding and interrogating terrorists. the president said it's time to scale back the fight against terrorism because the threat has changed. use drone strikes only to prevent attacks and only when there's certainty no civilians will be killed. he predicts history will harshly judge what the u.s. is doing at guantanamo bay. >> imagine a future ten years from now and 20 years from now when the united states of america is still holding people who have been charged with no crime on a piece of land that is not part of our country. >> house speaker john boehner is already questioning the wisdom of the president's new efforts

to close guantanamo. boehner is asking the president to reveal which steps he plans to take to ensure terrorists from gitmo don't return to the battlefield or otherwise wage war against the u.s. and our allies. and the senior republican on the senate intelligence committee, sacxby chambliss, says the speeh will be viewed by terrorists as a victory. look out below. a man literally drops into a virginia radio shack, and you probably won't expect what happens next. and nbc4 and the red cross are teaming up tonight for the tornado victims in oklahoma. doreen gentsler has joined us on the phone bank there with our friends from the red cross. please give us a call and make a

police in richmond are looking for a man who dropped into a radio shack store, literally. surveillance video shows the man

falling through the roof of the closed business on saturday, may 11th. detectives say the man doesn't appear to steal anything, but they would still like to speak to him. he was last seen leaving the store by more conventional means, meaning the front door. >> you know, you've got to figure an electronics store will have a surveillance camera or two an catch you. >> and they did. thousands were affected by the devastating tornado down in oklahoma. news4 is teaming up this evening with the red cross to help raise money for those in need. >> storm team 4 meteorologist chuck bell joins us right now with more on how you can help the victims of the devastating tornado. chuck? >> hi, pat and jim. good afternoon, everybody. still three out of four oklahomans here along with doreen gentzler. this is colleen carter. she's got a little connection to oklahoma as well. tell us about your oklahoma connection. >> well, i spent three years there when i was younger and i've still got good friends back there that we occasionally get a chance to see. >> and everybody you know is

okay? >> yes, they are. they were a little further east. >> tell us a little bit about all the great work that you do for the red cross. >> as a tiffany's society -- tiffany circle society member, we help raise money for the red cross and we reach out also the wounded warriors and their families at walter reed and try to get events to help them get a break from their stresses there. but the red cross, it's a 24/7 operation. there's always a need somewhere, so we're -- >> thank you very much for your volunteer efforts, colleen. if you want to help, you can always call us at 202-885-4949. we'll be here through the rest of the 4, 5 and 6 and update our total now, just short of $20,000. we'll talk more about the money raised and where it goes coming up. >> all right, chuck, thank you. we're following breaking news this afternoon out of bethesda where a parking garage partially collapsed at westfield

montgomery mall. we have three reporters on this scene working to gather new information for you. and we're watching storms moving through the washington area. veronica, what's the latest? >> the latest is i continue to keep my eyes peeled on storm team 4 radar. winchester, front royal, you're very close to that severe thunderstorm warning and some heavy rain too. we've had flash flood warnings, severe thunderstorm warnings and we could have more coming our way the next couple of hours. i'll have the very latest on

[ mosquitoes buzzing ] [ female announcer ] off! deep woods dry repellent. the protection of off! deep woods with a formula that feels dry not greasy. off! deep woods dry. keeps bugs off! sc johnson.

[ female announcer ] off! deep woods dry repellent. the protection of off! deep woods with a formula that feels dry not greasy. off! deep woods dry. keeps bugs off! sc johnson.

on cue like a summer day, that radar is starting to light up. >> very run today, what are you seeing on the radar? >> in virginia most of our storms right now but i think for the afternoon we could see more even moving through maryland. we've got a chance until about 8:00 or 9:00 p.m. this evening for seeing some strong, possibly severe storms. let's take a look at that warning right now. it's clark, it's frederick, it's warren and shenandoah county. you continue under a severe

thunderstorm warning until 5:30. here's the cluster that i'm looking at. we've got a hail marker on it and quite a bit of lightning too. so it's areas right around winchester. south of winchester and north of front royal right now. as we zoom in just a little tighter and track the storm out for you, it will be headed toward strasburg, toward middletown, areas around winchester in the next 20 minutes and then toward white post in the next 25 minutes. it's headed off to the east-northeast at about 25 to 30 miles per hour. and there could be a significant amount of wind too right around areas of strasburg and around 66, around steven city as this all pulls to the east and northeast. so best bet if you folks are there, get inside, stay safe. our temperatures will be falling off. here's a look at the day tomorrow because it will be a dramatic change compared to where we've been today. we've been of course in the 70s, 80s across the area. your temperatures will be falling tomorrow from 65 degrees at 5:00 a.m. with a few

scattered showers. we'll get a little bit of clearing. by 11:00 a.m. we're at 62. by 3:00 p.m. we're at 60 degrees with very chilly conditions. so here it is, folks. falling temperatures and windy for tomorrow where your winds could gust up to 30 miles an hour. tomorrow cool, saturday, sunday, 69 on saturday with sunshine. 74 degrees on sunday. not quite as breezy on sunday. your memorial day right now, your high temperature 75 degrees. if you want the heat to return, it does the midpart of next week with a bit of humidity too coming our way for wednesday and thursday of next week. we again continue to track this storm. coming up at 5:00, doug kammerer will have a lot more on any warnings that will be issued. a d.c. woman mourning the death of her husband says paramedics took too long to respond when she needed help. she's been looking for answers for months with no response so she asked the news4 i-team for help.

i-team reporter tisha thompson went straight to the fire chief. >> reporter: through good times and bad, loretta and darren wheeler raised seven kids and battled his kidney disease and asthma. >> we've been married 23 years. >> reporter: darrell started having trouble breathing. loretta hit a medical alert button to call 911 at 8:51. 911 dispatched an ambulance one minute later. >> and then he said, loretta, don't leave me. i can't breathe. and then i said i'm not. and then i turned around and he slumped over. >> loretta started cpr and hit the button again at 8:55. desperate to save her husband, she continued compressions as minutes ticked by. her neighbor called 911 at 8:59. medical experts at the mayo clinic say time is critical with

an unconscious person who isn't breathing because death or permanent brain damage can occur within four to six minutes. the first ambulance showed up ten minutes after being dispatched but that crew did not have a paramedic and couldn't do what's called advanced life support. instead, they took over cpr and called for a second unit. it arrived at 9:11, 20 minutes after loretta first called. >> they did everything they could to save this man's life. >> reporter: d.c. fire chief ken eller b elerbe said the units dr job working on the scene for almost an hour before transporting him to the washington hospital center where doctors placed him on life support. the 53-year-old died five days later. his widow wonders why that first responding ambulance did not of what it needed to save her husband. >> if i knew that there was a problem, i would have been better off driving my husband to the hospital. >> reporter: it's the same question the news4 i-team has

been trying to get answers to for more than a year, putting in several freedom of information act requests for records that would show if there are problems with staffing and equipment. they have been ignored by d.c. fire. >> on march 8th, 2013, requests were sent by miss tisha thompson -- >> reporter: it even came up during a march d.c. council hearing about problems with response times. >> so what happened with the requests? >> i believe some of those requests were received by mail and they were sitting literally in a box unopened. >> reporter: why can't we get this information? >> we've hired a new officer so we have hopefully resolved that issue. >> reporter: we're still waiting for that information. chief ellerbe says he wants to make changes to address equipment problems and the paramedic shortage, including a possible shift change, which would require d.c. council approval. >> if we go from four shifts to three shifts, we'll actually have 400 extra bodies that we can spread through three shifts

so it would take almost 80 people to call in sick for them to even begin to impact our operation. >> reporter: new gear for broken ambulances should arrive this summer and the department is exploring an internal training program for new paramedics. >> any time we have these incidents that have a negative outcome, i take it personally. >> reporter: but loretta says not as personal as the families left to wonder if a few extra minutes could have made the difference. >> if they don't let the people know, how are we to know how to respond to situations when loved ones are at risk of their lives. >> loretta wheeler lives seven minutes from the hospital. the department tells us there are roughly 39 ambulances on the streets each day, but only one-third carry a paramedic, which is what you need for more advanced life support. chief eller b elerbe says he's getting two daily reports on how many units are really on the road and how long it's taking to get to emergencies.

they prayed for their baby instead of taking him to the hospital. now these parents have been charged with murder. why investigators now say this is the second time the couple has made a deadly mistake. >> reporter: i'm julie carey in loudoun county where students at briarwood high school have found a special connection with victims of the oklahoma tornado. that's because one of the schools hit was briarwood elementary. now they have launched a fund

a philadelphia couple that believes in prayer over medicine now charged with murdering their own baby. their 7-month-old died of pneumonia after they failed to take him to the doctor. they belong to a religious group that relies on faith healing. as lu ann cahn reports, it's not the first time this couple has lost a child. >> reporter: katherine and

herbert schaible face murder charges. their baby died after the parents admitted they didn't seek medical care for him. >> whatever happened here, there was not any intent on before of mr. schaible for this to happen to his son. he would rather have his son back at this pointing. he's a grieving father rou. >> reporter: because they're already on probation because of the death of their 2-year-old in 2009, they decided to charge them with murder. >> instead of contacting a doctor, they chose to pray for him and ultimately called the funeral director. >> reporter: they belong to a church that believes in faith healing. a caseworker visited their home. they have seven other children who are now in foster care. >> i knew that something like this could easily have happened, because i knew at their sentencing that they were not going to follow the judge's instruction. it saddened me to think that an 8-month-old child was dead at

the hands of his own parents and it could have all been avoided. >> in addition to murder, the couple is charged with involuntary manslaughter, conspiracy and endangering the welfare of a child. right now at 5:00, an update on the breaking news we've been following all afternoon. team coverage heading your way tonight. right now at 5:00, that deadly parking collapse at westfield montgomery mall, a 40-foot section under renovation, collapsing and killing one person this afternoon. >> president obama defending the use of drone strikes against suspected terrorists. what he said about targeting americans overseas. and we're just about an hour away from a major decision by the boy scouts on whether to allow openly gay members. but first, tonight storm team 4 tracking more thunderstorms coming across our area. let's go right to chief meteorologist doug kammerer. >> we're watching those storms develop, guys. you can see one of those storms on our camera, this one right

here that's just popped up in through portions of prince george's county, right around oxen hill and national harbor. it will be right along the beltway with a brief, heavy downpour. another new storm developing in portions of stafford county. nothing strong here. the strongest storm is back to the west, this storm right here around the winchester area. we'll zoom on in and you notice the red. a flash flood warning in effect for the rest of the evening here and a severe thunderstorm warning in effect for front royal right up through winchester until 5:30 tonight. this storm has a history of producing very large hail and a lot of lightning. could even see 60-mile-an-hour winds on this. even northwestern montgomery county just to the north of poolsville seeing some of those storms too. what are we going to see from this storm as it continues off toward the north and east? watch out around steven city an millwood. millwood coming in y a