good afternoon, everyone, i'm jim handly. >> i'm pat lawson muse. we begin with police searching for a man with a shotgun and a hammer. >> news4's tracee wilkins joins us live from the scene with the latest. trace see, what can you tell us? is. >> the parkway is open again, lots of commuters happy about that. traffic is moving freely, but for hours, more than three hours, the parkway was shut down while they looked for a suspect. let me show you the vehicle that's at the center of this investigation. it was a white jeep, parked on the side of this construction zone. the purpose of that jeep, it was there to actually catch speeders coming through the work zone. they had a contracted worker sitting inside of that jeep, and that was his job. as he was doing that today, some strange man walked up and banged on the back windshield of his vehicle with a shotgun. then police say the man then approached the front of the jeep, and began banging on the front windshield with a hammer until he broke the windshield, putting at least two holes in the front windsh

i'm jim handly. >> i'm pat lawson muse. independence day activities are in full swing here in the nation's capital today. and that's meant some road closures downtown for the parade and all of the other activities. >> traffic is sure to pick up again tonight as folks head out for the capital 4th celebration on the mall, and, of course, the fireworks. news4's derrick ward is live for us in southeast d.c. to show us one of the best viewing spots in the whole city. derrick? >> reporter: indeed we are. take a look here. we are in the parking lot of our lady of perpetual help catholic church off morris road, and, of course, this is indeed one of the best viewing spots in town. now, you remember the battle hymn of the republic, the line, the watch fires of the hundred circling camps? this was one of those camps, gun placements overlooking the city, guarding it from invasion. later on this evening, as nightfall, eyes will be turned towards the city. but not to fire anything, but to watch the fireworks. you can actually see the tip

we have coverage, next good afternoon, i'm wendy rieger in for jim handly. >> i'm pat lawson muse. the final flight in a minute. but first this afternoon, our area is under a severe thunderstorm watch. >> all eyes on the sky here. the rain started about an hour ago. let's get the latest from doug. >> it is really coming down out there in some locations. flash flood watch across most of the entire area, but a flash flood warning for most of maryland, including montgomery county, howard county, frederick, washington, carol, and baltimore county. they are seeing some very heavy rain right now. you can see that rain on the radar. the only severe thunderstorm right now is down towards culpeper. that is going to move through southern portions of culpeper county. but we're watching that line, as well, as it makes its way into the area. the entire region under a severe thunderstorm watch until 9:00 tonight. a couple of zooms here, and the first zoom we'll take you to is the one that does show you into montgomery county that we are seeing some of the heaviest rain right there, right around

. >> and i'm wendy rieger in for jim handly. this morning, a judge handed down casey anthony's sentence for lying to investigators. she got four years, that's the maximum for that conviction. but she also got credit for time that she has already served. >> so her freedom date is next wednesday, july 13th. anthony's legal battles are far from over, though. kristen dahlgren starts us off in orlando. >> you may be seated. >> reporter: days after a jury acquitted her in the death of her 2-year-old daughter, caylee, casey anthony will spend less than another week in jail. >> her release date is july 13th, 2011. >> reporter: after sentencing her to four years and $4,000 fine on four counts of making false statements to investigators, judge belvin perry credited her for more than 1,000 days already served. but the court also reserved jurisdiction to determine the cost of the prosecution and investigation, and could tax anthony on that. >> this search for her went on from july through december, over several months, trying to find caylee

i'm aaron gilchrist in for jim handly. >> we have breaking news at 5:00. it's in northwest washington. two row houses on fire. in the 900 block of decatur street off georgia avenue, d.c. firefighters were just called in a few minutes ago. and just seconds ago, this fire went to two alarms. these pictures are from our tower camera. you can see some smoke there in the distance. this is the best shot we have for you for now. but we do have a news crew that just arrived on the scene. we'll get those pictures in as soon as we can and update this for you shortly. >>> and breaking news in annandale. firefighters just put out a fire in the 6300 block of hum erode. chopper 4 was over the scene just a while ago. firefighters say they had to stop one woman from running back into the house to try to save her belongings. so far there are no reports of any injuries. the cause of that fire still under investigation. >>> now to the latest on a disturbing act of violence in a prince georges county playground. a 4-year-old still in the hospital tonight. another child shot h