sam ford live at the courthouse with the latest tonight. sam? sam: well, alison, originally this was to have been jeffrey neil's sentencing date for the double murder conviction. but instead chief judge listened to arguments for a new trial. defense attorney argued the prosecution violated agreements and created facts and closing arguments against the 24-year-old neil that turned the jury against him. neil and two roommates live in a rooming house, row house in northwest washington. the defense argued they had a love strangle. jealousy led kill wingfield and then try to kill neil but lost the fight. prosecutors convince a jury that neil killed both of them for whatever reason and tried to lie his way out of it. while judge moran seemed to agree that the defense had reason to complain he did not believe a new trial would change the result. >> the client is extremely heartbroken. we actually thought we had enough here for a new trial. i think the court evaluatedded it closely and came very delosse to granting a new trial. and chose not to do it --

sam ford takes a look. th after the city began the trial for the dockless bike companies they are popular with youngs people including the cousins in northwest who said they have had the bikes for a month for $14. line bikes did not respond to our questions about that. the cousins say they have had bikes rented stolen that were not locked at the time. >> no repercussions, he said, from line bikes. we asked about the mo bikes in southeast. how much does it cost? >> $1 an hour. >> so you have more bikes? yeah. 15 of them. >> we have seen the this one set near minor elementary school with no front tire for two weeks. >> neighbors are finding them blocking the sidewalk. >> the manager of this building calls the bikes legalized litter. he says they are stacked up around the entrance and he wants them to be remove and he has to talk to the city about it. reporting live, sam ford, abc7 news. michelle: more than 30 children are celebrating more than halloween. >> i take the obligation freely. >> so help me god. mich

bureau chief sam ford joining us outside r.f.k. with cha is coming next -- what is coming next. sam? sam: talking to greg, head of events d.c. that controls the stadium, there are no immediate plans to begin the demolition here. but he said it has useful light. for example they had a beer garden here, college game here. but it is clear that the stadium's useful days are in the past. d.c. united played the last game that spelled the end of the professional sports in the venue that is home for soccer, baseball, football. >> i like r.f.k. because of the ambiance of the history. >> vents d.c. controls what it now calls the r.f.k. campu short-term uses from a marketplace to sports field. >> the useful life will be exhausted. >> the focus is mainly on sports. >> sultly one with a stadium there -- ultimately one with a stadium. second is an arena. >> he says they are talking about a place like the capital one center and the former verizon center where you have basketball and hockey. >> a lot of people want the redskins to come back here. this is a stadium that the redskins would leave a

sam ford, abc7 news. alison: thank you, sam. see you at 6:00. you can get a text alert from abc7 whenever news breaks. sign up at wjla.com or through the news app. larry: developing now president trump's worldwide ban on refugees expired. what does it mean for thousands of people waiting to come to the u.s.? nancy chen at the "live desk" with the answer. nancy: refugees will again be allowed in the united states under what the white house previously called extreme vetting. the new requirements have not been announced officially but according to a state department document seen by reuters refugees have to provide information about the whereabouts going back a decade, twice as long as previously required. the government will detail information on family and employment history. the changes will go into effect tomorrow but there is not an firm -- official announcement from the white house or state department. new executive order allows 45,000 refugees in the united states next year to be the lowest number since 1980. at the "live desk," nancy chen,

sam ford joins us tonight with the story. hi, sam. sam: hello. well, the d.c. national guard brought them home on a 737 jet this afternoon. ten m.p.d. officers, eight of whom had previously been officers with the puerto rican sorry, the puerto rico police department. in those cases they said they came home, well, tired but with a sense of accomplishment. ten officers returned with their boss, chief peter newsham on the tarmac. they left wednesday last week on a mission to help as much as they could with the home territory puerto rico. you can tell how the devastation affected them. she said she visited the island before the 100%. going back -- island before the hurricane. going back the >> it was hard. very hard. sam: this photo is officer raul menendez who found and greeted his father down there. he told us of the moment he reunited with him. >> i got out of the car and gave a specific whistle he would do with us. [whistling] he turned around. we connected. it was emotional. so am i. but just being able to see my dad. >> they went to assist puerto rican author

bureau chief sam ford live with more on this. sam? sam: it's a month that the city allowed a number of companies to come in to d.c. with the dockless bikes. after a month, here is the situation. company with names like line bikes, more bikes. they often say the first ride is free. you can download an app or put in a debit or a credit card but we notice of late a number of them have been trashed. there is one from the past few weeks the front meal is missing. that is in northeast washington. we see others on the sidewalk along with the others on the side of the road. the washington area bicycle association are watching the companies to see how responsible they are in handling the matters. the city allowed each company to add bikes, 400 bikes that are popular with the young riders. they are supposed to check them out for $1 an hour or half an hour. >> mostly people are behaving themselves. >> i've had it for a month. >> you have had the same bike for a month? >> yeah. >> how does it work? >> it's only $14. >> well, we checked with the l

bureau chief sam ford is at the memorial to explain. sam? sam: the groups that came together represented representee knights of columbus, black and white evangelicals to follow martin luther king's message of nonviolence. they don't know the las vegas shooter motive but they involve hate and not love. they celebrated 60 years of nonviolence and racial justice in which he said to retaliate with hate and bitterness would do nothing but intensify the hate in the world. >> the people of hate believe the neighbors are brothers and sisters. they have to act like it and set an example. >> preach love for your fellow man. in the shooter had embraced just that doctrine the shooting would not have occurred because he would have had love for people he shot. sam: the same spirit of violence that motivated the shooter in las vegas motivates many of the young men who shoot each other down in america cities. a belief that the only way to resolve problems is through violence. reporting live from the martin luther king memorial, i'm sam ford abc7 news. aliso

and sam ford has more. sam: i'm at martin luther king. apparently here at 11:15, two men were out here with a rental bicycle. somebody came by and shot they were again not life threatening injuries but the police release a photograph of a car of interest that might have had something to do with this particular shooting. then we went over to -- we heard about 1:15, two hours later, double shooting over at fourth street. the 4200 block. we went over there. the same story. two men shot. non-life threatening injuries. one of them took himself to the hospital. but a lot of concern here. we talk to the councilmember who was in his office two blocks away when this shooting occurred. >> we had a state of emergency in this ward as i said before. as a city we need councilmembers on board and the community on board. we keep saying crime is down. it's not down. four shooting in ward eight and going on over and over again in our ward. sam: we will have more at 5:00, including we to a realer -- realtor who happened to be away. she thinks she might have

bureau chief sam ford talked to the d.c. police chief to learn more about just what happened. >> a day after the commotion at howard university, there was no active shooter. but the police are not upset. believing callers were in real fear. >> it does not appear to be a hoax. it seems like the initial caller called because they received information from a third party. >> it was triggered from a medical student that dropped out but is known to make threats. >> he had here. >> works in the health sciences section says many there were aware of the angry former student. >> he had made threats to come back and shoot up the testing center. at stokes library on the fourth floor. >> there is a stay-away order warning that if petitioners alert authorities the grand mother will be targeted. the petitioner fears for her safety. >> as for the former student, has he been arrested? the police say no, not at this time. reporting from northwest washington, i'm sam ford. abc7 news. alison: right now in prince george's county, the s behind th

sam ford has this good news, today. sam? sam: it became clear to us today how touch and go it was when this happened. today, he was , a crush of bone, organs. in the icu and finally, rehabilitation, but he made it. he walked into the news conference this afternoon, having made progress at the medstar washington hospital center. august 22, he was crushed between two fire trucks as the vehicles converged at the scene of a house fire in northeast. doctors feared that his chances of dying were greater than his chances of surviving. his heart stopped at one link, but he made it and was headed home this afternoon, as he put it. the dream doesn't stop here. the dream doesn't stop here, you know? i continue on. mindframe and that work ethic helped him along his path to recovery. wasn't young and strong, by the way, he wouldn't have lasted 15 minutes. >> his plan and our plan is to return to the operations. it's a lot of work to do, but that's the goal. >>d hand-in-hand with him. young's mother's he wants to return to the fire depart

sam ford is covering metro live to explain why. sam, why is it? sam: just what you said.ncil held a hearing near the metro station and they were concerned that a young person they say is not thoughtful enough could have a criminal record simply for jumping a turnstile in a metro station. if you ride metro on a regular basis, you you have seen it. people jumping turnstiles or sneaking in without paying the fare. as the transit police see, they grab them. but the council is considering a bill to make this citation only offense. no arrest. this we see disproportionate african-american and poor people in the city arrested. this is a poor people's crime. >> during the hearing, several who were affluent recall not having the anyway. the committee chairman on his fare card on metro. >> the driver said fill it up when you get to the station. i never once thought i'm going to get a citation or have a criminal record. sam: but opposing, they said focusing on the fare evaders cut crime 20% this year and some of those arrested last year have warrants. >> the only time arrests doesn't

bureau chief sam ford live on the scene. how did this get started? sam: according to the howard university police and the d.c. police, they both received calls around the same time saying there was an active shooter. in the case of the d.c. police, they say the active shooter was in the administration building. the howard university police told us it was a medical school building. the police scrambled en masse from all points. the university said it had police in the medical school at the time they got the call. they heard nor saw anything a police were over at the administration building. the calls came in around 12:00 noon. howard police said they sent out text alerts for people to stay in place. though some students complained the text 40 minutes after the initial call was too late. police said the searches of several buildings found nothing. a number of howard students have been can concerned after an incident two years ago when a texter threatened to shoot people here. an an alexandria man was arrested. but so far, nothing here, just hoaxes. >> w

bureau chief sam ford live in southeast with a look at what is going on. sam: i'm at martin luther king. the official numbers say crime in the area is the there has been a spike in shootings in the last couple of weeks and that continues today. some police believe there is a back and forth street war going on between rival groups. shootings have been rampant. today, two people were shot at 11:15 a.m. two blocks from the could councilmember's office. >> in the last eight days we had 13 people shot and we have a state of emergency in the ward. people don't feel safe anymore. sam: it happened at real estate agent jackie ward's office. she was inspecting the house at a time. >> if i didn't decide to go on an inspection this morning, i could have been just walking in there and i could have been shot. sam: we are still talking to people about the first double shooting, we learned there was another one in the 4200 block of fourth street southeast, threatening injury. one took himself to the hospital and the other was still on the scene. we return to theu co -- cou

bureau chief sam ford live at r.f.k. after trying to find answers for us. hi, sam. sam: hello, alison. i didn't get the impression that there is any wrecking ball on order yet for r.f.k. stadium. the stadium that brought so much joy to so many over the years i got the clear impression the days are number and it will be gone sooner than later. the roar of the crowd. since r.f.k. was built in 1961, they roared for redskins football, for senators and nats baseball. and yesterday, the last time for d.c. united soccer, whose be ready next year. washington's most famous venue may finally have come to the end of its days. >> sometimes in the future it will be demolished. we don't know when. >> greg now controls the r.f.a. campus has various sports-related possibilities pos from a basketball hockey type arena to a new stadium. >> we also want a new market hall that is destination for specialty foods and other things. >> we asked what should happen today, former city council woman -- >> knock it down and build another one in the same place. bring the redskins back. >> redski

sam ford was among the first on the scene. tell us what caused this. sam: well, at this point from all indications this campus was disrupted for four hours today for what appears to have been a hoax. >> police scramble from around the city with word of an active shooter on howard campus. the caller or callers told howard university police it was happening in the medical school while they told the d.c. police about a shooting in the administration building. police searched buildings and three hours >> we conducted an additional search. we were led to three other location on campus and we conducted additional searcheses and we cleared the building with nothing found. no witnesses. nothing that supports there was a shooting on the campus at any location. >> they told me they are shutting down the campus. >> one student said his mother in atlanta called him about it. >> my brother called and said we have an active shooter on campus. >> a west virginia man arrested for making racist threat in 2015. authorities found a swastika and other graffiti at a women's

sam ford is live in northwest to explain. sam?: well, i am here at piney branch at the bike share station here. you can see they use this place quite a bit. empty stalls here. nevertheless, some of the people getting the new dockless bikes as we found out today, they are not doing good things with them. we began operating in d.c. the dockless bike companies and riders say they are doing okay. >> i have a 12-minute walk to the bike station where i would normally rent the bike. now i can drive it to my home and park it on the sidewalk. sam: the bikes are found by the phone app that you can drop anywhere, ended up in the middle of sidewalks, a no-no. one was dropped down a ravine. a company rep is some people are just keeping it. >> they are supposed to be in front of your home. not inside your home. sam: so they keep them there and nobody else gets to use them. >> yes. sam: a problem. >> an issue. sam: i'm in front of the aarp building and the g.p.s. app shows there is a bike right here. but i looked this way, that way, back here. t

sam ford has the new developments. a plea deal. m: eight years ago, face hidden jose rodriguez-cruz told abc7 he had nothing to do with his girlfriend pamela butler's disappearance. >> i did not find blood and other evidence showing that she was harmed. no. because i didn't do anything to her. sam: today in court he agreed to a deal for prosecutors to switch the chargef to second-degree murder and in exchange he will lead them to butler's body. the family agreed to the deal. although thelma butler in and out of court said of rodriguez-cruz -- >> i didn't know him that well. brad: the prosecutor read agreed upon statement of what happened february 13, 2009, saying in the basement of pamela butler's home she and cruz got into an argument about him getting a job. he punched her in the face, straddled her and choked her to death and lowered the body out the window not covered by the security cameras and drove away with the body. under the deal, cruz gets 12 years in prison for leading authorities to the remains. >> pamela butler said in

sam ford is here to explain the few developments. sam? sam: before the appeals court ruling, you had to convince authorities you had to have a good reason to get a o well, now, the authorities have to have a good reason to deny you one. d.c. government brass didn't say they have given up on the gun restriction issue. >> we don't want anybody to use a gun inappropriately either for suicide or for crime of violence to have a gun. if your question is whether a saint could have a gun, yes. sam: but gone is the policy you must convince police you have a good reason to carry a good weapon, struck down by appeals court as violation of the second amendment. they were afraid to risk appealing to the high court. >> opening up the case and taking the chance that the supreme court puts us in the remainder of the concealed carry law also in jeopardy. sam: the police stat show under a good reason policy, more than 600 people applied for permits. more than 400 of them denied. currently 123 people in d.c. are licensed for concealed carry. we talk with re

i'm sam ford, abc7 news.lison: funeral arrangements have been set for a maryland woman whose body was found in north carolina. billie's remains found 11 somedays after she was reported missing. the funeral is friday "abc7 news at 6:00" starts right now. [gunfire] jonathan: right now at 2:00, critical new details in an attempt to kill members of congress. what the gunman did months before opening fire at baseball field. nancy: the gates are now open. what to watch out for. jonathan: a man buys a house to discover the front walkway is tombstone. the answer to the spooky find at 6:00. announcer: now "abc7 news at 6:00". on your side. jonathan: one week after congressman steve scalise made a triumphant return to capitol hill disturbing details are coming out about the shooting that nearly took his life. nancy: four months ago a gunman opened fire on congressional baseball practice but the report shows planning started months earlie jeff: the commonwealth attorney releasing the report today that determined the sho

sam ford is there with the message. previously planned event they came together at the martin luther king memorial. black and white, catholic and evangelical to follow model of martin luther king who 60 years ago wrote the essay on non-violence and national justice. even as they also looked at the horrible situation in las vegas on which they offered prayers and questions of why people do such things. >> i really do believe that one of the barriers is we don't know each other well enough. >> we have to get to know each other. we will solve the problems. >> one senseless tragedy of dr. king's day when they preached hope. >> when they murdered the girl in the birmingham church in 1963, king was able to speak to inexpressible grief an mourning and horror. sam: the ministers say they don't know what the las vegas shooter's motives are but it has to boil down to hate. that is what dr. martin luther king stood against. >> we reached a point in our society where people feel the only way to resolve problems is to resort to viole

i'm sam ford. that story is next on abc7 news. larry: it isn't snow and not a black and what it video. what turned a japanese town mono chrome next at "abc7 news (upbeat music) - [announcer] presenting the shark ion flex 2x. the free-standing, cord free vacuum that can live anywhere because it has two rechargeable batteries. that means you can always be charging, even while you're cleaning. with duo clean, multiflex, and powerful suction so you can go, and go, and go again. welcome to hassle-free runtime with shark. you myour joints...thing for your heart... or your digestion... so why wouldn't you take something for the most important part of you... your brain. with an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is now the number one selling brain health supplement in drug stores nationwide. prevagen. the name to remember. cnarrator: ed gillespie and i wants to endis ad. a woman's right to choose. ed giof a woman'sd put thpersonal de

i'm reporting live and i am sam ford, back to you. adrianna: we have ryan hughes on the scene in a different location. shot, but theye said they have talked to there. they say they were not notified properly of what might potentially be going on? i am with a dental student to said he didn't know what was going on. he went off campus to get a bite to eat and you were contacted by your sister-in-law? asking if you were ok? what are you hear about what is going on? how did you find out about this possible situation? >> she called me and asked me about howard and then she said oh, i wanted to make sure you are ok. anduse she's a shooting they are evacuating people or something. so she called to ask if i was ok. and i told her that i had just parked my car so i didn't know what was going on and she said, it is going that way and then i said, let me go to the newsgroup where it is probably safer. lex had he received anything from the university? any type of alert on your phone, and email? >> i don't have my email my cell phone. but i haven'

sam ford in marlboro pike in upper marlboro with breaking news for us. sam? sam: yes, jonathan. according to police it was around 1:15. if you look behind me, you see the people? that car went in the restaurant here, top of the hill, during the busy lunchtime when a crowd of 30 people were inside. it laterally came through flinging cinder block and brick through inner walls scattering patrons in disbelief. nichols who came there for lunch in the recess of a trial. >> a car comes through the wall at a high rate of speed and crashed through. i was at the center table. there is a table to the side. there is a wall inside separates the bar from the restaurant part. that came down. i had everybody on top of me before it was over with. the wall, the second wall, people. the police were kind enough to help me get out. >> you are sitting there making conversation -- >> conversation. happened in a second. sam: of course, we looked at the judge. his one sleeve had blood on it and the other had been ripped to shreds. according to the prince george's fire authorities, nine people were injur

reporting live from joint base andrews i'm sam ford, abc7 news. jonathan: thank you. you can help the victims of hurricane maria. tomorrow abc7 and the hispanic national law enforcement association will be collecting supplies all day at megamart in hyattsville and alexandria. supplies needed range will first aid kits and batteries to diapers and baby food. michelle: not guilty is the verdict hand down in the retrial for a man accused of killing a caterer at a fairfax county wedding. jurors found kempton bonds not guilty in the death of tyonne johns. cell phone video shows chaotic moments before the stabbing last year. at a park in chantilly. bonds was managing property at the time. defense attorneys say he was bullied by guests. he claims he stabbed johns in self-defense but johns' friends and family disagree. >> what i said happened is what happened. the r the truth is what came out. the verdict reflects that. >> this whole damn country is sad. 12 white people couldn't find the young man guilty of a crime he committed in malice is sad. >> the first trial in july ende

reporting live from prince george's county, maryland, i'm sam ford, abc7 news. jonathan: thanks. new information on the hour that killed two people and the family dog in a hagerstown were an elderly woman and her son. we have learned that the son stayed with his mother to care for her three days a week. it was also her birthday. the neighbors tried to help but they just couldn't. >> by the time it was too late. you couldn't get in. you couldn't get close. therer with flames everywhere -- there were flames everywhere. therca was on fire, the house was on fire. jonathan: there is no word on the cause of the fire. investigators don't believe it's a suspicious fire. michelle: arizona senator jeff flake stunned capitol hill today by announcing he will not seek re-election next year. he said president trump's actions and behavior are a major reason. >> i believe there is a section of my party that anything short of complete and unquestionable throughout my president is unsentable and suspect. if i'm critical it's not because i relish criticizing the behavior of the president of the uni

sam ford, abc 7 news. so good to see him walking and to see him smiling like that. larry: that may be my favorite story of the week. alison: still to started as a robbery and ended with the chase. now police are trying to figure out if the men they arrested could have done something similar before. >> what happens if the cloud gets hacked? >> trying to answer that and other questions about amazon's new program. alison: plus, how much it could cost you to take a trip along skyline drive this fall if the secretary of the interior gets his way. larry: the first, texting and walking, and what you will pay if you get caught. alison: log on to wjla.com/vote now and cast your you might take something for your heart... your joints... if you get caught. alison: log on to wjla.com/vote now and cast your or your digestion... so why wouldn't you take something for the most important part of you... your brain. prevagen is now the number one selling brain health supplement in drug stores nationwide. prevagen