horace: in baltimore, horace holmes, abc 7 news. maureen: thank you, horace. "7 on your side" during breaking news and right now on wjla.com, you can see up close images of the crisis and the calm in baltimore. you can also sign up to have text alerts sent right to your mobile phone. just go to wjla.com/text. a 4-year-old montgomery county boy currently battling leukemia is in disney world tonight. very happy people arriving at reagan national airport this morning on the way to florida. their trip to florida was part of a world make a wish day. the family said a visit to the magic kingdom is desperately needed by the little boy finn. >> instead of focusing on clinic appointments and doctors' appointments and going to the hospital, it's a chance to be together as a family. and go out and have fun. maureen: although you can see finn is a little camera shy, he said he is very excited about meeting characters from the movie "frozen." and by the way, the reagan airport's fire department gave finn a water cannon salute before it took off t

horace holmes took a tour behind the scenes today. horace: the rush is on. to get the final touches in place at nats park. >> feels like springtime today. horace: in time for opening day monday. there will be the familiar things and the familiar faces. but also -- >> our fans that are with us can expect to see something new and fun in the ballpark. horace: for instance -- >> so the tablet will allow you to order merchandise, food and beverage call your suite attendant. horace: the first thing you'll notice as you walk through the gates, metal detectors. >> encouraging all the fans to come early. horace: once inside you'll be told of the season long celebration of baseball's return to d.c. 10 years ago. signs everywhere and apparel galore, shirts hats, sweats will all be on sale and speaking of that there will be a brand new souvenir store across the center field plaza from the old clubhouse store. >> nearly double the size of the current store. horace: there's also a throwback to 1924 the year the last washington baseball team made it to the world series. >>

kevin lewis is also here with us as is horace holmes. let's get things started this hour with brad

horace holmes a look behind the scenes. horace: the rush is on to get the final touches in place at nats park. in time for opening day monday. there will be findley things and familiar faces. but also -- >> the fans can always expect something new and fun in the ballpark. the tablets will allow you to order merchandise, food and beverage, call the attendant. horace: the first thing through the gates, metal detectors. >> we encourage all fans to come early. horace: once inside, the celebration of the 10-year anniversary of the return of baseball in d.c. there will also be a brand-new souvenir store across the center field plaza from the old clubhouse store. >> it will be nearly double the size. horace: there is also a throwback to the year 1924, when the last washington baseball team made it to the world series. there are all kinds of new food features including bacon-flavored popcorn and these yummy little biscuits, grilled cheese sandwiches, dogs, sliders, lots of good food drink, and hopefully a season of great baseball an

horace holmes is live at nats park on opening day. horace, great day for fans and players. baseball is back in d.c. horace: absolutely. and the weather is picture perfect. the fans all packed into this stadium here at nats park behind me having a great time. great day for baseball. opening day. they've been out here at the park since very early this morning. we saw them around 9:00 this morning lined up. people trying to get whatever tickets they could for what is turned out to be a sold out event. we talked to one gentleman who was first in line. he didn't want to be identified because he like many folks out here, were playing hooky from work. but this is the 10th year that baseball has been back in washington d.c. with the nationals and fans know it and they're happy about it. >> we're so happy that it's been 10 years. looking forward to another 10. horace: so a lot of work for the nationals to do today. only thing that will put a damper on this day if they lose. they are behind right now going into the eighth inning 3-1. reporting live from nats park horace holmes, abc 7

horace holmes continues our team coverage from baltimore. he's live with what business owners have to say tonight. horace? horace: maureen, every business in this strip mall on this row of this strip mall was looted on monday night. and every business had video of surveillance cameras inside and caught the looters going in. they've turned that video over to police. do the store owners think that police will actually go after these store looters and do they actually want them to be arrest ed? it was a day to do business for business owners victimized by monday's looting. to assess the loss. file insurance claims and police reports. looters broke into this clothing store in this neighborhood strip mall and walked off with everything. >> police could have came here and stopped them when they were doing all of this. but they didn't. horace: baltimore's police chief wanted to use surveillance video like this to find them and arrest them. >> should they arrest the people that did this? do you think they will? >> no. brad: store owners we talked to

while kevin goes somewhere safer, we want to go to our horace holmes who is standing by in our newsroom, also monitoring the situation with information for us. horace? horace: alison i lived for several years and worked as a reporter in baltimore. very familiar with this area where this incident is happening right now over there by mondawmin mall. i'll tell you, i've never seen anything like that all the years that i was on the streets covering news in baltimore. and these are scenes that we haven't seen before in america on the streets of america as we're seeing these protests unfold. this is an area over here in west baltimore that is very close to a -- by mondawmin mall, a major high school and the word as we've been reporting gotten out to high school students that come out and protest, what turned into a violent protest. this is a major high school and middle school and elementary schools right in this area. the mall is a very large mall. a lot of retailers in there. and it sits right in the middle of a neighborhood with many side streets and alleys and we saw in some of the protes

reporting live in baltimore, horace holmes, abc 7 news. leon: all right, horace. back live now here at the west north avenue here. you see that prince george's county tactical team there is poised at the ready. things got a little tenser a second ago. 1,000 people marched up this street and began to confront these officers here. as i said a moment ago, this one little corner that we're standing on has just had the entire gamut of emotion and today here in this city we saw people coming into the damaged stores and buildings to try to clean things up on their own. we've seen people out here dancing and we've seen people bringing their kids here because kids around going to school here today. and we've seen people joining hands in prayer and debate. then after that moments after that prayer scene, moments after this scene is when we saw the protesters confront the police and the weapons coming out. but that seems to have dissipated now and things are calming down and the question that so many people here are asking they've been saying it outloud is what is going to h

reporting live in baltimore, horace holmes, abc 7 news. leon: thank you, horace. that scene that you had there was a very strong one. but, perhaps, the strongest image from last night was not a business but it was that seniors center attached to the southern baptist church just east of us here that burned to the ground last night. you can see that facility here that was a matter of months away from opening. now, it is a complete and total loss. it was supposed to become home of 60 units of affordable housing for senior citizens. they're investigating that fire. they think it was arson. they just now need the proof and the details to prove that. today, president obama spoke up here about what happened in baltimore last night. he condemned the violence and said there's no excuse for it no matter how much pain people are sumping or how badly they want to be hurt. chris papst picks up our live coverage from the newsroom with more on that. chris: president obama called the agitators thug who's should be treated as criminals during last night's violence. nearly 200 arre

horace holmes is standing by in our newsroom. horace? horace: at this point, is this protest going to move downtown? is it going to move down into the inner harbor about four miles from where brad is right now? and there are indications some pockets of demonstrators are starting to move downtown into the downtown area. we've got word from the university of maryland baltimore they have our campuses right down in the inner harbor. their police forces have issued a shelter in place order because of the potential violent activity so they are expecting the worst. but preparing at this point for what could happen. there's an orioles game that is going on down of course at camden yards. this is right there in the inner harbor. major league baseball says that game will go on as scheduled. supposed on throw the first pitch at 7:00. we understand the orioles and the white sox have been out for batting practice. but they have closed the gates of camden yards at this point. so not exactly sure what's going to happen with that game even though major

and horace holmes is live at camden yards right now. so horace are there people outside the park tonight since they can't go in? horace: absolutely alison. they're just around the corner from us. we're here on ewtah street. even though the fans are locked out of this game they feel this is the first sign that normalcy is returning to the city baseball coming back even being played in camden yards. but a strange feeling on the inside. i was here for batting practice and had been watching some of the games and i've been working to put these pieces together for the afternoon. and it's very strange, there's not a soul in the stands. there's a lot of press up in the press box. everybody is watching the game. up in the press box. but there are no fans in the stands and you can hear every single thing that goes on on the field. first time as you said alison this has ever happened in the history of major league baseball. but major league baseball, the orioles thought this was the best thing to do. in essence, so the orioles have lost a week's wo

horace holmes abc 7 news. alison: that makes no sense. leon: half a million gallons a house that size, you'd see something outside. wouldn't you think? that's it for us at 5:00. coming up at 6:00, kidnapping and police shooting during a chaotic night in d.c. new details about the suspect and the u.s. census security guard who was killed during it all. sam: a uniformed secret service officer was charged with a felony within the hour here at d.c. superior court. i'm sam ford. that's coming up. alison: why the sentencing phase for boston marathon bomber is now being delayed. maureen: the sun is peeking out a bit in place around the metro area but still overcast in others. that could warm things up but also bring some storms. all afternoon, we've been waiting to see if stormy weather will make it to our area. chief meteorologist doug hill is keeping track from the storm watch weather center. doug? doug: hey, maureen, the story is because of the cooler temperatures and clouds today, the heavy storms that are developing are developing in the ri

a big problem -- nobody was living in the house or using water. 7 on your side troubleshooter horace holmes looked into the strange and expensive bill. horace: this person did not live in this capitol hill home until june. a restoration company turned off the electricity. they turned off the water, he says. what a remained off until a couple weeks ago. right after he received his water bill. >> the bill was huge over $7,000 for 105 days, from november to march this year. how could it be, he says? nobody was living in a house or using water. he contacted wssc and said that some but he had used nearly a half-million gallons of water at his house during that time and he was responsible. >> there's no way i could use that much water. there is nobody in the house. the bill before with zero when the water was turned off. i called them, but did not get me nowhere. horace;: 7 on your side called wssc. at 5:00, we will be with the water company said. kimberly: a former virginia delegate who resigned his seat to run for office is suing his own political party. joe morrissey said they deliberately rej

horace holmes is live in the city in crisis and has her story. horace? horace: this is hey kim's store here in east baltimore and the looters just pride open the security fence right here and busted the window and went out. talked to miss kim earlier today and she said the surveillance video was rolling in there. she wants the people who came inside to see themselves because she wants them to think about what they did. when she first saw this surveillance video from her beauty supply store tuesday morning, she bowed her head and cried. >> i felt so bad. horace: kim grew up in this east baltimore store that her parents opened up 28 years ago. she's taking over the business from them. >> with my family i really felt comfortable here. horace: monday night that feeling of community and family was destroyed when hundreds of looters broke through her store security gate smashed a window and came pouring in. for the next several hours, they carried off the life bread of a proud family and an important staple to this community. >> where else are we going to go?

as horace holmes reports this evening, now that community is trying to understand just what happened. >> yeah my class is coming down. horace: as they filed into the small room at broad run high school to sign a poster honoring their lost classmate. >> kids have been coming up with different ideas to have a memory of madison. horace: impossible to forget. >> always nice to me and always said hi and smiled. horace: you could see the grief, the pain on these young faces. her friends are finding it hard to understand and cope with the fact that she's gone. >> she definitely left a wonderful imprint of herself on the broad run community. horace: over the weekend, family members say small, a senior at broad run and a leader on the school softball team was home practicing with her dad. on monday night, she fell ill. was taken to the hospital. and by tuesday morning she had died. these students, her friends, set up this memorial at her desk. a show of love. the shocked broad run community is struggling to accept this. >> never expected like someone just to like be fine and then the next day

horace hole systems -- holmes is in the newsroom with the officials from c.v.s. horace: we received a statement from c.v.s. saying due to the nearby activity they've closed a number of c.v.s. stores in baltimore and they also go on to report that no customers or employees have been injured which is the good news. they're cooperating with police monitoring the stores to ensure the safety of employees and customers and their thoughts are with the people of baltimore. again, they've closed a number of stores, c.v.s. has in baltimore and they are reporting that no customers or employees have been injured. leon: all right. we're getting word that the white house is also keeping an eye on what's happening in baltimore. loretta lynch in her first meeting with president obama as attorney general. she's watching it from her perspective and the white house as well is watching what's happening playing in the streets of baltimore. the white house senior advisor has been in touch with maryland's governor larry hogan and as we've said moments ago, the governor has announced tha

in capitol heights, horace holmes, abc 7 news. leon: this is about the third time we've heard this kind of story happen with water bills. alison: unbelievable. leon: something is going out there. get on it horace. still ahead here at 4:00, consumer alert for drivers. why nissan and b.m.w. are recalling nearly 100,000 vehicles. >> so many emotions hurt, disappointment, latitude. alison: and a really bizarre case. a teenager accused of digging up an urn from a grave. why he did it and the huge mistake he made in the process. leon: we're on storm watch right now. weather moving in tonight. alison: doug hill is tracking this weather alert for us. hi doug. doug: things start to go develop a little bit right now for you. the key determining factor and where the best chances for severe weather is. not so much in the d.c. metro in points north and northeast where it's been cool all day. doppler radar to the metro area a little line of showers but there's no lightning strikes reported anywhere. let's zoom in closely here. you can see if we

horace holmes has been working on this story. horace: we just received a statement from delmarva power. the company said it did not cut off power to the home of rodney todd. todd, his two young sons and five daughters were found dead inside their house yesterday. the state medical examiner has ruled the cause of death for all eight now, just learning this to be accidental carbon monoxide poisoning. delmarva power says todd was behind on his utility bills and they had discovered an electric meter illegally connected to the house where the family had been living since november. power company says it disconnected that meter for safety reasons on march 25th. and todd had been using a generator to power his home. the family was last seen alive on the 28th. now, delmarva power says it is deeply saddened by this tragedy and urges all of its customers to contact them if they have any problems with their power. i'm horace holmes reporting live in the newsroom abc 7 news. now, abc 7 news at 5:00 starts right now. leon: widespread power outa

leon: horace holmes is live in southeast washington where fans are streaming into the park. rather slowly if you want to call that line a stream horace. horace: absolutely. it's a little slower because of the security that you have to go through, metal detectors. you know, they've already sung the national anthem and a young man threw out the ceremonial first pitch and guess what, it was a perfect strike. so the crowd went crazy. you can see the line here. it's a big crowd still filing into the stadium right now. and they've been here all morning and all afternoon long waiting for this trying to get the taste of last year's bitter defeat in the national league championship game in san francisco. out of their mouths. everybody is very hyped for this season right now. we ran into the first people very first people in line. they got there around 8:00 this morning and the gentleman who was number one in line that we talked to didn't want his face to be seen. didn't want us to tell his name because, like many people out here he is playing hooky from work. >> the boss doesn't know.

as abc 7 trouble shooter horace holmes found out, that is at the center of one of our investigations not once but twice before. horace: a contractor who we've seen here before. robin ford and her husband were desperate to make a major repair on their home. they found a buyer for. when they hired their contractor, they say they got more than what they had bargained for. she was moving quickly towards the date of the closing but nothing would be finalized until she was able to correct a sinking foundation. she hired a local contractor referred by a family member and paid him $4400 down payment. it was supposed to be a simple fix. this is what she said the contractor ended up doing to her kitchen floor. then she says he asked for more money to finish. >> we gave him the $2,000 and then he didn't do anything else. horace: when ford called us, we discovered her contractor had been the center of previous "7 on your side" investigations and wait until you find out what we found out this time around about him. we'll tell you that and we'll tell you who he is tonight on abc 7 news at 5:00. aut

let's see if we can get more now from horace holmes. he's got a look at the cleanups from the vantage point on center street is it horace? horace: leon i am about three miles from where you are south of where you are still in west baltimore on pratt street. a street full of businesses. you talked about folks where you are and other parts of the city cleaning up. there are some people that have a hard time cleaning up. very important store to the people in this community. you can see the damage that was done last night. the korean immigrants that moved to this country 33 years ago and most of the time owning this business. all the time until last night they told me they never had any problems. we've seen people coming to this store. this was a very important store in this neighborhood just shaking their heads wondering what in the world went on and why anyone would do this to businesses in their own community. much less what's going on over here. at least the sun has something to pick up over here. we talked to the owners of this check ca

horace holmes, abc 7 news. leon: thanks, horace. alison: we are heading into the holiday weekend. leon: you can still get some heavy downpours. it will clear out for the weekend. doug: let's give you a time lapse from the high school in all the. a beautiful sunrise but then the clouds rolled in during the day. the show was quickly followed. his on-again off-again showers. mild temperatures throughout this friday. a few raindrops reported over loudoun county. 69 in alexandria, 68 in bethesda. only 58 in frederick. generally one to two inches of rain. most are very light elements of rain. western frederick county. they are continuing to move to the northeast. the further north you go the generally cooler it is. mid 70's the south and southwest. we are on the edge of much warmer air. separated from the cooler air. later tonight when the showers and thunderstorms start coming in from the west i think the areas that have the warmest temperatures will be the areas with biggest threat of heavy storms later tonight. back to the west, the leading edge of the cooler air. that has been setti

we begin with horace holmes live at nats park with what fans are seeing today. hi horace. horace: hi alison. they're seeing what they've been longing to see since last october. this big crowd back here is here on opening day. a picture perfect day and they're seeing baseball. they love it. it's a day when all the heartbreaks of a season past are forgotten. >> i don't want to be let down. i'd rather you know say this. horace: hopes for a new promising year are at their height. >> best year yet. we have the great pitching going into the season. so hope we live up to expectations on paper. horace: opening day at nats park. >> this is my first opening day ever. horace: the team that brought baseball back to washington. >> i'll meet my son a little bit later today and we'll go to the 10th game that we've gone to, 10th opening day. horace: and it's a family affair for the very old and the very young. this is the 5-year-old's fifth opening day. >> been here every year early and we hang out and wait for gates to open and we just love it. horace: on an opening day with picture perf

horace holmes was among the media inside the ballpark when the game started. hi, horace. horace: hi alison. members of the press were the only ones allowed to watch the game and we were confined to the press box. so nobody in the stands. but even though the fans weren't allowed through those gates today, it didn't stop them from coming out. the gates at camden yards remained locked tight all afternoon. >> super weird. like being locked out of my house. it's crazy. horace: the fans kept on the outside while baseball was played inside. >> i think they should have right invited some of the kids that they call thugs down here to watch the game. it would have been a great moment for community to come together. horace: it would be a strange arch afternoon for all the chicago white sox and baltimore orioles. >> it will be different. i can't say that it's just another game. horace: these two teams did something no other major league baseball teams have ever done before. play a major league baseball game before no fans. >> it's a smart move. you don't need, don't want to risk it.

alison: as "7 on your side" trouble shooter horace holmes found out, that contractor has been at the center of one of our investigations not once but twice before. horace: at the center of our "7 on your side" trouble shooter report, a contractor that we've seen here before. robin ford and her husband were desperate to make a major repair to their home. they found a buyer for but when they hired their contractor they say they got more than what they had bargained for. ford says she was moving quickly towards the date of the closing with the buyers of her home but nothing would be finalized until she was able to correct a sinking foundation. that's when she hired a local contractor who was referred by a family member and paid him $4400 downpayment. it was supposed to be a simple fix. but this is what she said the contractor ended up doing to her kitchen floor. then she says he asked for more money to finish. >> we gave him the $2,000. and then he didn't do anything else. horace: when ford called us we discovered her contractor had been the center of previous "7 on your side" investigat

we have team coverage from baltimore tonight with horace holmes and kevin lewis.'s start with maryland bureau chief brad bell and the exclusive details from the police report that you heard first here on 7 about two hours ago. brad, tell us about it. brad: a week and a half ago, we heard from mayor stephanie rawlings-blake here in no uncertain terms their focus is on what happened inside the police transport van. she said they knew freddie gray was ok when he got in the van and wasn't when he got out. now we know a little bit more from our law enforcement sources as to why they believe that to be the case. according to our law enforcement sources, an autopsy found on freddie gray's head a mark on the top of his head that matched a place on the back of the police transport van, specifically a bolt. they described freddie gray as having handcuffs behind his back and legs in shackles the theory is he was in the back of the van very low head room standing over like this and for some reason went flying in the van. that's what caused his injuries. now, this is all preli

horace hole systems -- holmes is in the newsroom with the officials from c.v.s. horace: we received a statement from c.v.s. saying due to the nearby activity they've closed a number of c.v.s. stores in baltimore and they also go on to report that no customers or employees have been injured which is the good news. they're cooperating with police