Transcripts For WRC News4 At 4 20150427

Is joining me. You used to cover baltimore. What can you tell us about the neighborhood . Is it a neighborhood tense with the police before in the past . It is one of the regions in baltimore where sometimes there is Police Activity and not. Its northwest from where most people know the downtown area. It is very close to the zoo. Its directly across the street from coppen state university. It is across the street from Frederick Douglass high school a Public High School there. The chopper working for us reported that instead of getting out of school like they normally do and going to the public buses, what they did is aflowed out, headed to a 7eleven not walked. They went into the store, they came out and went back in and then making the way down a very wellknown road called ricer town road and met at a crossroads in front of the mall with a ross, a shoe city. It has a shoppers wood warehouse. Its a very wellknown mall in the area. Most people from our area probably havent visited unless they know somebody right in the city. Were noticing for the first time they have deployed some kind of smoke. Is it teargas . Thats the big question. It is the First Time Since all of this began last week to finally see teargas. We did see the officers vauking one of their own. Now hearing that three Police Officers there in baltimore waiting to be transferred as we saw that one officer being carried injured and taken to one of the what looks like one of the s. W. A. T. Team vehicles and that was when and during that time the protesters there was a wall nearby and crumbling brick wall near a house and they were pulling off the bricks and throwing them at them and when they deployed the first smoke bomb. Some kind of chemical we think, yeah. So this is not a neighborhood that people feel like the police harass them . I dont know if you can say that. Baltimore is one of these very unique places where you go two blocks one way and the police come there all the time. Two blocks the other way and youre in a wealthy part of town. This is the mall. One of the better areas. Its near a high school. But, you know in baltimore, sadly, sometimes things happen. You can find bricks everywhere. I remember when i was working in baltimore, a lot of cars broken into using a brick. And baltimore has had a lot of flight. Theres the smoke that were talking about. That was when that was deployed. I would say just about five minutes ago. That was the video we saw prior to that was them removing that officer and we saw bricks being thrown at them as they were trying to transport one of their injured. Three other Police Officers waiting to be transported to the hospital in the midst of this and i think what we have been seeing is police just forming a line and kind of moving with the protesters and not any direct contact between them. A lot of dispersing. A lot of high school kids. We have seen some adults but it seems to be mostly students out of the high school. All of this comes just hours after the Funeral Services for freddie gray and his family did call for peaceful protests today. The twohour long remembrance highlighted by speeches of Maryland Governor and the gray family attorney billy murphy. Of course, well have more on this throughout the afternoon and keep an eye on things in baltimore that are getting a little tense but there isnt as you just saw, there isnt any direct conflict or contact now between the police and the protesters. Theyre still sort of just wearily keeping their distance and trying to sort of keep them controlled. More as we get it. Back to you. All right. Wendy, thank you. We hope to be hearing from police and the mayor, too. They have been responding to reports, threats from rival gang members that they were very concerned about earlier in the day. Now, first at 4 tonight, more time money, changes being made to the second phase of metros silver line. Adding to both the projects cost and the completion time line. News 4s adam tuss joins us now. Adam . Reporter jim, delays and cost overruns not a good combination. The first phase here intysons corner is already up and running and the second phase from rustin to Dulles Airport and loudon downty that is going to be delayed. Over 150 design changes on the second phase of the project and the second phase will not open until late 2019 at the earliest and realistically probably 2020 for an opening of the second phase of the silver line. It was scheduled to open in 2018. Now, coming up next hour at 5 00 new financial concerns of first phase and up and running. Back to you. Now to the desperate situation in nepal. More than 4,000 are dead after saturdays massive earthquake. And as International Rescue teams head to the region there are still no organized searches. People are sifting through the rubble with their bare hands looking for survivors. The United States today pledged 10 million to help quake victims. Many are living outside afraid of aftershocks. At least 17 people including 4 americans died on mt. Everest. Other climbers are still trapped there. Search and rescue teams of Fairfax County and los angeles arrive on tuesday. Coming up, well have new detalls of local relief efforts and go our Facebook Page for tips on how to safely donate. Now to the tragedy at work at the site in clinton, maryland this evening. A man is dead after getting trapped in a rock crushing machine. Chopper 4 above the scene around 10 00 this morning here on kirby road between branch avenue and temple hill road. A Technical Rescue Team tried but could not save him. Coming up on news 4 at 5 00 bureau chief of Prince Georges County talks to the son of the worker who died. A Homicide Investigation is under way right now in Stafford County. Police there found a dead man on the ground along clipt lane in southern Stafford County this morning. He was shot. Officials tell us theres no danger to the community. Metro Transit Police just tweeted a new image. Theyre trying to catch the man who spat in the face of a 69yearold man. And then beat him until he fell down an escalator on friday. The victim tells detectives it began when the suspect shoved him as they got off an orange line train at Eastern Market and exchanged words and the confrontation ended with the beating. The attacker walked out of the station as if he didnt have a care in the world according to police. Check now of our weather on this monday. Cloudy monday and a chance of some should recalls later today. Thats right. Lets go to storm team 4 meteorologist veronica johnson. How cloudy is it . Fairly cloudy. The clouds holding down the temperatures today. We have been in the upper 50s to right around 60 degrees. Looking at satellite and radar, last couple of hours. See those clouds moving in from northwest to southeast. All the way down into areas of southern maryland. Central virginia the clean, thats where were seeing showers now and this area will inch just a little more to the south and east and could be some isolated showers coming into the area. Leesburg frederick, hagerstown and western maryland right now. And the wind not helping any either. Winds up around 20 miles per hour. Gusting a little higher and those winds still start to diminish but not until late so we have got some milder days ahead and the potential also for a coastal storm system. Ill show you when and how much rain and wind that could bring to the area. Thank you. Well go back live now to the situation in baltimore. Its a tense situation right now where police have encountered groups of youngsters trying to keep the situation under control. A few hourless after the Funeral Services for freddie gray. They are in riot responding to complaints and concerns. Well have much more as our Team Coverage continues so stay with us at the live desk we continue to keep our eyes on this developing protest that is gotten increasingly violent in baltimore. Lets look at the live pictures now from the chopper there in baltimore. What we have been seeing all afternoon is protesters coming after the riot police throwing bricks and rocks and the riot police have started to they have sent out at least two canisters of smoke, some kind of chemical might be teargas. Heres what we have hearing from the Baltimore Police tweeting out two minutes ago. They say that the group in the area has become very agrezive and violent. Im quoting their tweet. We are continuing to deploy resources and refusing to follow orders. Several officers injured. Theyre continuing to deploy resources in the neighborhood around the mall to ensure that everyone there is safe. If youre familiar with that area. They also say glen falls are trouble spots and Liberty Heights and also are trouble spots as they continue to throw bricks at officers. We had video earlier not long ago less than a half hour with officers who were carrying away one of their injured and taking this officer to one of their assault vehicles that are on the scene. They did not have an ambulance or a transport. We did get word at least three other officers were injured and they were waiting to transport them. Of course this is coming on the day that freddie gray is being held their Funeral Services, memorialized this baltimore. This is not far from that. This is also not far from the neighborhood where freddie gray was living. Again, this is video of the police who continue to just order them to disperse. Theres not been any direct contact. They have not gone in and started aggressively arresting people or aggressively trying to stop the protesters. They continue to form these lines and they have all of their protective gear on which theyre using to deflect the bricks and the rock that is are being thrown at them. This is near a couple of schools. We do not know if theyre students. We do not know if theyre young people. We know theyre a group of protesters who have become increasingly aggressive with the police. Keeping an eye on baltimore for you. I will get back to you as soon as we have a little bit more to tell you. Thanks so much. Sure. Again, we are watching this footage here. We have mentioned earlier as wendy said and tisha, too, the mall is nearby there. This is unfolding for about 45 minutes now that we saw the first rocks thrown from aerial pictures. You see the Police Formation there because as theyve tweeted out groups are refusing to disperse. We saw them whether it was teargas or what it was, we saw a yellow spray being splashed toward crowds that were approaching police earlier. And we have seen rocks and bricks thrown at officers and hearing on theyre tweeting out, police using the word several officers injured. We dont know the extent of the injuries and saw the footage where we had about eight or nine officers carrying one officer. In contrast the Funeral Services held today at new shy lo Baptist Church attended by 2, 2,500, family friends. It was peaceful and no indication that the protesters that the police are trying to keep under control here now even attended that funeral. There have been calls throughout the day and for the past several days over the weekend from freddie grays family his sister pleading for peace and baltimore Congress Elijah Cummings speaking today at the funeral and encouraging peaceful response to whats been a very difficult time for those who are in Baltimore City now. Tisha is back. You mentioned that schools are nearby. Theres the mall there, too. You gave us perspective on the neighborhood. We have been hearing about two, three rival gangs joining together in threats against police s. This a crime area . Is it known to have gang members in some of these neighborhoods around this area . You know baltimore is a very interesting town in that sense. I mean this is what i would call a working glass neighborhood. You can tell by those homes. Very well kept homes. They care about their property. There are other areas of baltimore that are just heart breaking and one vacant property after another. So comparatively, this is a pretty decent neighborhood. Theres a big mall there. Frederick Douglass High School. Baltimore has problems. You can just go a couple of blocks down the road and you will be in what some people call a bad part of town. A couple more blocks in the good part of town and hard to jenlize. This area is a pretty decent area. It is across the street from a Public High School. And when all of this started to begin it was right as school was letting out. Wbal 11 up there, the chopper pilot said they watched the kids come out and then go home. In this case they made their way up a very prominent street there. They went into a 7eleven. Were not totally sure what happened there but there are reports of broken windows. We dont know if looting has occurred. I have seen some through social media reports of a School Resource officers windows broken in his automobile. They then made their way down rister town road. A very big road and what you take to go northsouth through the city and of course you can tell that road is shut down and they got to the intersection of gwen falls and people from this area only going to baltimore as tourists it is right near the maryland zoo. Its in the druid hill area. A lot of people know dru hill. This is where theyre from. Very wellknown part of town. And a lot of tv stations are around there, too. Tv hill up there, too. Right. A little further up the road. A lot of people are familiar with interstate 83 or the jfk. This is along that main drag. Its before tv hill which, of course gets the name from a giant hill that the tv aten thats are on top of. Im curious and you say this is a lovely neighborhood. Working class neighborhood. Im under the impression then is it safe to be under the impression they dont have an antagonistic relationship with the police . You know i keep going back to you cant generalize in baltimore. I mean theyre high schoolers. Right. As the hospital pilot said a former Police Officer, hes been a helicopter pilot covering crime for over a decade theyre kids. They want to do whats cool and whats right now appears to be throwing stones and bricks and rocks at buses as they go by. And at these Armored Police vehicles. We also saw earlier that as a convoy of police cars were coming into this area to bring reinforcements or to bring, you know i guess supervisors in to help oversee this they were throwing rocks at their cars at very close range so you saw a lot of police cars coming in with broken windows, as well. Its much calmer right now. You can see the police have made a very steady line. In the beginning it was a smaller number of Police Officers. And the students and some adults lets not say its all High School Students. We are not really sure the mix but in the beginning the students would get close, ride up on the bikes, trying to get in front of traffic. The police start to move forward. Now its much more of a standoff. That Helicopter Shots difficult. I cant tell right this second if the students have lined up on the other side. But thats the biggest line we have seen. And the police in their tweeting out the Baltimore Police are saying that at least about ten minutes ago the main problem was just these protesters would not disperse. And they were continuing to throw bricks and some pretty large rocks at them. That was the most dramatic moment for me so far is they went down a side street. It looked like they got a call. Went down a side street. I counted at least two dozen and once again, relying on the Helicopter Shot and carried a Police Officer out of the neighborhood back towards the mall. And from the last we have heard they have not been able to get the injured officers out of that mall area. And theyre saying they have several officers down at this point. They did not use the word down. They have several officers that are in need of transport and they are waiting this again, was about seven to ten minutes ago waiting for some kind of ambulance. They did not have ambulances standing by nearby and put an officer we saw in that very dramatic video of them and deployed the canister of some kind of smoke because they were trying to load him in the back of an assault vehicle i guess just to get him out of harms way and the bricks were coming at them pretty steadily. We were told that the mall was mostly evacuated before this happened. That people were able to get out of the mall fairly quickly. It was described as a semi ghost town. You mentioned the schools. Frederick Douglass High School. Coppen state, as well. We have heard university of maryland baltimore campus was closed down on the advice of police warned about activities in the area may turn violent d. The school have any warning out there . Are people coming to pick up kids or were they let out early, do we know . I dont know. I will go get the answer to that question. I can tell you that the university of maryland system and the university of baltimore system are further down the road further south. The biggest university impacted is coppen state. It is right there. In terms of the other high schools, i need to get more information for you. I can tell you that we have seen a Police Presence in front of some larger landmarks that people may be familiar with including downtown in the inner har ror area the cross street market. Federal hill area. Thats where a lot of bars are that a lot of folk gos to after ravens games and orioles game. That area has a smaller Police Presence. This is where most of the activity is right now. We are seeing as the chopper pulled up and moved to the left we are seeing them just sort of casually the protesters im assuming are kind of walking up this road and it looks kind of we all need contacts to see what the cross street is but they look doesnt look like theyre in engagement mode right now and might be dispersing. The road is clear and want to see where the Police Officers if you see that black line there, just kind of upper right part of your screen and blocked off that road so maybe their tactic is working and only seen about two canisters of some kind of smoking chemical being deployed at this point so its stayed in a lot of ways considering what protests can turn into as we have seen through the years, looks fairly under control. Wendy, i have to mention the Baltimore Police are now reporting that they have heard that they have reports i should say that me believes of this group are setting small items on fire in the area. We have not seen that ourselves. Those are members of the media right there who are from the local media. Its very different than the d. C. Media. Theres only four television stations up there but, of course they have come under the National Spotlight and it is a very its i have to say, as someone that grew up in maryland and someone who covered baltimore, this is just heart breaking. This is heart breaking. Looks like someone is being arrested there. And we did see and we have video earlier of a man handcuffed and being taken away. But thats were not seeing we have not seen a lot of this. This doesnt mean its not happening. Our eyes are from the sky. In this chopper. So just because were not seeing it doesnt mean its not happening. We are getting, following the police and what theyre tweeting out. Earlier, guys tisha and wendy, jim alluded to social media. We see a large Police Presence here because the police did have an indication earlier today that there might be trouble. There was a reportedly flier circulated on social media calling for a period of violence this afternoon to begin right there around the mondalmin mall area and then perhaps to city hall. Doesnt look like were seeing movement and as you have indicated we cant see exactly whats happening around the city. This is video of about an hour ago and when they were moving an injured officer into that vehicle that we see there in the street. That assault vehicle. And right at that corner that house there is where the bricks were coming in from from a crumbling brick wall on that house and when they deployed that first smoke canister. The first one that we saw. In the area. The wind actually carried it away fwr the protesters but thats what were looking at. I have seen reports of mace. People describing it as mace. We dont know if its teargas, just a smoke to diffuse the situation. We are getting a report from our sister station at wbal channel 11 that outside of whats happening here around the mall the city seems to be fairly quiet. This is that video when they were removing one of their injured colleagues and this is the video of them trying to get him over to that protected vehicle. That is their Armored Vehicle. That white paint or what looks to be white paint, that happened when folks were throwing objects at that vehicle and the very beginning it was really interesting. They would take that Armored Vehicle and they would drive it right towards the protesters and thats when they would run. Thats when they would disperse very rapidly. Theres an example right there. The vehicles going off to deal with protesters starting to approach the police there. Let me ask you. We are coming up on rush hour. The ride home for many. Oh wow. Can you imagine . Im seeing six lanes across in this one Vantage Point. Is this a major artery . This is a major road. Say interstate 83 is the main route home from downtown baltimore up to the hunt valley the northern points. Some folks even commute as far up into the pennsylvania line. Real estate is cheaper. If that gets blocked, then rister town road is a main drag out of the city and would be very full of traffic and on a bad traffic day, it is going to be jam packed. It is shut down. As well as several other major arteries like gwen falls. I saw a report of a couple others. Liberty heights is another big one. So its not like 395 got shut down. It is not like 495 got shut down and more like river road shut down. New york avenue. We have our derek ward on the scene right there. Tell us where you are. You have just arrived. And what youre seeing. Reporter well we are at the Western District station here off north mount street off of a main thoroughfare. We are just starting to see more movement more Police Officers have come out of the station. They have donned their riot gear. Theyre putting the shields down. Gloves and the shields, as well. We havent seen any sort of activity as far as protests are concerned but we have seen sort of a heightened sense of lets say awareness here among the Police Officers here. These barricades the jersey barricades have been up here since we got here. We just moved to this side and we its as if they were indeed expecting something. As a matter of fact theres a sign that says please keep your protests peaceful. This is a focal point for much of the protesters to come out of the community apparently not far from the scene of the actual arrest of freddie gray on april 12th. At this point, it looks like theyre getting prepared for something. We do hear a helicopter overhead and imagine that helicopter may be following any group of protesters that might be moving toward us. We can only assume that this will be one of the locations to come to. If not their destination. Again, because of its importance in this whole issue. Derek ward thank you. We are just talking to some colleagues from up in maryland and we are hearing that this is going to have a already having an economic impact. We have prom season. We know of a prom thats moved out of baltimore scheduled for this weekend because of that. So it is certainly tarnishing the image and businesses. May just be the beginning of them beginning to feel some of this impact. And you are watching live pictures now. These are live pictures in the mall area. Risters town road. Where see Police Officers there trying to keep protesters at bay. Many of them have scattered. Perhaps around the city. We dont see them right there but they are there and getting reports theyre causing incidents to flair up. Setting trash cans on fire and other things. Police are braced and waiting to hear from the mayor of baltimore about whats happening there this afternoon. And about the threats of unrest on this day when freddie gray has been put to rest. A large funeral earlier today at new shiloh Baptist Church attended by dignitaries and family and friends and residents of the area. Many calling for peace in the wake of the Police Investigation to determine exactly what happened to him. Do you know pat, there were thousands that turned out for that funeral and it ended at 1 45 so here we are at 4 30 and weve started hearing about the disruptions again. Maybe an hour 20 minutes ago at this point. But it is continuing. We are looking at a live picture of fire in the middle of the street. Press recording it looks like or taking pictures of it. Dont know media or not. But police are standing right near there. Again, we have mentioned were getting word that there is a News Conference about to take place right now. Lets bring it in. Looks to be police. Whatevers appropriate to protect the safety of our Police Officers and ensure the taf safety of the people that live and work in the area. We have officers deployed throughout the city to make sure that we can continue to deliver Police Services to the citizens of baltimore and continue to keep the city safe. Our officers are working as quickly and as appropriately as they can to bring about area in the area. Can you tell us how officers were still in the middle of the situation and still happening. We know as this is going on seven officers to right now have been injured. The exact circumstances that took place that led to their injuries something well be able to determine at a later date and go back and do an investigation and find the people responsible and well put them in jail. Who do you believe is responsible . It is a group of lawless individuals with no regard for the safety of the people that live in that community or the safety of our Police Officers who are there to ensure that the people who live and work in the area could do so safely. Were nees the High School Students . I dont know whos out there right now. Thats something to determine as the event goes on. We know that theyre criminals. They attacked officers without provocation. No regard for the safety of the people in the community and our officers are working hard. Is this related to the freddie grays . We dont know. Right now our focus is making sure that the people that live in the community are safe and our officers are safe. Theyre spread out over a significant area. Our officers are deploying. The primary concerns right now are making sure that the officers are safe. I cant emphasize enough. We have seven officers injured. They have broken bones, one of them is unresponsive. This is not okay. Our officers went out to that situation to make sure that the people in the community were safe and well continue to do what we can to make sure that they stay safe. We have that obligation to the city. [ inaudible ] i dont want to speculate about a correlation of the two. What we know is that this morning we received a threat. It was rung through our intelligence section. That threat was determined to be credible and took the precautions of ensuring that information not only distributed internally to officers here and nationwide. Is it too early to know about your were doing what we do in these type of situations to bring about order. You will see teargas, pepper balls. Well use appropriate methods to ensure to preserve the safety of that community. Can you tell us what the genesis of how this came about this afternoon and the businesses downtown closing 2 00 . The mall closed. Do you know how this came together . Spontaneous act . I dont want to get into that right now. We are in the middle of the situation. Our focus right now, let people in the Community Know that were doing what we can to ensure their safety. We are sending extra resources and deploying Police Officers to make sure that the neighborhood is safe that the people trying to get home from work can do so peacefully. What was thats something that were going to figure out. Rocks were thrown and bricks thrown and our officers placed in harms way and seven are injured and well make sure that another officer isnt. So again, you will see us use appropriate measures like teargas and pepper balls. As we can provide more information, well do so. There you have it. From police the latest. He used the word seven officers injured. Some with broken bones. One is unresponsive. And we have been wondering, talking about what that powder was we have been seeing and hes calling it teargas and pep i spray. Theyll continue to use it as warranted he said. The focus is to keep the residents living in the neighborhood safe and to keep officers safe. This morning, they received the threats we have been sharing earlier today from gang members of three rival gangs united and threatening police. He called them he said criminals who have attacked police without provocation. He says this is those responsible are a lawless individuals without regard for the safety of the people in that community. Or the safety of police. And the police are vowing to find those responsible for the injuries to those officers injuries described as broken bones. One of the Police Officers reportedly unresponsive. He just said that in fact. And vowing to do whatever they have to do to keep the peace and to protect police as well. Police spread out over a large area of baltimore right now as groups of individuals determined to express themselves in what is a very unhealthy way. Exactly. Im seeing tweets here this is one just retweeted by Jackie Benson that Prince Georges County police on stand by in the event that their assistance is needed. Are we hearing anything tisha, from the governor or state officials yet about if there is any extra manpour needed . Not yet. I know that we have seen some reports that Maryland State Police are there at the scene. One of the questions has been will they call up the Maryland National guard. Of course they are stationed, their main bar racks or main armory is just down the street from here. And, you know it was the Maryland National guard that was part of the riots in the 60s. So this is one of those moments. This is a moment where how much do they really need to qualm fear . As you heard, the Police Captain said that they want to make sure that the people who live in that community and the folks trying to get home remain safe. The thing i was struck by was that one of the officers is unresponse. Another one with broken bones. There was a very specific question about were these students. Because witnesses have been reporting that they saw students coming out of the high schools. Im sorry. Frederick Douglass High School when school was let out and when a lot of this began. The Police Captain did not answer specifically to whether they were students or not. He said were trying to determine that. But he did call them criminals. He said they have no regard for safety in our community. And they said that they attacked without provocation. He used those words and they have been using the word aggressive. That they were attacking Police Officers. And it could be the fact that we have a mix of people grownups and youngsters at play here. Its very tough from this Vantage Point to determine the age of people. But youre right. They did some people leaving the school grounds. We want to go live to derek ward for perspective. Derek . Reporter yeah. Well indeed we are still here and seen even a bit more of an increase in lets say vigilance at the barricades at the Western District station. See the number has grown slightly from the last time you talked to us. There are people on the roof as well. Other positions around here. There are two levels of security i guess you call them. Jersey barriers. See the barricade fences and then another levels of jersey barriers and same thing on the other side of the block. The block, i have seen people who apparently live in the area walk through these barricades or walk around at least the jersey barriers without being at all addressed by police or accosted by the police. However, they are girding themselves for something and starting to hear more sirens in the area. Every now and then we can hear what may sound like a mega phone. Cant tell exactly what it was and the helicopter that is apparently following or over the group has moved closer to us and away again. Generally just a den you hear in the air a sense of something going on. Interestingly enough it is eerily quiet elsewhere in this area. A lot of people not many people out on the stoops or what have you or anything like that. It is as though authorities are indeed expecting something and as to the threat we asked a people about this. We followed some Police Responding to what appeared to be a routine medical call and led to a protest. A young man standing in the streets with hands in the air. They werent taunting the police but they were definitely confronting them. I asked one of the young men there about this threat between that has been deemed credible threat by Baltimore City police saying they heard about it didnt believe it. A man told me he thinks its provocateurs and they would defend themselves and they wouldnt start anything but they essentially would not back down. So we are here at this Western District station where we are in anticipation of something. We dont know what it is. Perhaps theyre moving closer to us. This is a focal point of the unrest or the protests out of whats happened in the earlier this month here and probably likely will be another focal point later today. Thanks so much. Stay right there. Well check back with you. Pat and i have been monitoring the twitter feeds and seeing pictures of a police car, the windows were shattered. People were climbing on top of this Police Cruiser earlier. Tisha, you are at the desk. We have been talking about, you know the teargas being used the pepper spray and we have seen like a trash can on fire, too, and some bottles and rocks or bricks thrown. What do we know about any attack on a police car . Im seeing pictures on the twitter feed. So far, we can tell you what we have been watching. It began about when school got out and a large group of students from the school went up pretty wellknown street there. Called Liberty Heights. And they went into a 7eleven. They came pouring out. Came out and went back in again and then made the way down the road until they had a standoff essentially with the Baltimore City police as they created a wall in front of a shoppers Food Warehouse connected to the Mondawmin Mall there. It is wellknown within the city. But most people who visited our city folk theyre not people from you know other parts of the state. And that point is when we really started to see bottles, bricks rocks being thrown at passing by buses. Traffic was still moving by at that point. And at police and at the armored car there. And the police would move forward. The students and the adults would move back. This was what i believe to be the most dramatic moment so far. They had gone around the corner. All of a sudden there was this movement of Police Officers and they started carrying back that is an officer that theyre carrying. I counted about two dozen officers carrying him back towards the mall area. Last we heard, he has not been transported. We are still listening to see what happens. He may be the officer that they said was the unresponsive officer. They said other officers broken bones. We were talking about the vehicle with the broken windows. I saw a like a Student Resource officer, a Police Officer through the School System who had a rock or a brick through his window. And they began to set very small fires. So we have been watching. Its starting to calm down it appears because theres a pretty solid line of Police Officers. The Baltimore City police i just had this handed to me say they are deploying resources with the state Law Enforcement partners and other local Police Departments. There is a group that is looting a store in the area of north avenue and pennsylvania avenue for people in the area thats where the Baltimore City board of education is. We are seeing live pictures of cvs pharmacy and reporting looting and we can see people running in and out of this cvs. A large crowd there. These are live pictures above this cvs and pharmacy there and people are running out. In large numbers. If youre just joining us watching developing breaking story out of baltimore this afternoon where police have clashed with protesters. Marauding groups of what appear to be youngsters who began clashing with police a couple of hours ago throwing rocks and bottles and bricks and Police Responding with teargas and pepper pellets and several Police Officers injured at this point. Not to interrupt but i didnt share that this is north avenue and pennsylvania avenue and the windows have been broken out. And shattered. This just started to unfold minutes ago literally and watching a live picture right now. North avenue pennsylvania avenue in baltimore. We have heard that county police ascending, 40 members of their force to assist. Baltimore county to assist Baltimore City police. Of course this afternoon there have been reports of Credible Threats to police. Police have responded by beefing up forces and deploying police around the city today and those Credible Threats have been shared with Law Enforcement across the country. These are live pictures again from Baltimore City where all of this is happening right now. Now going back to that vcs. You know oddly enough you dont see i havent seen an officer in this whole scene around this store but, you know heres somebody running out with hands full. We are watching this again, just to let you know this is north avenue at pennsylvania avenue in baltimore. Lets listen in right now if we can to the wbal chopper pilot as he gives us the lay of the land. He just dropped out a bit ago. Now literally armloads and no Police Presence whatsoever. That we can see. State Police Helicopter landing at Mondawmin Mall. I dont know for medevac or stand by. My gut feeling is its because of a medevac. Tisha, again, we have mentioned this address but where is this in relation to where it all started to unfold today Liberty Heights and that shoppers Food Warehouse . Started at Mondawmin Mall and for folks who only visit the city as tourists it is right where the zoo is, maryland zoo. Its now moved south. This is north avenue which is a very wide broad street a big center of the city for a lot of the board of education is there. Anyone who ever deals with the schools would use north avenue. It is a major exit to off of the 395 which is the main interstate up through the middle of the city. It is also a lot of folks may know it before you get off there to get to the railroad station. Its off of north avenue. This is a very wellknown a very populated area. Its not really a residential area. Its where a lot of business gets done. Lets listen in again live to captain roy taylor on the wbal on board the chopper and having trouble. As soon as we do well bring it to you live and taking the pictures now that we see of this looting taking place at the cvs store on north avenue in baltimore not far from where all of this began. Youve got to wonder how many People Living around here are sheltering at home and if thats the warning to them to stay at home and not go out on the streets. We havent seen car traffic but its because a lot of roads are blocked off. And also surprised no police here yet. This is going on for several minutes now and we are sure that they must have gotten word of this but were watching what appears to be looting taking place without any Police Presence at all here on north avenue in baltimore. Look at all the businesses around that cvs. A lot of people away from there are just milling about. Theyre not feeling as though they need to be aware from the area and cars going by now at the intersection. So this intersection is not even blocked off. Despite look at the large number of people on the upper part of the screen. They started to run away from the scene. Dont know where theyre leaving from or going to. You have to wonder if these are some of the same protesters young people people you have seen at the Mondawmin Mall area along reisterstown road and facing the Police Officers in position in that part of the city. Here again, the cvs looting takes place in the midst of a tense afternoon in Baltimore City following the death and burial of freddie gray earlier today. Maryland state Police Deployed 50 troopers to help respond to the situation in baltimore and to help out Baltimore City police. Now we see a vehicle. An Armored Vehicle from police on this corner right now. And that may be why we saw some people leaving out the other side or running away from the scene right now. This if anything may be a deterrent with the presence there and saw nothing like this. A cruiser or a Police Officer on foot there. While all the looting was taking place. Why, the windows blown out of the place out front. The doorls werent even needed to open. People just crawled right through and we saw several leaving with arms full. Again, live pictures and as you can see those protesters those looters have cleared out of there pretty quickly. But they certainly are still around. And are spreading around the city. Were going to go back to tisha at the live desk. I think we are going to go to derek. Tell us what youre seeing from your Vantage Point at the Western District station which you showed us earlier, Different Levels of fences. Is it fairly calm where you are . Do you see this as a staging area . Reporter its fairly calm but definitely anticipatory of something. We dont know what xktly yet and if theyre coming here. I say theres been a steady increase of the numbers and of the gear that theyre wearing here. Theyre definitely waiting for something. It was one woman here briefly holding up a sign on northmont. She went back to back from where we can see. Police remained here. More vehicles pulled up. We hear sirens and the helicopter ahead. Nothing derek, right now we want to show derek, we have a live picture right now. This is an mta police car on fire. Just erupted. Maryland transit authority. Just erupted into flames here. Were waiting to hear of a location on this. Jason, as soon as we know, let us know. This is captain roy. Lets listen in. We saw it on fire. And it looks like the doors open and sure the officers that was in there is out. That was captain roy taylor aboard the chopper at wbal tv in baltimorement theyre shooting the live pictures now of this Maryland Transit Administration Maryland Transit Authority Police Cruiser that is on fire. This is a live picture of whats happening. Lets listen in again. Pelted with rocks, bricks concrete blocks and so they end up abandoning their post leaving it because, you know theres no way to direct the traffic there. They continue to move outbound from that location. But the further out you move people try to circumnavigate the roadblocks by police and drive right through harms way as you can see here. This is an mta bus right behind there, too. Right up on the back and worry whether that will spread in that direction. The wind is blowing in that direction. It would not take much. Doesnt look like a full bus. Somewhere in between like a minivan and a bus or a small bus. Again, we are waiting to hear the location on this. Guys as soon as you know let us know. But obviously, it is a major road because im seeing four lanes across on one side. North avenue avenue and pennsylvania avenue in Baltimore City. The mta Police Vehicle on fire. We believe whoever was in that vehicle is out. Based on what we just heard from the captain roy taylor aboard the chopper working for wbal tv in baltimore. About 25 minutes ago that we heard from police officially. They had said seven officers were injured with broken bones, one was unresponsive. Tisha, do we have an update on injuries or know the condition on the worst of that officer that we believe was the one carried away by eight or nine police . We do not as of now and checking in with maryland shock trauma and most of the officers in that area will end up going and a matter of course. Any time an officer is injured they end up at maryland shock trauma. Its the citys main hospital for trauma. This here this vehicle thats burning, you say it was an mta vehicle. Mta is the equivalent of d. C. s metro system. So this is the main provider of the citys bus service. And the vehicle behind that does look to be a Police Vehicle. This is north avenue. This is one of the main crossroads inside the city. This is a wellknown landmark. If you live in the city of baltimore. This is just normally full of cars. Full of people. Thats a major bus stop right there. Thats one of the thats like a metro center. Thats like a new york avenue. That is a major bus stop that would normally have dozens of people coming and going. So this is like the center of the city right now where this fire is happening. To help folks remember this began up in the Liberty Heights area. On at a 7eleven and then came down reisthestown road and moved to north avenue here and which we have previously said where the board of education is based and also where a lot of folks get off of 395, the main interstate up and down through the town to go to the train station. You can see theres quite a few people across the street. Watching what is happening with this fire. We did want to report that Baltimore County as you have said sent 40 officers the Maryland State Police has sent 50 officers. The county Police Department has sent 30 officers. And it does appear according to the Baltimore City police that the Group Continues to damage Additional Police cars. And theyre describing them as aggressive and violent. We want to let you know we have word from the white house. Theyre monitoring the situation. No word from the president or his spokesperson. Theyre monitoring the chaotic situation. When this first started, there was social media sent out saying that they wanted to start in this neighborhood and then move down towards city hall and there was also a report from the police that they believed three rival gangs had actually what the black gorilla family the bloods and the crypts formed and a credible threat they formed a partnership against the police. And may be fueling some of this. This started around 2 00 about 2 00 or 3 00 this afternoon and then in the one neighborhood that tisha was talking about and they were really engaging the police at this time. They were really coming at the police forming in their riot gear sort of a wall of officers and they were throwing bricks and rocks and setting small fires and it was quite, quite active and the police were saying they were having a very hard time dispersing them. We dont know who the people are. Some people saying they were students. There were a couple of schools there. There were a couple of schools nearby . Im sorry. I was talking to our producer of whats happening right now. The north avenue area is mostly business. Its there is a large board of Education Building so students do come and go. Reporters come and go to interview the city board of education. But it is it is mostly adults in this area. This is predominantly a business area. There are baltimore has a small metro system and not comparable to d. C. s metro system. We are being told that the mondawmin, penn north stations closed because of this activity. That right there is a huge bus stop. That is one of the most active bus stops in the city. Obviously, buses are not coming and going from there. I have also seen that one point the helicopter showed police blocking access to north avenue from 395 which is the major interstate. Some people call it the jfx coming out of the city. It heads from downtown up to the pennsylvania area and im handed something right now. It is about the metro stations are closed. So commuting right now is just going to be awful in the city of baltimore. At least we can see that the flames are out. We have two trucks on the scene right now and just learned that Maryland State Police sending in 50 troopers just deployed to help out with Baltimore City police there. Youre watching news 4 at 5 00 on this very volatile day in baltimore. Baltimores erupting in violent protests today. This is a live look at a neighborhood in the city thats been chaotic. Bricks rocks, teargas canisters through several neighborhoods in this one area of baltimore. All this happening just moments after the funeral of freddie gray. Here are the latest if youre just now joining us. Headlines at 5 00. At least seven baltimore Police Officers have been injured. One of those officers was unresponsive when placed inside an ambulance. We have seen video of protesters stomping on police cars and others looting a cvs there that you see. North avenue pennsylvania avenue in baltimore. Baltimore police just held a News Conference moments ago. I dont know whos out there right now. Thats something that well be able to determine as the event goes on. What we do know is theyre criminals. They attacked officers without provocation. They have no regard for the i have a safety of the residents that live in that neighborhood. We have some more context of where this is all happening and what kind of impact it is having on that city tonight as these people who work in baltimore and live in the surrounding communities and suburbs are trying to get home. Tisha. Lets go back to that map