>> right now a man kills himself on capitol hill causing panic on one of the busiest weekends of the we're. >> there was some uneasiness going on. people didn't know what was happening. people were getting frustrated. >> police put the area in lockdown. streets were closed, and people were trapped in buildings. tonight the shooting investigation continues. police are focussing on a suitcase the shooter left behind. zimplt right now you are looking at live pictures of the capitol. it is calm. a far cry from the chaos earlier this afternoon. u.s. capitol police just wrapped up a muse conference in the last hour on today's shooting, and we have live team coverage tonight. we'll check in with news 4's

darcy spencer in just a moment. she spoke to a witness who saw the man hit the ground after he shot himself. let's start with derek ward with new developments from that police update. derek. >> yeah. well this building is iconic. it's where the laws are made. it's not uncommon for people to come here to make a statement. usually those folks have a permit. that man came here. he had a gun. according to capitol police it was about 1:05 in the afternoon when the man walked up to the public area on the west front of the capitol and shot himself. no law enforcement officers fired during that shooting. we are told that he also had a suitcase and what's described as a roller rack with him. that led to fears that there may be a bomb. the bomb squad was called in and cleared those packages and -- people were on lockdown inside the capitol. he also had a sign with him. what did that sign say? we'll hear more on that from

capitol police chief kim dine. >> he had a sign with him as well in addition to the backpack and roller case. it was just a social sign about social justice. i don't have the exact -- i don't have the exact language. >> now, that sign he talked about a social message. sources tell us that that seen may have said something about tax the 1%. police do know who the gentleman is. however, the name is not being released. they're trying to notify next of kin. they say there is no nexus to terrorism with this incident. they do think it was the actions of this lone person. >> the motivation behind this remains to be seen. live on the west side of the capitol.

back to you, cress. just feet away from the man who killed himself. darcy joins us live from the capitol. >> chris, robert bishop tells me he has lived in this area for 40 years, and, yet, he has never come down for the cherry blossom festival. he decided today of the day he was going to come to washington and was right here at the capitol riding his bike when he became a witness to the shooting. >> i turned around and saw him hit the ground. >> reporter: robert bishop was riding his bike around the capitol when he heard a pop. >> at first it sounded like a balloon pop. >> reporter: but it was the pop of a gun. a man shot and killed himself near the fountain in front of the capitol building. bishop who lives in annapolis, is just feet away. >> i wouldn't have known it was a gunshot even though he was maybe 20 feet behind me unless the girl who was looking over my shoulder threw her hand up and said oh my god, he just shot himself. >> reporter: bishop says he did

not get a good look at the man, but says he was holding a small sign that said something about taxes and 1%. >> i was probably ten feet away from him, 15 feet when he kind of walked up behind me and i didn't hear him ranting or raving or saying anything. it was just very surreal. >> the shooting happened on a beautiful saturday when thousands of people are in town for the cherry blossom festival. many were stunned when the capitol became a crime scene. >> i had no idea what was going through his mind or how horrible his situation must be to do that. >> bishop took a few photos on his phone. this one, he says shows what he described as a carry-on type suitcase that was by the man's side. >> he was obviously not of stable mind. to take his own life you know he could have very easily made a statement and took out other people and thank god he didn't. >> now, he also tells me in the moments after the shooting that witnesses saw a second person with a gun. initially they thought there was a second gunman. it turns out that person then held up his badge.

he says i'm an off duty police officer. he was there. just happened to be here for the festival and helped secure the scene and keep everybody safe. chris, back to you. >> all right. thanks a lot, darcy. we're also starting to hear what was going on inside the capitol visitors center during that lockdown. no one was allowed to come in or go out as the center was locked down. we spoke to a woman from pittsburgh who was stuck there for about three hours. here's what she told us about what it was like inside and how people passed the time. >> there was some uneasiness going on. people didn't know what was happening. people were getting frustrated. there were people missing flights. a lot of people were buying board games in the gift shop to play on the floor. some people were taking naps. i was walking around trying to find a phone charger because my phone was dying. >> eventually capitol police escorted everyone out using a tunnel instead of using the main entrance. >> this was a warm saturday in spring. a lot of people were on the mall. a lot of them started snapping photos as soon as they heard

that shot fired. here's a look from the west front of the capitol. the witness says he grabbed his wife and ran because he thought a sniper was out there. if you took any pictures today, we would love to see them. send your photos to ic@nbcini.com. justice correspondent pete williams has been working his sources and will tell us what he has learned about this developing story. be sure to look for updates on the nbc washington app. right now one maryland community is in mourning after a student at buoy high school died on his way home from a field trip. he was 16 years old. this morning okhon was on this bus when he said he was in pain and then he just stopped breathing. the driver pulled into a gas station and called 911. people on the bus performed cpr until paramedics got there. he died shortly after he got to the hospital and the medical examiner will have to determine

the exact cause. students were on their way back from an rotc trip to south carolina when they visited marine corps recruiting station. another school in our area is also mourning the death of one of their own. madison small died of back tearian meningitis. she was a senior at broadlawn high school in ashburn. a star softball player. we continue to follow the capitol hill shooting. we are working on getting any new updates on this breaking story. a live report from nbc's pete williams is coming up ahead. a quadriplegic man with cerebral palacy found alone in the woods. how long he was missing, and who police say abandoned him. a frost advisory for some overnight tonight. coming up i

new tonight philadelphia police say they planned to arrest the mother of a quadriplegic man after she allegedly left her son alone in the woods, then left to visit her boyfriend in montgomery county maryland. the young man with the disability is 21 years old, and officers found him last night with nothing but a blanket and a bible. he was lying in some leaves. his wheelchair was about ten feet away. >> she made the aunt believe that herself and the 20-year-old child who was found her went to maryland on monday morning. obviously that wasn't true because it appears as though from what we could track back now is this kid has probably

been out here since monday maybe as early as sunday. >> police had to get involved when the young man did not show up for class. his mom is now facing a charge of aggravated assault. a group of volunteers spent part of their day doing something good for the environment. they picked up trash from rock creek and the park in northwest d.c. this is the seventh annual rock creek extreme cleanup, and since the event got started, they collected more than 14,000 bags of trash, 800 old tires, and about 37,000 plastic bags from rock creek. our developing top story tonight. a man shoots and kills himself at the capitol. locking the area down and causing a bit of panic as well. our live team coverage continues

well we continue to follow our top story. you're looking at live pictures from the u.s. capitol where a man shot and killed himself. now, that area was placed on lockdown for a couple of hours. no one else was hurt. we want to revisit that story. we have nbc justice -- nbc news justice krpt pete williams here with us and, pete from talking to your sources, no ties to terrorism, lone wolf? any idea of the motivation at all? >> no they're going to look into this person's past this young man's past. witnesses say that he appeared to be a young man. he was holding some kind of a sign something about taxing the

1% something about social justice the police say. the witnesses say he walked up. he had a backpack and a roller bag, and before anyone around him knew what was happening, he had taken out a gun. they heard a gunshot, and then realized that he had shot himself. now, initially there were reports of shots, plural. shots fired at the u.s. capitol but police now tell us that there is only a single shot fired by this man killing himself. law enforcement officers did not fire any shots. you are looking at that roller bag with the handle. because he was carrying immediately lockdown. you see an officer there in a bomb protective suit. they assumed the worst, and locked everybody who was in the visitor center under the capitol. you enter that on the other side. they locked it down closed traffic off for several blocks but ultimately found nothing harmful. the capitol police said it was never a second weapon found.

they haven't told us what was in the roller bag, but we assume it was just the man's personal possessions. there were no other hazardous materials, we're told in either the backpack or the suitcase. the question is you know who is he? presumably out of town if he had a suitcase, but we don't know where yet. two for two reasons, they want to verify his identity, and once they know who he is they'll want to notify his family before they make it public. >> just as an aside, this just comes just a day after the chief of the capitol police resigned. the u.s. capitol police have been under some joout scrutiny some criticism in the last few months. is there a sense that they handled the situation well professionally as well as they could have? >> i think that nobody is being critical of them. i don't know what else they could have done. the thing was really over before they knew what had happened but we got the word pretty quickly that it was a suicide, so they seemed to have passed the word

to the law enforcement community quickly about what it was. the reason the lockdown lasted so long is because of the extra luggage that was there, and they wanted to keep everybody clear and safe. the capitol police notified everybody, and it was one of these joint operations. capitol police fbi, secret service, metro police all these people involved that are in the joint terrorism task force. >> thanks a lot. pete williams. we want to tell you, stay tuned for "nbc nightly news" with peter alexander. pete williams and the entire nbc news team will be reporting on today's incident. there will be new updates on our website and the nbc washington app as well. >> also going on today d.c. mayor kicked off a health initiative by walking through her home ward. the inaugural ward walk took place this afternoon in ward four. an area that encompasses the northern tip of the district. it's part of the campaign promise to lead the city to a healthier lifestyle. >> we want people to meet their neighbors and have the

opportunity to create walking clubs and fitness clubs that they can then themselves facilitate. >> there was also an audition for health coaches who will help presidents make better choices of exercise and what to eat. of course it's pretty ease where i to exercise when it's a beautiful 69 70 degree day and sunny out there. >> spectacular. >> temperatures today were in the mid to upper 60s. tomorrow it's going to get better but tomorrow morning it's going to be chilly. even cold in spots. some frost is possible outside the beltway north and west. prince william county montgomery county what this means if you have sensitive plants outdoors either cover them or bring them inside. there are all the counties in blue under that frost advisory. beautiful right now. temperatures coming in in the 60s. washington currently at 66

degrees. here's the low temperature tomorrow in your neighborhood. 46 in d.c. 35 in gaithersburg. 36 in frederick, and 35 for those of you in manassas. there's a chilly start. we'll warm up quickly if you are running in the cherry blossom ten miler. you might want to layer because look at the temperature by 9:00 a.m. we're already in the low 50s. plenty of sunshine. light winds. 10:00 a.m. the chill virtually out of the air. temperatures in the mid 50s. we'll continue to climb to a high of 70 degrees tomorrow. full sunshine. a little bit breeze where i today. that is not going to be the case tomorrow. relatively light winds for the entire day. what a great night to do some grilling tomorrow night. 6:00 tomorrow we're looking at a temperature around 68 degrees. 70 in the evening. 64. it will cool quickly, though after the sun goes down. we'll drop to about 60 degrees by 8:00 in the evening. school day forecast on monday typical spring. another chilly start with the beautiful afternoon. looking good. recess simply spectacular.

a little breezy monday afternoon. rain arrive on tuesday. here we are at 6:00 a.m. that could impact the tuesday morning commute. notice showers across the area. continuing to track the potential for rain on into the mid morning hours. notice future weather bringing potentially heavy rain to the area. as we get into the midday hours, any rain will start to cool out, and we'll notice clouds diminishing. we'll return to sunny skies for a tuesday afternoon. nice tuesday evening. a high temperature on tuesday of 71. for wednesday mostly sunny. a high of 68. thursday a high of 67. plenty of sunshine. the chance of showers on friday and saturday. high temperatures in the upper 60s. chris, i have to say, what a beautiful forecast tomorrow. especially spectacular. >> this one is a classic. thanks ameal wra. stlirchlgts. coming up in sports the rangers spoil the

well new york has two hockey teams, but there is a big difference between the islanders and the rangers this year.

>> the islanders are much better but the rangers did put up a great fight today. before today's matchup against the rangers, the capitals already knew who their first round opponent would be. the islanders. they split the regular season series 2-2 because the caps fell short today. they'll have to wait and see it they have home ice advantage in this series. before the game today nicolas backstrom honored for breaking the capitol's all-time assist record. alex ovechkin broke two franchise records both previously held by mr. bondra. first period action. rangers, they strike first. ryan mcdonough with the blast, and kevin hayes puts home the rebound. check it out. hits this one in midair past braden. new york up 1-0. later in the period more from the rangers. they're on the power play here. no one stopping this laser from derek brassard. it's 2-0, blue shirts. the capitals down 3-0, but on the power play alex ovechkin

fires one past henrik lundqvist. the caps down 3-1. no love lost between them. they met in the play yofz two years ago. glass and gleason going at it. not sure who wob that fight. the rangers won the game though 4-2. the capitals always doing what they do. the home finale giving their jerseys off their backs to the adoring fans. they'll play closer attention to the islanders-blue jackets game. >> every now and then just to check it out because we would like to have home ice. that was a goal of ours in the beginning of the year but we're not banking on it. if it doesn't happen we're not going to be [ bleep ] about it but i would like to see what happens obviously. i want to know how it all finishes for fourth or fifth. >> we want to clinch home ice. we had a tough start, but, you know we fought that and couldn't find pucks to put them

in. we felt good about ourselves. we didn't lose any confidence or anything. we're just excited to start wednesday in a new season. >> the capitals are off tomorrow. the team back at practice on monday with the nhl playoffs starting this wednesday. let's move to the baseball diamond now. cole hamels might be what this nationals line-up needs to see tonight on opening day. he was rocked by the boston red sox giving up four home runs. the nats have struggled offensively for this defeated line-up. they've scored just seven runs. the nats are batting 3 for 22 with runners in scoring position. they have 24 men on base. last night no different. a 4-1 defeat to the fell liz. bryce harper really struggling. six strike-outs in his last eight at-bats. yes, this line-up is without denard. anthony rendell and jason worth. the manager matt williams is not making excuses. >> got to keep running them out there. you know the guys in our line-up have been there before. they've had success.

they've done it. we're not worried about that. you know just keep going with it. you know there are no excuse for not scoring enough runs but, you know we believe in our guys and we believe in their ability, and we'll just keep going. >> to annapolis. beautiful day at the navy marine corps memorial stadium for a little lacrosse army versus navy. black knights jumping out to an early lead. four goals in the first quarter. capped off by this score from connor glancy. they led 4-1, army after the first quarter. navy did come back though. we're tied 6-6 in the fourth. alan with a great individual effort here. the midshipman they scored six goals in the fourth to come back to win this 10- , your final score. a third round of the masters taking place. a good one going on at augusta. tiger woods shot a five under for the round. he is tied for eighth place at minus six for the tournament.

jordan spieth he is minus 17 for the tournament. we'll have full highlights later tonight on news 4 at 11:00. also phil mickelson climbing up the leaderboard. a really good weekend. >> it wasn't this extraordinary run by spieth. these guys really have a shot. >> nightly news up next. we'll have a lot more on this capitol hill shooting. we'll see you again for news 4

on this saturday night, historic meeting. the first face-to-face talks in almost six decades between an american and a cuban president. the symbolic opening of a new era after so many years of hostility. lockdown. a shooting at the steps of the u.s. capitol on one of washington's busiest weekends of the year. tonight, what we're learning about the suspected shooter. what a bargain. if you dreamed of a european vacation now's the time. why more and more americans are cashing in on trips overseas. and pipe dream. the chance for modern movie goers to experience the grand old days of film. this is "nbc nightly news" with le holt.