richard reeve, abc 7 news. jonathan: we are following breaking news in the district, emergency crews on the scene of a serious accident involving a fire truck. hit byople were in a car the truck. they are hospitalized. two had to be rescued, because they were trapped in the car. there is no word on their conditions, but this car is a mangled mess of metal. this happened in northwest, where tim barber joins us with the latest. what happened, do we know? tim:: now the mangled mess of metal is sitting on the back of this wrecker. they just put this on here in the last 15 minutes. if you are watching news channel 8, you saw where the car was. it slammed into the fire truck, then this light hole. is on theft, pepco scene, addressing the light hole. as we pan back over to the car, the wrecker is getting ready to haul away the car. all five people in the car were taken to hospitals. in front were in serious critical condition. the firefighters in the truck said the car was driving down the road and slammed into the fi

richard reeve reports. richard: inside this massive greenhouse, they grow poinsettias, tulips, and ornamental plants. did you ever dream when you were starting out that you would grow marijuana? >> no. richard: larry is a true believer that medical marijuana is the cash crop of the future. >> what i learned about it, it's just a plant. greenhouse mix all the sense in the world. richard: $2000 per pound is the going rate in colorado. he figures he can cultivate about $5,000 per year. the frederick city council is deciding whether to approve any year pilot program. i have a special exception for a greenhouse only. richard: the county farm bureau opposes the idea. others are concerned about security. >> it's a divisive topic. you mentioned marijuana and they say no. theard: but he says marijuana can be genetically altered come just the amount of thc while increasing healing medical properties come helping seizures,ith alzheimer's disease, and other ailments. from a scientific standpoint, this works, this is why

in fairfax, richard reeve, abc7 news. maureen: still ahead at "abc7 news at 6:00" -- displaced residents in silver spring trying to figure out what is next. the latest on the investigation into the cause of the deadly apartment explosion. plus -- >> those four angels have fallen from the heavens. they want to return home. you can help. i'm q mccray. i'll explain how coming up. maureen: right now volunteers are in the newsroom to take your call. the subject is protecting the elderly from scam and fraud. call the number on the screen until 6:30. maureen: residents of a now destroyed silver spring apartment building wants to know what happens next. today they met with maryland senator ben cardin and montgomery county executive alex liggitt. both promised to help the families get back on their feet. >> i am reasonably convinced that the challenge we heard today immediately of trying to find transitional housing and permanent housing for people will be to do so. maureen: crews are working to recover the body of a seventh perso

richard reeve joins us live to walk us through what happened. rich? richard: a very busy area in the day. but at night, not so much. i'm walking exactly where the woman was. walking across the bridge on the virginia side and came into this area here. it was here she had an encounter with a man. let's show you video of the area. this happened at 2:30 in the morning early sunday. unlike now, the area was very, there are street lights on the bridge. but once you get off the bridge it's dark here. she saw the man walking toward her. police say he grabbed her and pulled her to the side, off the sidewalk. covered her mouth and put her hands down her shorts. she was able to break through. she says the guy ran off toward d.c. if tar lot of folks this is a cautionary tale about walking alone, especially at night. >> we are in a city. sometimes we forget it. it's a beautiful path we can take. but we have to remember to be vigilant for our fellow citizens and ourselves. >> at night you have less people going by. it's well-lit on the bridge but as soon as you get

richard reeve has more. quite a statement made with the sentence. richard: absolutely. this was the maximum possible sentence. two life terms plus 98 the judge let it out on this one against andrew schmuhl in connection with november 2014 violent home invasion in the words of the judge. take you back a couple of years. this was the home of leo fisher and sue duncan. schmuhl burst in their home, tased and beat duncan and stabbed fisher. two weeks before fisher fired alecia schmuhl, schmuhl's wife, attorney from arlington. the prosecutors called this a case of revenge. schmuhl said he didn't remember anything, including the arrest he was found wearing only a diaper because he was on 13 painkillers because of a back injury from the army. but the judge said in court today the act was premeditate and brutal. callous and cruel in words. he handed down the maximum sentence. >> the community possible on the crime. the guidelines as i argue the course today, the commonwealth felt this case were not appropriate. don't capture the full uniqueness of this case. richard: alecia schm

in southeast washington, richard reeve, abc7 news.alison: "7 on your side" with a scam alert tonight. you have heard about the i.r.s. imposter scam. the biggest fraud ever passed on the american public. tonight there is a new version "7 on your side" consumer investigator kimberly suiters just got an alert from the maryland state police and she is our live desk with more. kimberly: this afternoon, maryland state police sent this warning to "7 on your side." a telephone scam. this is in rockville. maryland state police do not collect fines at all. they use the court system. just like with the i.r.s. the state police and the tax agents do not call and threaten arrest. it appears that the victim in this case was a woman in her 70's from allegany county. the caller demanded $800. senior citizens appear to be the main target. this week in fredericksburg, the police told us a 72-year-old woman was scammed out of $12,000 by an i.r.s. imposter and the same thing happened at the live desk, kimberly suiters, abc7 news. alison: coming up at "abc

richard reeve with why the cost have spike and some money-saving tips if you use one. s agree epipens are amazing devices. >> this product is a life saving product that saves lives. richard: a portable, fast acting tool for people with food allergies but the price is leaving families with sticker shock. >> it makes you mad. and frustrated. epipen's price tag skyrocketed from $57 to $736 this year. >> patients should be able to afford it and not to be exposed with this prohibitive pricing. >> 15-year-old carries one with her everywhere she goes. she considers herself lucky. others not to much. >> they are saving peoples lives. by making that, maybe somebody wouldn't able to accord it. richard: allergist says some of the patients are choosing between paying mortgages and getting epipens. medicine itself is relatively cheap. >> this container has 60 doses. that you buy for $38. richard: the maker of the epipens blames the deductibles for the price increase. >> shame on you. why? there are other ways to make money. richard: some doctors are advising the patients to buy the

richard reeve is at the live desk to explain the impact this is having on families. rich? richard: we have a test model here. these are amazing. you take it and you plunge it through your clothes like that. very convenient. but the price is causing outrage from capitol hill to the doctor's office. less than two years ago a two-pack of the injectors cost $57. now it's $736. increase of 400%. now the life-saving devices are used for people including children who have food allergies who may have ingested something. the allergies can be fatal. an patients can't afford the skyrocketing price. the mother says the price tag is ridiculous. >> it's not something you can say oh, forget it. she can live without it. she might not. it's an epipen. it's a life-saving device. you have to get it. yet, who gets the money and why is there such a big increase? richard: the maker of epipen mylan claims high patient deductibles for the price increase. lawmakers on capitol hill are asking hard questions inincluding why the company's c.e.o. compensation jumped from $5 million to $19 million. comi

richard reeve, abc7 news. jonathan: new information in the deadly explosion at a silver spring apartment complex. montgomery county reporter kevin lewis is there. today we finally learned exactly how this happened. kevin: there was a lot of speculation and the mystery about this blast. but today the a.t.f. released the preliminary findings. findings that abc7 first reported yesterday. eight days after fire devoured 28 units at the flower branch apartments, the a.t.f. says the deadly incident does not appear intentionable. instead -- does not appear intentional. instead they expect a natural gas explosion caused the midnight disruption. >> there was no incendiary or ignition device recovered in the location of the blast location. and there is no indication of unauthorized access to the meter room prior to the explosion. >> the a.t.f. findings follow a marathon week of interviewing more than 100 witnesses. reviewing countless hours of surveillance video and digging by hand through four floors of charred debris.

richard reeve has the timeline for us. rich? richard: new information about the timeline. late august and maybe early september before they reopen. they will do something th they will clean out the water system. it has to be approved by the state environmental and the health officials. now we did get more information about the possible source or the source they believe of the bacteria. they believe it comes from the pipe that lead in the nicu as they call it. they say they found bacteria in four sinks in the nicu and three in the regular intensive care unit. those are treated now. we broke the story that the pipes were an issue and the deadly bacteria were found in the nasal swab of three infants. the good news today, they found none of those youngsters have any sign of infection. still no comment from the hospital about two previous infant deaths, whether or not they were connected with the bacteria. they say this cleaning and investigation will be a slow process. >> the best det can make from this as we have done the investigation and mapped the plumbing it is in the pip

today our richard reeve spoke to some groups trying to help. richard: the shouting, the chaos and the fear. it's all there. in the midst of it all is 5-year-old omran daqneesh. >> the war is all he's ever known. syria has been in a civil war for over five years. that is their reality. richard: omran carried away from a bombed-out building appears in shock. ash covers his body. open wound on his forehead which he wipes off. >> see the image of the young boy sitting alone and dazed and shock with his bloody face and head in that ambulance is just a reminder of h horrible things have been in syria. richard: mamadou fled et nick cleansing in africa and helps the refugees in the u.s. is reminded of the heart-breaking case of alan, the syrian toddler whose body washed up on a turkish beach last september. >> there are over 4 million syrian refugees in the world. and over 220,000 people have been killed. richard: omran, a symbol of suffering. a young boy who has never known the quiet of peace. >> it's horrific. i can't even imagine going through that e

richard reeve was in the courtroom. while the case is over the story is far from complete. richard: the judge with scathing words in court after a violent home invasion in 2014. this dramatic police chase ended with the capture of andrew schmuhl in 2014. schmuhl a 32-year-old attorney arrested wearing only a diaper. now he faces two life sentences. plus 98 years in prison after a violent home invasion that fairfax circuit judge randy bellows caused brutal, callous and cruel. in a three-hour or deal, he tasered, beat fisher's throat while he was handcuffed. he fired a shot at his wife suzanne duncan and slit her throat and tied her up as well. two weeks before fisher fired andrew schmuhl's wife alecia schmuhl. the judge said devastating injuries before passing sentence. before the jury found him guilty of malicious wounding, burglary and weapons charges he testified he didn't remember anything because he was on 13 painkillers stemming from an injury in the service for the army. in the end the jury decided for maximum sentence. >> they had heard four and a half weeks of testim

robbing banks for hundreds of thousands of dollars but he is terrorizing the people who work at as richard reeve reports today, police hope you can help bring the bad guy to justice. >> the f.b.i. now on a manhunt. they are looking for this masked bank robber, walks in, his gun out. >> it's upsetting for anybody for a guy to walk around with a gun and go into a bank like that. >> wearing a dozen disguises. this individual held innocent men and women working inside the bank at gun poit and terrorized the lives. >> nine holdup in three states between march of 2015 and this past january. three times from winchester, twice in charlestown, west virginia, and brunswick, maryland, plus two others. >> a lot of the bank robbers we see are obviously folks suffering from addiction or they are desperate. you can tell sometimes the heart is not in it. that is not the case with this individual robber is the level of the violent intimidation he uses in the holdups. >> he used shotguns handguns with no accomplice. >> willing to terrorize the bank personnel. >> the pickup in the older model pontiac as the get-aw

richard reeve has a story you will see only on abc7. rich? this is heather's house. i'm in the basement and everything is stacked up around me. let's wheel mike the photographer around and show you why. all this area was waterlogged. five to six inches let's show you video here now. this has been a tough situation for five homes on the block on chesapeake street in southeast -- [loss of audio ] >> they said it was an equipment failure on the contractor. whatever they were bumping. it started backing up sewage. michelle: take a look at the map here. weather alerts out in effect. doug is here to explain all of this information for us. we understand a severe thunderstorm watch in effect until 8:00. doug: that, and we have a flash flood watch in effect for a different part of the area. the storms are developing now to the west. we will keep an eye on it heading eastward. they could get stronger. it's cooler on the western side of the mountains than here on the eastern side. so even late in the day it's prime for more thunderstorms. this is a flash flood warning for west

esci in arlington, richard reeve, abc7 news. michelle: police are investigating three deadly incidents in prince george's. brad bell is live in palma park where police gave update a few hours ago. >> this is the police headquarters. this is where the homicide detectives work. three deadly shootings over the weekend. two are murders. as you said, police are releasing new information they hope can catch a killer. >> good morning. >> he was just a guest on "good morning washington" singing, daptioning with our -- dancing with our julie wright. his stage name d.j. swipey. dougie brooks to his family. >> he was a happy a whole hearted person. brad: he was believed by many to be on his way. signed with a manager. opening for bigger acts. an 189-year-old with a future. >> the investigation revealed that mr. brooks was standing in the apartment lot of an apartment complex with the subjects, the males approached him and began shooting in his direction. they below the man with the distinctive backpack murdered clinton 7-eleven clerk taiwo

in fredericksburg, virginia, richard reeve, abc7 news. michelle: thank you. new information tonight about the deadly apartment explosion in silver spring. in the last two hours montgomery county police identified two more victims at david morales who is 8 and 3-year-old fernando ariana. casa del maryland are trying to help people. kevin lewis is live with the latest. kevin: this is the second of the three evening meetings at the long branch community center. officials inside right now are getting input from the 136 they are also trying to figure out the most effective way to divvy up all of the donation money and there is a lot of it. more than $500,000 has been raised. the money will be split between the 55 households that lived in the two damaged buildings. but it won't be split evenly. instead officials will use a formula likely based on the family size and potential funeral, medical and damage costs. the county expects to pay out by friday regardless of immigration status. also new today we are learning of the 55 households impacted only 26 were actual le

our richard reeve spoke to her a few hours ago and checks in live with the story. the other thing here is i understand her husband stayed behind. he didn't come on the trip. richard: he is here now but he is going back home. it's a thousand miles from here and home. he will come here periodically. but they felt they wanted to make the decision for the health of their child. for gigi and jared it wasn't an easy decision. >> living in fear, all the time. 2 hours a day. richard: with gigi 16 w pregnant couple became concerned about the spread of the zika virus in south florida. >> when the c.d.c. said no pregnant woman should go to miami, did a county. that sealed it and confirmed our decision. richard over the weekend, the couple packed up their car at their broward county home north of miami and drove 987 miles to fredericksburg. >> this is another child. i protect this child with my life. richard: gige and 1 1-1/2-year-old son chase will move with her family. >> really stressed out. worried all the time. you see a mosquito, it's like the grim reaper is coming after

richard reeve shows us a tribute for him. >> this is a poignant time in fairfax. at 78 years old harold was laid to rest this day. you can see a memorial here. he loved two things most of all. this, basketball he was 78 loved basketball. playing hoops. i have a the ending fairfax high school basketball games. he lost his life a week ago monday when a car crashed in the mcdonald's on the highway hitting him as he was sitting inside for breakfast. the 69-year-old drive hitting the gas instead of the brake. he was killed instantly. amid the grief some of the young men mentored by him wanted to do something to remember and honor the friend. so the idea of renaming the police harold skien court or something like it was born. a living legacy. >> it wasn't just the love we had for harold. it's the right thing to do. this was his house. and from people age 14, 15 to 45 or 50 all knew harold from this court or at part of town. this was really a special plac people because of him. richard: a park and recreation committee will study the proposal in september. organizers say

richard reeve is here with more now. rich, perhaps it's this that make this war that is so far away hit closer to home. richard: just heart-wrenching the face of the little boy. we're at the syrian embassy that was closed because of u.s. concerns about assad regime. now we have these images crossing the world. little omran, 5 years old. airstrike that they believe russia or syria did this. the little boy carried out of the bombed out building. the symbol traveling around the world. a symbol of suffering by the innocent. >> war is all they've ever known. syria has been in a civil war for five years at this point. that is their reality. we can only hope that the unfortunate events and these pictures that are being shown will actually stir the international community to do more to resolve the issue, the conflict in richard: it just makes you think for a minute. he is 5 years old. that country has been at war for five years. he has always known war. one good development here, we are told he was later reunited with his parents

profiling power or profile of power by richard reeves. i heard him speak about the book at a conference and thought i want to read that book. it's pretty heavy reading but it's got information about the president and insights to him and his families in the challenges the space that never before, never heard of before. highly recommend the book. treated >> rdc or go to biographies? >> i like biographies, but there's so much we have to read, factual stuff anyway. i like peter schweizer's book. throw them all out. extortion. he's written some good books and i wish every american could read those as well. once i could master with a "new york times" bestseller about the ent threat that most people don't want to too much about in this country. about 20 good nonfiction books that i've written so far and recommend them all. a not the effect of america's aging population on our health care system including the added cost of long-term care spiraling prescription drug prices, health insurance and end-of-life issues. public square posted this event i