a pretty signifithose are the same folk that is get activated whether there's a hurricane, a major natural disaster. they're now activated to deal with what we're seeing here. we have seen looting. this looks not to be looting right now but there are -- we have been seeing this throughout the afternoon. rocks and bricks being thrown at buses, at police vehicles and at people's homes. you know this is happening where people live. and this crowd of people continues to throw and destroy businesses. we do not know if these are the same people that began way up at the mall area. as i said it is about ten blocks apart from the two locations. it is quite a distance to walk. but it is possible that this continues to be the same group of people. >> you are watching live nbc 4 coverage of violence and rioting

that have been taking place in baltimore. the last two and a half hours or so. we have been covering it throughout the afternoon and now our coverage continues with news 4 at 6:00. >> what you are looking at right now is a kind of a change in the situation from what it's been the last couple of hours. there are a number of adults out on the streets in baltimore. apparently trying to calm down and restrain a number of younger people who have been throwing rocks and disrupting that city in pretty violent ways including cars being burned and protesters or whatever they might be called looting stores also officers being carried away as they were injured by some of the rocks and other things that were being thrown this morning. all started at the mondawmin mall and now quickly spread across the city. >> all of this follows the funeral for freddie gray.

he's the young man from baltimore who died just over a week ago about a week after he was arrested and was in police custody. >> we have team coverage now of all that's been going on up there for quite a long time. we begin with tisha thompson. with a report on the very latest developments up there in baltimore. >> jim, that's right. we have been here since this began and wanting to start with new video of mondawmin mall. video from the ground. this is what it looked like we of course have been showing folks video from helicopt this is the first you are getting from the actual street level. >> this was recorded earlier. this was the initial area the genesis at mondawmin mall where the social media and the fliers said start here and move towards

city hall. this is where all that video we were seeing from 3:00 coming here and from a chopper and now seeing it at eye level down on the ground. >> you can see quite a few police officers. we want to let you know that there are at least 30 police officers from prince georges county a few have been minorly injured. there's about 40 from the montgomery county area. about 40 from the maryland state police. i'm sorry. forgive me. 40 from mont good morning you county. 82 from the maryland state police. there's 30 from anne arundel county. another 20 from howard county. >> this happened shortly around -- i guess around 3:15 3:20. this was an officer, they were throwing bricks at them. this officer was injured and was being carried out by his fellow officers in the barrage of bricks still coming at them and they were getting him into this assault vehicle because there weren't ambulances nearby.

>> took quite a while for them to get him out of there. >> quite a while. it was about an hour or so before we heard from the baltimore police that all seven of their injured officers one was unresponsive. that they were at the hospitals and they were in treatment. two prince georges county police officers received minor injuries. let's update you now. a spokesperson julie parker says that their officers have been told to stand down. that that area around the mall is actually under control and calm. they have moved elsewhere. >> and this of course, is video of what we have been seeing. officers injured, bricks thrown and businesses being looted. that is checks cashed location on north avenue in the heart of baltimore city. this was actually the second business that was pretty heavily looted. the third that we're aware of there's a 7-eleven in the very beginning that had some broken windows. may have had some looting and

then a cvs just down the street from this checked casualed. >> went on forever and ever. >> and didn't find much in the checks cashed location. >> you would imagine that the check cashing place, dealing with so much cash would have a fairly substantial vault there. when's coming up at 7:05 is an orioles are facing the white sox. at camden yards. right now we are hearing from fan services the game is on. the white sox are warming up. they have shut down utah street entrance 2 and they have the main entrance they're guiding everyone to the main entrance. they could have 19,000 plus fans in that stadium tonight. they don't know now with the problem here and what happened on saturday night. >> these are live pictures. this is yet another business that looks to have unwanted visitors. this looks to be either a liquor store or a convenience store.

in baltimore. you can see people coming and going. oh yeah. it looks like damage is starting to happen there. this is typical of what we have been seeing throughout the afternoon. you can see individuals that are starting to tear -- yep. there it goes. tear the windows out of the locations. i'm not familiar with this particular location but many of these corner stores have pretty heavy duty security in certain parts of baltimore city and security fences up for where they exchange money and the windows tend to be pretty strong and to see one of the locations looted these tend to have better security than other stores. >> and something else just to put it in context. this started right after freddie gray's funeral this afternoon and the congressman elijah cummings has let it be known and no uncertain terms that he is disappointed and disgusted at this. he said if you want to protest -- looks like they're

firing off -- >> throwing things at it. may be bottles because they're exploding. >> looks like liquid. >> that's the may be a similar looking armored vehicle we have seen throughout the afternoon used to break up the crowds as they started to damage businesses. >> getting back to congressman elijah cummings he said if you want to peacefully protest, if you have a message to convey peacefully do that. but this is just pure destruction and opportunistic destruction that doesn't in any way honor the life or the death of freddie gray. >> and, wendy, they're asking me to remine everyone that the emergency operations center has been activated by the mayor of baltimore. this is a pretty significant step. this is when there's a big event in town. this is -- this means that a lot is happening in the city right now. typically, it's activated when there's a hurricane, a natural disaster. now it's act vatdivated for criminal

violence in the city and isolated to a specific group making the way down about a ten-block distance. we are hearing that other parts of the city continue to be calm and peaceful including places like the inner harbor and camden yards and the concern is that the protesters or the folk that is are causing the violence might make their way to those locations so we have seen an increased police presence around the more well-known landmarks. >> we have some -- if you're traveling to baltimore or you know someone that is traveling within baltimore, because of the police activity we have been told that in the downtown area the metro subway stations at penn north, upton avenue market state center lexington market all closed. mta light rail will run from the airport but will terminate there. >> that makes a lot of sense. they're shutting off the light rail system before it can get to

this area so we'll continue to keep you all posted on what we're watching here and if it continues the move south toward the inner city. >> thanks. we hope you stand by. i think -- we have been covering this story all afternoon live. we want to recap some of the basic information we have been repeetding a few things but this started about two and a half hours ago, it followed the freddie gray funeral and some students getting out of a public school going across the street in the area near where the funeral was. at least seven officers seven police officers have been injured in the violent clash with these groups of young people. we have seen a lot of looting and some fires and we do understand that all of the officers who were injured are at the hospital getting treatment now. one of them was said to be unresponsive a while ago. we don't have an update on his

condition and we also know that baltimore police are urging parents to because this does seem to be a lot of young people involved here urging parents to find out where their children are and get them home and get them out of harm's way. >> a lot of kids in fact. and in fact while it is a very fluid situation, we have noticed twice here just in the few minute that is we have been watching that at these situations of considerable disruption at some point a group of grown men will come along as they are in the center of your picture right now and try to calm these kids down. we noticed then that the children move to another location. first they were at the corner there. some adults came. adult men. and implored them to cease the violence. now the kids moved up the street to yet another store. it's a lot going on here. one wond erps just exactly how much it has to do with the

freddie gray situation. it is subsequent to that and not necessarily connected with it. scott mcfarland joins us now. we noticed baltimore transit authority if that's the right word car, bus, whatever it might have been on fire. how are they responded to this? >> maryland transit authority and seven city police officers. at least one maryland transit authority lieutenant injured, as well. it was an attack on that officer. at the penn north metro station in baltimore. they have just extended all the shifts for maryland transit administration police officers to 12-hour shifts and deployed 150 officers to help reinforce baltimore city police and baltimore city police not responding alone. they have reinforcements from howard county maryland state

police with 40 troopers earlier today. come 7:30 tonight, they'll send 42 more and a group effort and to be clear not just seven officers injured but eight with the lieutenant attacked today from maryland transit administration police. >> here's what we have not seen. two different armored cars that drove through the area while rocks and bottles hurled at it. we have not seen the big, heavy duty stuff i believe they have in baltimore don't they? >> maryland state police have a lot of that. in fact police agencies throughout maryland more than 2,000 pieces of military grade equipment given to them by the department of defense. baltimore city police had rifles ginn them in the military surplus program and came under scrutiny after ferguson. you don't see tanks in the video but there are armored vehicles throughout the city of maryland. city of laurel has one. we'll see if that makes the way

into the city and the images and maryland state police said they have not sent the equipment with the 82 troopers. >> you have to believe that police agencies all over america learned something from what happened in ferguson and the aftermath. i just have one other question. talking about all the law enforcement agencies coming in to support what's happening there in baltimore. what about the national guard? >> national guard is not yet called up but social media that question's being asked. when's the national guard called up? baltimore city police we should mention has a training academy and a training course civil unrest. how to respond to looting, how to respond to something akin to what we're seeing here. >> all right. scott mcfarland thank you for that information. we'll go to telephone interview now with andrew malanbach. he is on the ground in baltimore. what are you seeing?

>> i'm on west north avenue in west baltimore. and it really is an absolutely unsettling scene. i'm still looking at the smoldering of a police cruiser set on fire. i would suppose about 45 minutes ago now when i got on scene. protesters or rioters looted store front after store front. you see people walking down the sidewalks with crates over the shoulders carrieying the looted goods. full bags in their hands of stuff from the looted stores. a dozen or so police cruisers came by here to an area of heavy looting. cleared a bit of the protesters with teargas. an ominous scene here as protests moved from one part to another part of the city. and the reality is no one really knows when it's going to end. >> andrew have you seen anybody injured or anything? we know there's property damage but how about personal injuries?

>> i have not seen personal injuries. we know about the police officers. who we just talked about, now eight police officers sustained injuries some broken bones. as far as actual observing people demonstrating here i have not seen any injuries. i have heard from people that there was a fight here or there and not seen anything. >> we are watching the images on tv and it seems that this crowd kind of like a snake moving through the streets. very fluid. is that what you see from your viewpoint? >> that's what i see, as well. i would say also i see a great deal of opportuneismopportunism. they may not be involved for the protest and some. they run up, and engage in looting at a particular store and move on. the crowd that's overall number of people participating really is a revolving number. i think people see an opportunity and they get involved and it really takes on a new dynamic block by block. >> can you talk a little bit, andrew about the police the

way police are responding what you're seeing from them? >> i'm sorry. i have a person next to me telling me to be careful. close to the action. what i have seen from police showing restraint. they're out in extremely heavy numbers and seen bricks tossed at them at the police cruisers and tossed at them standing on the street corner. i have not seen any retaliation. >> all right. andrew watch your back out there, man. >> i'll try to. >> tisha thompson now, what do you have? >> right, jim. there's been a lot of conversation of what does governor larry hogan say about this? he says he's closely monitoring the situation and in close contact with the mayor and maryland state police dispatched

and resources and equipment of various state agencies. here's a direct quote. today's looting an acts of violence in baltimore will not be tolerated. i have put the maryland national guard on alert so they can be in position to deploy rapidly as needed. i strongly condemn the actions of the offender who is are engaged in direct attacks against innocent civilians. there is a significant difference between protesting and violence and those committing these acts will be prosecuted under the fullest extent of the law and continues to go on and ends with the governor hogan saying the attacks against law enforcement and local communities only betray the cause of peaceful citizens seeking answers and justice following the death of freddie gray. you are looking at live pictures. we are being told that's fullton avenue and north avenue essentially protesters slowly working the way breaking into one business after another and down the main streets of

baltimore city. >> it's wendy. one thing, that was just interesting to watch in the camera the helicopter camera is now on top of this liquor store and across the street is a cell phone store and starting to go into that men came out, some older men. >> older men. >> thought they were clergy. in the red bow ties. >> they're very recognizable. they're in baltimore city there is a significant group in this northern avenue area that are black muslims. and they are very well recognizable from their suits and their ties. even when it's 100 degrees outside they are always well dressed and i'm curious as if that isn't who those gentlemen were. they're creating a human wall to keep what appears to be much younger kids i hate to say it, teenagers, from breaking into these businesses. >> they formed a wall outside of the cell phone company and pushed them away and sort of

looked like they were getting in verbal arguments with some of the protest earls. >> and they piled right on in. >> they ran across the street to the liquor store and we saw started to swarm around that. it looked like they were successful in keeping people out of this one store. here's hoping that those older gentlemen trying to calm things down stay safe themselves. >> right, exactly. >> that's a risky move on their part. and we hope that they will stay safe. >> those guys, in fact those gentlemen made the presence known as several locations we have seen from these helicopter video shots. in just a short time we have been here so far. want to make note of the fact that the orioles are scheduled to play tonight. and we are told -- there's a shot now there of camden yards. we are told that so far the game is still going on. as i understand it a short time ago, the red sox were practicing

out on the field and the latest information we have is that the game is going to continue. there are some fans already in camden yards waiting for that game to go and we'll see how that moves. certainly, one of the disturbing parts of the images that we are watching in baltimore from the helicopter shots is the fact of the property damage. the looting that continues throughout several different blocks that we have seen. with no police presence whatsoever. and at some point what we would hope to ascertain from law enforcement officials is why it is that they're allowing these pretty much kids to continue to destroy property as they have without any kind of intervention. twice we have seen armored vehicles go through an area such as this one right here. each time they're pelted with rocks and bottles and any other thing to put their hands on and keep moving. they do not dispense teargas,

water cannon. there's a great deal of response from law enforcement officials in baltimore and right now we'll see how long that continues and scott mcfarland made. a decision is made or seems to have been made at least for now to not bring in military grade equipment, the kinds of heavy duty stuff we saw that enraged so many people in ferguson missouri. >> seeing restraint of law enforcement authorities in baltimore. one of the saddest parts of what we're watching here is this violence and this looting and destruction broke out on the same day as the funeral for freddie gray. and we know very clearly that his family had asked for peace. they wanted a day to have quiet and closure and acknowledge the life of this young man who died after being injured in the

police custody. we are being told that the family of freddie gray is really in shock and they are -- they have asked once again for people to stop the violence and restore the peace in memory of freddie gray. >> one of the ministers presiding over the service came out of the church which is as i am understanding it about five blocks away from where the first disruptions happened and was visibly quite upset and angry that just a few blocks away from this solemn event this kind of activity was going on and expressed once again, not only concern about it but once again, pleaded with the young people to respect freddie gray. >> jim, we are just getting word that the orioles game is postponed. am i saying that correctly? did i hear that correctly? just now. so if you're planning to go up to baltimore and go to the

orioles game you should change your planls. they have postponed the game to make sure that people stay safe. there was trouble outside of camden yards over the weekend related to this whole police issue, police violence issue, and so i think they're being cautious. >> derek ward is also in baltimore right now. has been on the ground there for several hours now. derek, where are you? what are you seeing and hearing? >> well jim, we are outside the western district station, a point very critical to all of this this whole issue with freddie gray. >> we are having difficulty with -- there we go. >> reporter: you can understand western district station was where freddie gray was brought after the arrest and finally

administered medical care and according to the police should have come sooner. been out here pretty much since we have and probably before that. at least on the other side and fulton and north, that puts them about seven or eight blocks north of us. and probably moving this way as that would be moving south from the mondawmin mall. we haven't seen much in the way of change here except again, reinforcement of what's going on. folk that is live on the streets moving freely within the barricades. metal -- beyond that -- >> we are having difficulty with derrick ward's microphone and do apologize for that. i don't know if this is in fact a live shot right now of when's going on. can you tell me if it is or not?

but again, this is the kind of disruptive activity that's been going on in baltimore since about 3:00 this afternoon. on several occasions we have seen automobiles being vandalized and destroyed. a couple of times including police vehicles set on fire. blazing fires. as a matter of fact. it is a very dangerous situation. >> these are live pictures. >> right now. not sure exactly where it is. but as we noted earlier, these disrupters do not stay in one place. they keep moving and you saw the thethe filings of police officers. it is assumed as i understand it that that particular station might be a target of these demonstrations if there's any organization to it at all. and that's why the police officers are there. for the most part baltimore

police officers and other law enforcement officials have not moved aggressively to stop the kind of vandalism and burglaries. i guess that's what you call it. breaking into the stores. that have been going on for the last couple of hours. but as noted, there they are. dancing on top of a car. >> you can look at these pictures and clearly see that a lot of these are young people. some of them apparently coming straight from school. carrying backpacks. they're wearing school clothes. some of them on bicycles. so again, we mentioned that baltimore police are asking parents to ascertain the whereabouts of their children. reach them on their -- oh this is a picture we believe of the cvs store. and now it appears sadly that there is some fire going on. let's go to tisha thompson at the live desk. maybe she can tell us more about

what's going on. >> this is wendy. >> we just got a message from the cvs spokesperson of this cvs who says because of the protest activity and that was in the 2500 block of pennsylvania avenue there, they closed this location earlier this afternoon out of an abundance of caution so that no customers or employees were in that store when the looters broke into it as we saw forever them breaking in and now the line of police officers. >> that's a significant group. >> we never saw them earlier but now they have moved in to clear out the area and now that store is smoking. >> very similar to what we saw earlier today in front of mondawmin mall and now significantly larger numbers of police officers. before the line was about half as wide and deep. that is much larger police presence than seen in the past. this is the first building we have seen on fire. we have seen a limited amount of what we later heard was teargas

or pepper balls. pepper balls is what they called them. baltimore city police called them. this is the most significant thing so far to date with terms of property destruction. we have been seeing looting throughout the afternoon. it is also interesting to note they're saying eight police officers were injured. for a long time they were saying seven. that eighth number may be the e lieutenant who was injured here on north avenue next to the bus station. there were two police vehicles that belonged to the mta which is the equivalent of the metro system here in d.c. the bus and metro system in baltimore. they have 150 officers on the ground as well. and one of their officers was injured when two of their vehicles were set on fire. the baltimore city police wendy, also saying that protesters or demonstrators or whoever these people are in the streets throwing projectiles

like bricks and stones at police cars with officers inside. they had not reported that before. we were also asked to give you an update on the orioles game because it does impact quite a few people and seemed trivial but -- >> there's fans in town. >> white sox in town and the mlb commission. he was in town on his regular tour. and he was here for what we're told by the sports department the first of a serial yes, sir of games. they do plan on having another game tomorrow night at 7:00 with the white sox. so it's interesting to see if that goes -- >> calms down. >> here's a question. where's the fire department? where are the fire engines? coming up through the roof now. police are close by when we were watching the two cars burning, earlier they burned and burned and burned and then the fire trucks came and then reignited. i'm wondering if -- this is the first time i have seen a police

line near this cvs in hours and just now securing this area. >> we do have an update. wbal is reporting that they're trying to get the fire department in there now but sounds like there are issues with traffic control and people in the streets. so hopefully they can figure that out and get the fire engines in there. a fire of this size, you know the fire alarms must have gone out quite sometime ago and they need to get in there. >> we are very grateful for your reporting on this tisha. you did report in baltimore for sometime. can you tell us if that large building next to the cvs a rez residential complex. >> i would have to get a better shot of it. we are dependent on the baltimore helicopter right now. this is a business district. there are a handful of apartments in the area. but there are a lot of students from mica the well-known arts

school in the area as well. you know it looks to me, jim, to be one of those situations of businesses on the ground floor and may have parentapartments on the upper floor. cvs, it could become a serious fire with so many combustibles inside that. think of all the stuff that's inside a store. yes, they were looting it and no way they got everything out of that store so this could become a very serious situation very quickly. i would love for the helicopter to pan up but, you know we are dependent on them and busy right now for an idea of that building next door. that could be a big deal right there. >> you see the smoke through the vents at the top so that fire whatever it is whatever the smoking situation is in there looks like it's pretty deep inside there. >> the fire trucks are arriveing. this is the baltimore city fire department. okay. so that's a ladder truck. that's a significant truck. >> give us an idea of the

demographics of the area where this is happening right now. >> yeah. so this is real baltimore. this is not tourist baltimore. this isn't the baltimore you see when you go to an orioles game or you go to see you know the boat in the water. this is further up the road. this is about 25 to -- i'd say about 25 blocks north. if you made a cross with your hands, this is right in the middle of the city and this is a predominantly black neighborhood. but i wouldn't call this a poor neighborhood. baltimore has a variety of neighborhoods. they go very quickly from wealthy to pretty impoverished. all of a sudden you will be in a poor part of town with a lot of baunled homes. this is not that area. this is actually a pretty busy alive place. this is very close to the city's board of education facility where they run all of their schools. and wendy has something she wants to say.

>> we found out what that building is that looks like a residential building. it is. it is the penn north plaza senior building. >> oh dear. oh it is. >> like an old folk's home there so you can imagine the anxiety there tonight as the building down below is on fire. critical to get this thing put out. >> that will be a very -- they're not already evacuated out of that building that could be a very difficult maneuver for these fire departments because if you're dealing with a senior center you deal with individuals who do not have the ability necessarily to move themselves. they may need to be transported in their beds or in tweel chairs. they may not be able to rely on elevators. >> i'm thinking how difficult to be a firefighter in this situation. the police do not appear to have the crowd under control. they have a line but if you're a firefighter arriving on this scene, you're worried about your safety and the fire and you're also worried about your safety

from the crowds who you know have already thrown enough rocks and debris to injure seven or eight police and transit officers. >> you just saw very interesting cross there. you saw a baltimore city fire vehicle an you see right there cross paths with a baltimore city police armored vehicle and an interesting dynamic in cities like baltimore and places like washington where the police and the fire department are treated very differently by their community. the fire department comes and puts the fire out in your neighborhood and oftentimes they find themselves in very dangerous situations but i would say more often than not, wendy, tell me if your experience is different, people tend to respect the fire department. >> they're a savior. not that the police aren't but specifically to put out a fire. and i'm sure they're going to give them access to this. also i have something from president obama. pledging federal government's

help. he has talked to the baltimore's mayor stephanie rawlings blake and he and his new attorney general are in the oval office earlier today watching this unfold live when the rioting was really some of its more dramatic points earlier in the day. not that that is not dramatic. >> this began by what appears to have been high school students. in an organized social media campaign based on reports of wbal. jane miller there was saying that her police sources telling her that the word had gone out at 3:00 high school students were going to meet at the mall and it is now resulted in a very significant fire and a very well-known part of town. >> i just want to say what so many of us are feeling. it is heart breaking this watch this. we all watched what happened in ferguson missouri. we all saw the violence and property destruction unfolding

after what happened there. we all hoped that there would be changes after that. and i don't think we imagined it would happen in our area. here we are on the day of the funeral for freddie gray watching. it is just heart breaking to see this happening so close to home. >> and it is important to note though that the funeral for freddie gray was held some five or six blocks away from where all of the disruption took place. and the people who were in the funeral, the people who were there to honor the memory of freddie gray including one of the ministers who was involved in the service, noticed what was happening when they left the funeral from which none of the people at the funeral went to participate as far as we know in what was already going on in the way of disruption. those ministers were quite

upset, as was freddie gray's family about what was happening a few blocks away from where they were trying to do honor to this young man who died in police custody. also we note that most of what we have seen are, in fact kids. at least for the last several hours. and that as those kids move from one p to do damage grown-ups, adults men, came upon that situation and did everything they could to calm the situation down to implore those children to behave themselves if you will. and to move on as the kids did to yet another location where they did even more damage. derrick -- i'm sorry. who's up there? >> derrick ward on the ground in baltimore at a different vantage point. derrick, what are you seeing from where you are? >> reporter: well i can tell you since the -- moving north.

we haven't seen -- still just -- i have seen two pieces of fire equipment moving that way. as for the crowd behind me the officer -- >> well we are sorry to say that we are having some audio issues with derrick ward in baltimore. >> again. >> but we can see from the live pictures that we are getting from the helicopter over the scene of that fire in baltimore we can see that the police line is moving forward an it looks like they're trying to hold back any of those people out there watching this thing so the firefighters can get out in there and safely do their jobs. maybe it's a good time some people may be just getting home just joining our coverage to recap what we know about what's happened in baltimore. right after the funeral for

freddie gray who was injured in police custody in baltimore and died about a week later, right after that funeral there was -- has been some violence and some looting, has broken out in baltimore. it seems like much of it happened as young people were getting out of school. we know that seven baltimore police officers have been injured. as well as one transit police -- transit security person. also injured and they were injured as they were attacked by young people throwing debris rocks and things at them. and we understand they're all getting treatment now. we don't know much about their condition. we also know that they are watching from the white house what's unfolding here in baltimore. and president obama is pledging

actual government help to respond to the crisis here in baltimore. and he's been in touch, has spoke within the mayor of baltimore to talk about that help. >> where are you and what can you tell us? >> hello. >> you are on. >> hello? >> where are you? where are you and what do you see me? >> the cvs is burning. we are at west north avenue social way and police moved people away from the cvs. i have seen people thrown bottles at police projectiles, objects and police are using pretty much restraint right now and trying to push people back. at the cvs pharmacy goes up in flames. we did an interview with a man very upset because he says what he described as lootersis store and worked

so incredibly hard to build up the store and now it's destroyed. and posting on social media nbc washington you have to excuse me right now. we are being pushed by police down pennsylvania avenue. and i will be -- really hard to get a signal out of here because of what's going on and keep moves us. i will put up videos and photos as it's available at nbc washington on twitter. and i must be -- let you know there are some people calling for peace who are saying stop throwing things show respect to the law enforcement. but then you have the pockets of people that it just seems really want to stir up trouble out here as they taunt and curse and throw insults at the baltimore police officers. that's what i'm seeing right now as i stand here at west north avenue and washingtonpennsylvania avenue. >> have you seen the violence continue? have you seen the kids trying to throw anything over the police

lines? >> yes, i have. actually, as we were walking up west north avenue i saw people throwing and right now i have to you know make sure i'm also protecting my photographer michael regan because a lot of people out here and i have to stay with him. right now, they're pushing people and there are people screaming and it's very chaotic here. in baltimore. >> we can see -- we can see your live picture on the air. >> excellent. >> as you -- as you describe what you're encountering -- >> reporter: what happened? >> we can see the people. >> the man tells me he got pepper sprayed and i did, too. ah. >> okay. >> reporter: and yeah. that's part of covering this thing. is police move people back. and they're actually now because of this pepper spray walking down pennsylvania avenue including myself and the crowd dispersing type of me thod

arguably necessary right now. >> shomari -- >> people are covering their faces with masks, with cloth. as they scream hands up don't shoot. down pennsylvania avenue. >> shomari, find yourself some water, man. wash your eyes out with that. we'll continue to watch the pictures. there are crowds of looters or people who are angry who are being moved away from that area. by police fay lynx at the time. fire engines are there and fighting that blaze. we are told that there's an apartment complex or what seems to have been an apartment complex right next to that and surely trying to contain that fire which erupted a few minutes ago after at least half an hour of people running in and out of that cvs store and grabbing and taking anything they could put their hands on out of there. the police did finally show a

few minutes ago put a line around the store, allowed the fire trucks to come in. and are now pushing the crowds back and away from that area including our shomari stone and the cameraman with him. apparently teargas, not teargas but pep i spray is fired by the police at the crowd to encourage them to move away. and shomari himself is the victim of some of that pepper spray. we may note through the course of this more than three hours now, protests in baltimore, the police have shown rather remarkable restraint. we have not seen any of the heavy duty military type equipment that we saw routinely in ferguson missouri several months ago. there have been a few -- one over two armored trucks that are going through the area but they have not stopped to fire either

rubber bullets, real bullets, taerlgas or anything out on top of the trucks. they have gone through the scenes perhaps to surveil and then report. but the response by the police so far has been very restrained and we might need to mention one more time that the gray family the family of freddie gray the man who died in police custody a week or so ago is pleading with the people mostly young people in baltimore for restraint themselves. and to settle down and do honor to freddie gray's memory by restraining themselves. >> it's a challenging situation for police in baltimore. they want to protect people. they want to ensure people's safety and protect the property but they don't want to take actions that will make the violence any worse. they don't want incite any additional problems.

and it is -- it's a tough call. no matter what they do they're going to be criticized. we do know this is not the first violence. they had violence over the weekend in baltimore. related to the -- also to the freddie gray issue. people angry with the police in baltimore. the mayor and the police chief in that city have been under fire under criticism for a week now freddie gray died about ten -- just eight days ago, i believe it is. and they have been under criticism since he was arrested even a week earlier than that. we know that they -- the baltimore police were -- have been preparing for possible violence today. but preparing for it and seeing it break out like this or two different things. >> we are watching pictures both from a helicopter from baltimore

area stations and also we have had pictures from the ground with shomari's crew where the -- he's right there with the demonstrators or behind them. >> sounds like shomari is ready to rejoin us. are you okay first of all? >> reporter: yeah. well right now a firefighter walked over to a fire hydrant and putting a hose on it because they need it more water for the cvs pharmacy that's burning. we're at pennsylvania avenue. and arch social way. and we are having to move back right now because police are continuing to move the crowd down pennsylvania avenue. a man is passing out right now. paper towels for people like myself are put over our nose and our mouth to protect us from the smoke and the pepper spray that is used out here. to disperse the crowd. again, it's important to point

out that police are dealing with pockets of people who are throwing bottles. some people i saw steal liquor from stores. and a lot of -- you know the very tense situation. but baltimore police appear to be really keeping control the best way they can. it's quite difficult at times because you have someone throw a beer can or a rock and they have shields protecting their face and bodies from the flying projectiles. seems like things have become pretty calm here at pennsylvania avenue and arch social way. but then moments later you have some people who spark it up again, who start yelling no justice, no peace. getting the arousal out of people which in turn causes them to act upon that arousal. >> can you give us a sense of who you're seeing when's still throughout? are these all young people? do they all seem like local

people? we have heard a lot of concern that is there are people coming in from out of town helping to incite this. i mean you have got -- >> reporter: great question. >> pepper spray in your eyes and maybe you can't discern all that. your sense of who's out there. >> reporter: my discernment is pretty good from this vantage point. sigh a lot of young people. i see older people in their 40s, 50s, who are trying to convince the young people just to relax, you know. let this all play out. a lot of folks are upset about what happened to freddie gray. wondering how did this man, you know how did he get the spinal air ji? that's what they demand to know and they feel that they have had slow answers from police. these folks say they have been dealing with problems of the police officers here in baltimore and come to a point where as one man told me the freddie gray situation was the last straw. today, some folks are filled with emotion because it's

freddie gray's funeral and as a result some of them decided to peacefully protest and you have some people that you all mentioned, pockets, out of towners who are sparking a lot of this chaos out here right now. >> all right. thank you. and watch your back man. be careful out there. it's a dangerous and fluid situation, obviously. live desk now. pat has spoken with a member of the maryland legislature. is that correct? >> yes. many of them watching with great concern. a democrat who represents baltimore, just spoke with her on the phone and she was concerned that she believes police should have been a little more aggressive at the beginning. when we saw that demonstration at mondawmin mall she believes they should have made more arrests then and her opinion is that perhaps we wouldn't have seen this escalation these groups moving from neighborhood to neighborhood from business to business. setting fires and looting.

she also commented about the baltimore police department's plea to parents to call their children and tell them to come home. delegate carter's opinion is that that is a plea to that will fall on deaf ears. she points out a lot of the young people we believe involved this come from family that is are dysfunctional, broken families and don't live with their parents. she think this is's going to fall on deaf ears and will have absolutely no impact. certainly not much of an impact to make a difference here. i asked her about governor hogan's call to put the national guard on alert. she thinks the national guard should be called should be involved at this point. the opinion of delegate jill carter in baltimore watching this from baltimore and is very concerned as many state legislators are about what's happening in baltimore city this evening, jim. >> thank you, pat. interesting comments from the congresswoman or the legislator. >> shomari made a good point

that i don't know that we have mentioned. and that is that people are pretty frustrated at the lack of information. >> uh-huh. >> about this. freddie gray was arrested and got a mysterious spinal cord injury while in police custody. possibly while he was in the back of a police van. an unrestrained. but with a seat belt or anything. a week later he is dead with a dead from a spinal cord injury. what we are not getting that i think is very frustrating to people information about how he could possibly have gotten that spinal cord injury. i think that contributes tond anger of the people on this. >> correct. and soon after the arrest and the announcement of the death, the mayor there stephanie rawlings blake did proclaim she was quite angry about what

happened. the leader of the police forces there. also expressed frustration. but in spite of that there are apparently many questions that are still not answered and answers have not been forthcoming so far. we note that the scene at the fire is at a cvs store, a rather large store in what i believe the center of baltimore, this area seems to be calming down. they -- >> let's hope. >> police seem to have it under control now. not as much smoke coming from the building itself. we saw a helicopter shot short while ago. just a couple of minutes ago of crowd of -- crowd movement from what apparently is another area of town. it's hard for us to ascertain exactly where that is we have to point out that these are live shots in the city of baltimore. and most of us here on this set like i presume many of you are

not terribly familiar with that part of baltimore because beyond the inner harbor and a few other areas we don't much about this town. >> this is some troubling information we're just hearing that luke russert with nbc news tweeted out that a protester cut one of the fire hoses and apparently using to try to put out this big fire at this cvs. that's disheartening. >> it is and also troubling. the situation definitely is still dangerous. we note that it is in fact quite fluid there. the crowd seems to be -- crowds of disrupters seem to be moving from one place to another. there is an area there where our derrick ward is stationed where police have set up a phallynx around the police station. we believe it's the one freddie gray was taken to several days ago on that fateful day and a

suggestion that crowds may be moving that way and that there might have been a plan for the situation to unfold in that particular way. we don't know that yet. we know that the situation there in baltimore has turned really dangerous. eight officers have been injured. we're not sure of what their conditions are right now. as soon as we are, we'll share that information with you. in the meantime the police have put up very restrained response to all of that's gone. we have not seen again, any of the heavy duty military style equipment, military equipment we saw in ferguson. but it is not over yet and a long way from it in fact. >> we are getting closer to sun down and we are not hearing anything about any curfews or any planls in place to try to keep things calm in baltimore this evening. let's go to tisha thompson at the live desk and again, worked in baltimore for several years

and is very familiar with the neighborhoods and the geography there. what's new? >> well we wanted to give you a heads up that governor larry hogan just canceled his public appearances. he just put out an announcement saying that his schedule has been canceled. we also wanted to make a note that the mayor of baltimore city has not had a tweet in the last four hours. and people might be like okay, what's the big deal ant that? in these kinds of situations oftentimes tweeting is main form of communication with for instance the baltimore city police using the facebook pages and twit tore get information out to media organizations but we have not heard anything from the mayor's office since before this began. we also wanted to give you some information about that senior center that we told you about that's right next to the fire that is right next to the ccs. it is a 66 unite.

it's the penn north plaza senior building and it's run by the church of st. katherine of alexandria. we are told that the residents are not evacuated. the fire has not reached them yet but many residents left the building to watch what's happening on the street. so you do have a combination of just folks being spectators watching when's happening here on what would normally be a bustling vibrant stretch of town where you would see a lot of people on the sidewalks, just not in the middle of the street. >> have we heard anything about the disruption of traffic? i mean we have come through rush hour now. and we're curious to know if the disruption there has spread beyond that particular area in the way of traffic being, a traffic mess being created. >> many of my colleagues i used to work with in baltimore have been talking all weekend about

how difficult to travel through the city that you may think the route you took today was the right route to take and then protesters show up down some of the major thoroughfares. that is situation for several days in baltimore city. this is a very important part of the city in terms of commuter traffic. the big question is have they shut down 395. because 395 is the equivalent of an interstate through the center of the city. we know that they have been shutting down this section here at fulton avenue and north avenue. there's an entrance and an exit ramp to that interstate right here in this area. this would be more of what people -- north avenue is a road that people would be using if they lived within the city itself. they wouldn't really be using it to drive through the city. i guess you could say. so it does have some impact but it's not like new york avenue getting shut down and nobody could get out of the city. but it is having a ripple effect

because this is a big road. >> this is a different location we are seeing now. do you know what we're looking at here? >> i can find out for you. i'll get our produce earls to tell us where this location is. >> we just saw a lot of people running all in the same direction and curious to know why. >> i think we had a picture of this earlier and it seemed to be a liquor store maybe. >> this appears to be the north avenue corridor. what is happened is that the violence has moved down ifthe length of north avenue. it's an east-west road and they seem to be going from business to business to business. they started at the intersection of pennsylvania and north avenue and they've moved over to fulton avenue which is moving closer if i remember correctly towards 395. city. this area is if you took a pencil and you tried to hit the center of baltimore city you would probably hit this street.

this is one of the most central parts of baltimore city as we mentioned before. this is where a lot of business gets done by the folks who live and work in the city. it's not the part that tourists see. it's about 20 some 25 blocks north of that area a little bit northwest of the inner harbor area. >> tisha, it is 7:00 and we want to tell our viewers that we are going to stay with our live coverage of the trouble breaking out in baltimore. it's a fluid situation. we're going to continue to cover it live and "nbc nightly news" is going to run on cozi so you can see "nbc nightly news" if you like and that's going to be