bureau chief sam ford explains what happened in court today. sam: the trial in the third week. 24-year-old jeffery neal accused of killing his two roommates leaving leon young's nude body in the attic, delano in the backyard. he is charged with double murders say prosecutors. >> we are arguing it was a love triangle and leon was jealous. sam: the defense argues they were lovers and young killed wingfield when he learned that wingfield was in relationship with neal and attacked neal in a fight that young lost. neal killed him with a hammer. problem for the defense since the other victim was killed with a hammer. >> it's a trying part but the house was under construction. hammers were all over the place. sam: they had been friends since ninth grade and ended up living together in a house that neal's family owned. they worked dish washing and server jobs at restaurants near nats park. manager of nando's described young in such glowing terms a juror started to cry. the prosecutor put on martin, a close friend to all of them who challenged the notion

sam ford, abc7 news. jonathan: thanks. back to the weather center with steve rudin. if you haven't heard the next couple of days are a deluge. we will have a lot of rain. steve: a slow go tomorrow evening. saturday morning. then if you are going to be out and about saturday afternoon and you have plans you are probably going to say i think we are better off indoors. the beach, ocean city. jonathan: it's great. steve: skies are mostly cloudy but beach weekend. jonathan: boo! steve: i know. but it will be nicer next weekend. looking outdoors, opening outdoors the temperatures are in the 80's. a little humid. may see a passing thunderstorms. we have temperatures in the 70's. mostly cloudy skies. isolated thunderstorm or two mainly south and west of the d.c. area. tomorrow and 75 degrees. lower 80's noontime. the shower and the rains will move in. extending through the overnight hours to the day on saturday. if you have a swim meet it likely get canceled out. there are isolated storms tomorrow. there are upwards of four to five inches. the flash flood watch in effect for

i'm sam ford. that story coming up.son: new at 5:00, water flooding down steps and into basement apartments. what caused the scene today? that's when i join you at 5:00. michelle: right now police are searching for analysis teenagers from the african nation of burundi. they vanished from the d.c. robotics in the district. nancy: we learn where they may have gone. d.c. bureau chief sam ford is live with more on this. sam? sam: time that people come here for an event and decide they don't want to go back home. in the case of the young people from burundi, a french speaking country two were seen entering canada. that is the word from the d.c. police who said they have been touch with the families. they are among the 100 from the 57 countries participating in a robotics competition at constitution hall that went on from sunday through tuesday. the shab ron couldn't find them after -- chaperon couldn't find them. but he then found their room keys in the bag and the clothing was done. burundi is one of the poorest countries s

sam: i'm sam ford in northwest three affected in the overnight blaze. so, when it's your turnt to do the shopping and you need to get... raspberries for john... strawberries for amy... bananas for mom...wait, what's a jicama? and at these prices, i can make it all happen. take a fresh look at giant's produce prices. nancy: a massive fire ripping through a community in albany, new york. it started last night. a lot of row houses and it spread through the two and the three-story buildings. witnesses said they could see the flames shooting from the roof. a d but nobody was hurt. alison: in the district, more than a dozen people looking for a place to live after this. look at the massive fire. it ripped through three row houses in northwest. sam ford had new information. abc7 is learning today about what happened. sam? sam: you can see that the boards are here along the 200 block of morgan street northwest. a busy day. the trucks are here and the restoration workers are still here as they try to deal with the fire that started overnight. the b

reporting live from southwest washington i'm sam ford, abc7 news. alison: thank you.ng more about new jersey governor chris christie's weekend face-off with a fan at a baseball game. >> er so the man on the receiving end of christie's wrath said the governor was upset because he called him a hypocrite. >> i yelled his name and said he sucked. i called him a hypocrite because i thought it needed to be said. he then turned around and walked all the way back toward me and got up in my face for what seemed like a long time. it was probably only 30 seconds or a minute. alison: you might remember a few weeks ago fans booed christie when he caught a foul ball a rate of any governor in the country at 15%. jonathan: he has that going for him. the chicago cubs are turning the page on an incident that is infamous. watch the game. fan named steve bartman, name is forever burned in the minds. he appeared to interfere with a foul ball when the team was five outs from winning the pennant. instead the team, what they have done in the past, collapsed in the same inning drawing hatred

sam ford is outside the d.c. courthouse where th sam? sam: we are in the third week of the trial. it took three years for the case to get to this point. on trial, the prosecutor accuses one roommate of killing two others. the young men who had known each other since high school. jeffrey neil is defending himself saying one housemate was trying to kill him after the housemate told him he had killed another one. he said it was a love triangle that went bad. but the three housemates were suddenly victims and suspect. after initially fleeing to florida, jeffrey neil returned to d.c. and turned himself in. he said that young tried to stab him to death after telling him this he kill i would other roommate. in the trial, prosecution raised doubts about the theory but the defense said young is volatile who stabbed neil in a fight before. >> he attacked him once before with a knife. we are arguing there is a love triangle and leon was jealous about the other person and he harmed wingfield. sam: we'll have more at "abc7 news at 6:00". including a prose for the prosecution. both young and wi

sam ford, what are the police telling you at this hour? sam: i'm on the trail. the police are not saying if they believe this was targeted or the result of some dispute between a biker and a wal but one man is dead and others are feeling less secure. a man on the trail this morning was shot multiple times. there are some indications he had dogs with him. police would not confirm he had adult dogs that were shot and killed but the humane workers came away and took away a pit bull puppy. >> we founden conscious -- found an unconscious male. >> they refused to speculate if it's targeted or a random shooting. >> if you own a bike trail or walking in a wooded area, you should be aware of the surroundings. i'm not telling the citizens to be alarmed. i do understand this is a highly frequented bike trail. there is normally a lot of traffic here. >> walkers and the riders were blocked by the crime scene using the trail most of the day. happened -- >> it doesn't surprise me at all. >> do you think people -- >> somebody lives in the woods. >> police have not identified th

bureau chief sam ford live at the d.c. courthouse. after being in the courtroom for today's closing arguments. sam in sam: today they talk about the male love triangle. about bodies found in the attic and the backyard. hammers used as murder weapons. and a pair of socks. in the closing prosecutor fulton noted that the three had been friends since middle school. then came roommates as 20-somethings in this house owned by neal's family on eighth street northwest and perhaps the pressure of rent, bills and adulthood changed things. defendant neal killed a week apart hammers to te young and wingfield. no more motive than that was offer and defense attorney madden said neal was at the center of a male love triangle. jealousy he said led young to kill wingfield and in a fight to the death a week later he told neal he had done that and neal won that fight. neal confessed to that when he turned himself into police. he told them when young attacked him young was naked except for socks. the prosecutor today noted both bodies were found nude. one

bureau chief sam ford has the conclusion. sam: the testimony over three weeks and the deliberations over three days the jury this afternoon found 24-year-old daquien mcneil -- jeffrey neal murder in the death of his roommates nicholas young young -- roommates young and wingfield. >> everyone sat with the decision. i can't speak for the jurors. >> it was hard? >> yeah. the nature of it. a lot of evidence. >> they had been friends since middle school. after high school sharing this house owned by neal's family. the prish of bills, adulthood. the prosecution wasn't sure of the exact motive but argued that neal killed with hammers first wingfield and buried him in the backyard. ten days later leon young and stuffed hi fleeing to florida with young's car and a.t.m. card before returning to d.c. and turning himself in. after today's verdict, reaction from victim wingfield's family. >> you see the evidence they presented for him to be murdered in that manner by a best friend that we all considered family. >> it is difficult. sam: the

bureau chief sam ford joining us live along the an costia trail with the -- anacostia river trail with the latest on the case. what do we know, sam? sam: police are saying a man was on this trail this morning. shot and killed by another man who rode off on a bicycle. the man on the trail may have had two dogs with him. according to police, the man was walking on the trail, shot multiple times there. syndications that the man may have been walking two dogs and one of the dogs was also killed. d.c. homicide would not confirm that. we saw humane rescue alliance workers handling a young pitbull. the police describe the victim as a black male. >> he has been pronounced at this time. we do not -- we are still in the process of trying to identify him also. zams you are look for somebody? right now we haves a far as a look out for a male on a bicycle. a young black male on a bicycle. sam: maybe it's a random shootings? what are your thoughts? >> it's preliminary. we wouldn't know at this time. we are still trying to conduct the investigation by conducting interviews. sam: it seems like you are

i'm sam ford. story is coming up. larry: but first a look at what is coming up tonight on abc -- larry: new developments in the search for members of a u.s. robotics team that vanished after a competition in the capital. spotted crossing the border to canada. sam: d.c. police today put out the image of the six young people who disappeared tuesday at the end of the first globals robotics competition. from 150 countries that participated. they stayed in dorms and in a statement today, first global the sponsor wrote chaperon of team burundi reported to the first global representative he was unable to find the group of six students. chaperon returned to the dorm story where the entire team were -- dormitory where the entire team were staying thinking they were on another shuttle bus to the dormitory. but the six left the room key in the chaperon's bag and took their clothes. today, d.c. police reported two of the six were seen entering ca we spoke to the first officer who said the first they knew the young people were in

bureau chief sam ford following the investigation closely and joins us with the latest. >> i am in the river terrace park where within the hour family and friend of 37-year-old victor williams will have a candlelight vigil in his memor the trail that the young man a professional dog trainer was killed. >> i never thought it's the last time i'd see him. >> it started as normal for her husband of two years. he went to walk the dog and he made it to his dog's house. >> with the dog but he didn't get back. >> the s.u.v. is parked outfront. but he was shot dead. he was shot multiple times including in the head. one of the two pups was killed and another was found by the police who called animal rescue. >> he didn't have wallet or cues. >> this is a devastating loss for a family where dogs were a way of life. he worked on developing his own breed. >> this was his passion, his love. anybody who came in contact with him knew that. >> the family figured out the worst. it was of the for him not to return the phone calls or not return the text. >> this is not the first attack in the park. the par

bureau chief sam ford explains. sam: surrounded by steps at trinidad, mayor bouzer announced solar works d.c. job program providing seniors free solar. >> just last week we have awarded over $13 million in solar related grants. >> the homeowner in this case, 67-year-old amy. >> we decided to go this way to save money. i'm a retiree. it saved money. sam: the people that did the work included young people. among 13,000 youth the city hired in the summer jobs program. >> the d.c. government is the perfect fit. they need something for thousands of the summer workers to do. this work requires lots of hands. sam: they were youth workers last summer and now they a >> we did it thursday. the hottest day of the year. we are working over there. like i'm about to die and pass out. sam: the question is this. when this is all over do you go out and say hire me? i have experience. >> yes. yes. >> i'm happy to make it a career full-time. after the summer job i plan to go on straight work. >> job opportunities for the young people a

reporting from northwest washington i'm sam ford, abc7 news. nancy: leaving quite a also. pulitzer prize winning playwright sam shepherd passed away. the family says he suffered from lou gehrig disease. despite winning the pulitzer for the play he was best known for the role in "the right stuff." jonathan: coming up at 4:00, what the federal aviation administration plans to do about a court ruling that aims to give you more space in the airline seat. >> a power line fight in rural hay market, virginia. sign announcer: you're watching "abc7 news at 4:00". on your side. jonathan: well, a struggle is underway in virginia over plans to power an amazon data center. richard reeve is live in haymarket to explain why this is an issue. rich? richard: this is carver road. very quiet, very nice subdivision in rural haymarket. you will see signs like this dotting the area. folks here say they don't want power lines across the street. this was the second choice. the firsttous was along railroad -- the first choice was along railroad tracks and was ejected by the board of supervisors. th

bureau chief sam ford following the investigation closely and joins us with the latest. >> i am in the river terrace park where within the hour family and friend of 37-year-old victor williams will have a candlelight vigil in his memor

sam. and this is what they say tripped up the .44-caliber killer, a parking ticket. david berkowitz drove this fordome to bensonhurst, brooklyn. then police say he went to stalk his 12th and 13th victims. but in the place he parked was a fire hydrant and police had the lead they needed. >> when we get him and i interrogate him my attitude at this time, i want to take him and throw him out the window. this guy was so pathetic. it was like talking to a zucchini. never blinked. constant smile on his face. so after a while i start to feel sorry for the guy. you know, he's -- gone. >> i feel great. i think the people of our city will feel great relief. >> praise the lord. it's over. we're very, very happy. >> that was the first thing we heard this morning. it was fantastic. it was great. >> serial killers tend to be cunning. that allows them to stay at large. when they get caught it's usually because of luck. good luck for us. bad luck for them. >> when we caught him we searched his car. the bag on the seat had the .44-caliber gun that did the shootings. what more do you need? then a machine gun fully l

during the ford summer sales event get zero percent for seventy-two months plus an additional thousand on top of your trade-in. offer ends soon. >>> the magical run at wimbledon occurred, samirst american man to make it to the finals since 2009. >> sam querrey trying to become the first american man to win wimbledon since pete sampras did it 17 years ago. he's two wins away after beating andy murray yesterday. he's defeated the top seed two years in a row now. he beat novak djokovic last year. from california, a fun fact about him, he once went on the show "millionaire matchmaker" to find a mate. he's never been this far in a major tournament . he'll take on cilic in the semifinals. >>> host peyton manning had plenty of jokes about being retired. his best zinger was at the expense of kevin durant. >> so dominant kevin durant said he wants to play for them next ye year. [ laughter ]. >> i got to tell you, i don't think he'd start for that team, kevin. russell westbrook, what do you think? >> i tell you what, alisyn, i was watching that live. i don't think kevin durant found that funny whatsoever. i think his face is actually what made it funnier for everyone else. >> i agre