Transcripts For WRC News4 Midday 20160506

The attention of riders safety. Adam tuss joins us live at metro headquarters in northwest d. C. Adam . Thats right, melissa. The News Conference about to get under way in about a minute. We are expecting the general manager to lay out a huge massive track work plan that will deal with things that are completely disruptive, not just for the metro system but the entire region, really. Were talking about single tracking around the clock for as long as a month, possibly even longer on certain sections of rail lines. Were talking about closing down certain sections of stations for weeks on end. And a lot of buses will have to be called in to help people get around. This is going to be a Maintenance Plan that the region has never seen before. The general manager of the board of directors here at metro said in no Uncertain Terms the Maintenance Plan for metro up to this point has not worked. Its not been effective and that is why we have gotten into this state of disrepair of where we are. The generan make a pretty aggressive announcement about what he wants to do Going Forward and how hes going to fix the system. He should be out here in about a minute, guys. Thank you, adam. Be sure to join us for news 4 sunday as metro general manager paul wedefeld sits down with adam. He focuses on key problems and whats being done to make sure your ride is safe. Thats coming up on sunday. Well go back now to that metro Maintenance Plan weve been talking about. Metro headquarters and general manager paul wedefeld presenting his new plan. As you all know, for a number of years, if not decades, we have been dealing with a number of maintenance and safety related issues. In my estimation we need to do somethingfe again, as most of you may know, it boils down to track access and all the demands we have to get out there. On this slide what you see is basically the amount of operating errors we have, this is 85 of the time of a week. And when you look at what that works out to be in production time, its about 10 of a normal seven days to get out there and do work. When you think of just thec normal maintenance we have to do and then you add on some of the things weve had to do and should be doing either from fta or ntsb or congressional mandates, clearly we cannot keep up with the demands that we need to do to get the system both safe and reliable that we all deserve. Thats the logic of this plan. Let me just give you a quick overview and ill get into some more detail. This is a massive undertaking, no doubt about it. Internally weve been talking about it. Its like a military operation. Theres a lot of moving parts that have to Work Together very well. The highlights are were calling it safe track. If you could go back, if you dont mind, dan, but basically we need to do things differently in terms of weekdays, in terms of early closures at 8 00 p. M. In certain locations when we need to do the work. We need to do Different Things on weekends. We need to im recommending that we shut down the system at midnight all seven days of the week starting later in the in june before we would do that, that we put a moratorium on any extended hours either early in the morning or late into the evening. And then what were doing is what we are calling safety surges. There are 15 location which is ill outline for you shortly where we need to even put in more effort to get the work done which will mean a longer duration of outages as we single track in some of those areas. The types of work you have all heard in different forms. Its tunnel lighting, the cabling, its the signage, its every part of the system. Let me just hit on the cable the power cable issues just so you know. On the power cable issue by the end of this month in the underground section we will have all those replaced. Thats the sleeves and the boots weve been talking about. We will have the entire system done by the end of the summer. When we previously committed to that last year, it was to be by september 17th. We moved that up a year. Thats been something, again, ive been working on, the teams been working on for a number of weeks. With that, some of the let me talk about the surges. This will require continuous track outages for longer periods. Its primarily above ground where we will be doing a number of this work. The issue here is we have to redo a number of the ties and not like replacing fasteners. You have heavy equipment out there. And what it takes to do that is very expensive. Thats what drives it. What that does, though, it fees up capability to put more focus on some of the underground issues. The surge areas we cannot do in the process we have found. We cannot do that type of work with early outs and on weekends. By default, that will have impact on rush hour service. We will provide shuttle buses if we actually close down stations to provide bus bridges. But otherwise, its reduced service and we want to get the word out and we will need the help of lots of people in the region to basically address this issue, whether its through coordination with their cots, working with the hr departments in both businesses and government and obviously communication throughout the entire process. Just to give you a sense of what were dc for instance, we we go into a single tracking for 21 days straight, rather than closing, opening and closing twice a day, where we in effect lose three hours every time we do that of productive work, we will take what would have taken ten weekends and we can complete it in 21 days. I want to show you a few examples of the type of work well be doing. This is a major cross tie replacement. You can see the equipment thats required to do that work. Track renewal, taking out track and replacing it with new track. Cutting it out, reputting it and rewelding it. This is cable replacement. The amount of effort it takes to do that. Joint elimination. We have a n have very short power cables. We can eliminate a lot of those which reduce the risk of those shorting out. Fastener replacement, manual as you can see the type of work thats required to do that. At the end of this program, next year, what we will do is obviously well replace all the boots and seals which i already spoke about. We will replace 12,000 insulators. We will eliminate all third rail expansion joints. Just about all the third rail expansion joints. We will eliminate bh bars. Thats a short term bandaid you should do very short periods. Over time we have been using that as a crutch, more than a bandaid. We have to eliminate that. We will be replacing 48,000 wooden ties. To give you a sense, we should be on a pace to do 11,000 per weve got to catch up and then move forward and do 11,000 per year after that. The fasteners, same thing. Well replace 36,000 fasteners. We should be on an annual cycle of doing roughly 18,000. We have to catch up to do that. We will be clearing 87,000 linear feet of drains. A lot of our issue is related to moisture. We have a drainage system that was designed to deal with that issue. We have to maintain it and get in there and get that back to a state of good repair so it does what its job is. We will also do an extensive leak mitigation. Mitigation is the key word here. You know, were in tunnels, under the water table. There will be leakage. You have to stay on top of it and constantly repair it. Thats what well be doing in the next year. What this graph shows, this is a year look ahead. This the program, the surge program, the 15 locations impacted from a customers perspective. Basically if i get on at noma, when is my ride impacted . Thats what this chart will tell our customers if a sn. The goal here was not to eliminate any service. Because basically we have customers that do not have an option. We wanted to maintain service at a minimum. Will be single tracking, if we have to shut down a station we will have bus bridges around it so people can still make their trip by transit. Clearly the level of service will go down during these surge periods. Let me just give you some examples. Ill give you three examples and well give you the entire list after the meeting, i believe. So one, this happens to be the first one, which were or 19th, thats 15 days. It will be continuous single tracking between franconia and springfield and van doorn street. This impacts 18,000 weekday trips. The trains will move at a headway of 24 minutes. In one portion, 12 minutes, generally theyre running 6 minutes now. You can understand the impact. What were showing in this graphic, literally is where you see the red is obviously where theres significant drop in service. Where you dont see anything, there is no drop in terms of the amount of service thats being provided out there. This is another example. This is the red line between noma and ft. Todden. This is the same operation we went through last weekend with csx. Youre shutting down a portion of the system and having a bus bridge around it. Customers are being served at 108,000 passengers a weekday trip in this section. So we will reduce the headways and you can see weve outlined what those will be. A third example is between East Falls Church and boston. Again, a major corridor with 73,000 work trips. We will basically be running trains every 18 minutes electric vienna to boston and the silver line, every 18 minutes. We can provide extra service where we can but this is the type of impact we will be having. One other initiative that were doing is early out. Again, shutting down going to single tracking at 8 00 p. M. Versus 10 00 p. M. Or midnight were closing down at midnight. Basically, we will do this on the red line from january 2nd to march 7th, 2017 with one exception, obviously being the we will keep the service at both tracks open the entire time. This runs from Friendship Heights Medical Center and those trains will run every 15 to 20 minutes during that period. Weve been listening to metro manager announcing a massive attempt to take care of all the maintenance problems weve seen on metro over the last few years. It includes shutting down the system early in the evening, midnight every night, seven nights a week. Having single tracking. A lot of the issues that are being addressed. It was interesting to hear him say that moisture is one of of the biggest problems for metro. One of the biggest culprits. Something they have deal with. All of this is called the state tracks program trying to get the system back safe and reliable. We are streaming that press conference still on the nbc washington app as well. Adam tuss will join us later and have much more tonight at 4 00, 5 00 and 6 00 as well. Developing right now, were working to find out the name of a man who was Alexandria Police say the last night. A shooting happened at High Point High School in beltsville. We have the details and latest on the search for the suspect in that case. By all appearances, a normal day outside High Point High School. Inside theres a struggle to understand what happened outside this school yesterday. As students arrived for the last day of the school week, outside High Point High School, more of a Police Presence than unususua. Inside, grief counselors awaited to deal with the aftermath of what happened yesterday. Parents are also trying to fathom it. Im not happy. Reporter indeed its changed things here. Adult domesticro over violently to a place where young people prepare themselves for adulthood. Shes had a talk with her son, a high point student. Hes encouraged that education is a priority. Hes coming today to school. Im feeling happy. Reporter it was 4 30 in the afternoon. Class had been dismissed. There were students here for afterschool activities. 62yearold followed his estranged wife to the School Parking lot. He was there to pick up her daughter. He had a gun. Police say he shot and killed his estranged wife in her suv and wounded a bystander who tried to intervene. There are adult witnesses. Some children may have seen this. The event is also captured on videotape. Reporter it will take more to help those who unwittingly came too close to death for comfort. Including the victims daughters. Now, police have not caught the suspect yet. They do believe hes armed and they think hes danger news 4. Im erica gnz begka gonzale live desk. Police say this man assaulted a woman in a bar on the 6,000 block of amherst avenue. The woman is okay. This is the guy theyre looking for. This apparently happened in late march. If you recognize this individual, this happened in the springfield area. Youre asked to call police. Back to you. Thank you, erika. Spacex has done it again, the Company Launched a satellite this morning not long after midnight. Then it land part of the rocket back on earth in one piece. Spacex did the same thing about a month ago. Its planning to reuse those rockets which could save a lot of money on parts, they say. Theres a new honor in place for d. C. Fire lieutenant kevin mccray. Take a look at this. Lieutenant mccray collapsed and died after helping to put out flames on the top floors of a highrise at the corner of 7th and oh streets in northwest washington. First responders across washington dedicated a fire call box at the intersection in his honor earlier this morning. The Fire Department no longer uses call boxes but this one will remain in place as a memorial to mccray. If you live in the district, theres a zika prevention kit with your name on it. The d. C. Department of health will hand them out at the Community Sessions happening in all eight wards next saturday. At the sessions,c folks will learn how to properly use insecticides and what to do if theyre worried about a mosquito bite. The Washington Post reports that officials stress theres no reason to panic. They just want to get the information out there about the potential dangers of the zika virus. Happening later today, los angeles prince fans wia icon. The free concert will be held at city hall, featuring several r b stars. Prince died in april at his minnesota estate. He was 57 years old. Its a big day here at news 4. Were introducing a new commitment to you called nbc 4 responds. Its a Consumer Initiative based on one promise, consumer reporter susan hogan is leading the team. Reporter this is the nbc 4 responds consumer investigative center. Were here for you. Whats the name of the company . Reporter our Consumer Team will listen to your complaint and contact the company on your behalf. Your call or email will always be answered. We want to help all viewers who come to us. Ive seen your reports on the news. Its like, wow, susan gets action. Thats when i said im coming to you guys. Reporter we have a fulltime staff working for you and well spend to every consumer problem, phone or email. And well always get back with answers. We get many requests for help. Not every will turn into a story, however, every request will be heard. They get to talk to someone. We might not be able to solve their problem but we can listen to them and find out what it is thats going on and maybe direct them to somebody who can help them or we can take it on ourselves. Reporter by the time consumers contact nbc 4 responds, they have already exhausted every resource or been referred to agencies that cant or wont help. Thats not what consumers will get when they contact us. Its kind of like when theyve talked to managers, talked to the people at Customer Service and theyre getting nowhere, they come to us and then we try to cut through whatever red tape theyre stuck in and get them some sort of solution. This sounds great, susan. What kind of complaints will your team be able to handle . We handle anything as far as customer consumer complaints. Were all consumers after if youre dealing with a business, a contractor, car issues, you buy a car and its a lemon and you have nowhere else to turn and youve already done all of your due diligence, that means youve contacted the company, youve tried to work it out with them and filed complaints with whatever varying agency it may be. And youre still not getting anywhere, then you come to us. I see. We will help you go through it. What kind of information should a caller have when they call you . They need to make sure that they have their ducks in a row. We want them to have done their home work. We need all documents. If they have contracts, they can scan and email them to us. We want to make sure this is the last resort. We want to make sure you exhausted your resources. We cant solve every complaint but well do our best to help you get through it, refer you to the right agency if you need one or help you solve it if we can. This is terrific. Heres the number, 1844nbcdc44. Thats right. Well make a pledge to you and respond to all of your calls. Every call that comes in . Every call that comes in. That is terrific, susan. I think its wonderful. We do, too. Proud to bring it. Melissa . Thanks,c guys. Sounds good. New today, this years top baby names and the rain we just cant seem to escape. How much we can expect today and what part of the weekend will actually be ranfree. Iis to the women who know what real values are, you inspire us to bring you real value every day. Look, i know youre a cow and all. And you may not know what im talking about, but, uh. The yogurt made from your milk, is delicious. Mmmm, yoplait. 415 million . That number is making a lot of people think what theyd do with all that money. The Powerball Jackpot is at 415 million right now. The drawing is tomorrow night. We caught up with one woman buying tickets in d. C. Shes hoping for a little help. I just hope that we have the Winning Ticket in our hands. Its up to him. Thats all i can say. 415 million is a lot of money. But not even close to the giant record 1. 6 billion jackpot from just a few months ago. And what will we pay for a nice day . Honestly. We were talking about ourc fitness. Were all wearing these things. Trying to be good. You have beat us. 9,000 steps already today. I he i have 1,000. People are like, are you dead . You havent walked anywhere. Its cool, isnt it . Yes. I feel athletic. I keep looking at it. Maybe i can one, two, three. I tried that. It doesnt work. Apparently. I only have 1,000 steps. Barbara said she went outside for a walk. In the rain. It was pouring. Well continue to see this heavy rain. We did have localized flooding issue warnings earlier today. Mainly out in shenandoah valley. Those have been expired. We could continue to have some localized flooding because well see so much rain. Weve decided to issue a weather alert for this afternoon because were going to see so much rain. The rain keeps falling. Not going anywhere quite yet. Well get weekend sun. The heat returns next week. How about 80s80s . How does that sound. An area of low pressure sitting off the coast, will start to break down. The winds and the motion around this keeps it counterclockwise. Thats why that rain is falling in that direction, moving down to the south and east. We will continue to see it rotate. Pockets of heavy rain as well. Keeping the temperatures down because we have clouds out there. Mid50s. Thats about as good as were going to do today. As we continue through the rest of the day, the rain will start to lighten up after about 6 00, 7 00, well see more of a light rain, a drizzle. Here it is. 11 15 tonight. Keep that umbrella with you. Youll need it. As we continue into the rest of the morning were looking at spotty drizzle and fog. If you have things to do tomorrow, maybe gold cups, susan g. Komen race for the cure, well have spotty areas of sunshine and a little bit of rain showers here and there. More rain returns saturday night until about day break on sunday. We clear it out for mothers day with sunshinein the low to mid70s. Guys . Finally. Gosh. Enough is enough. Emma and noah are hitting the top of the list when it comes to baby names. For the second Consecutive Year they made the annual list. Girl names include olivia, sophia. The Social Security administration released its annual list of top baby names today. The top five names for girls and boys for 2015 remain unchanged from 2014. Noah and liam are at the top of the list. I havent met baby liams. After the break well be joined by olympic champion deanna scurry, an important part of the d. C. Soccer community. And we look ahead to rio and the great soccer taking place here this weekend. Its a struggle for residents rushed out of alberta, canada, where this massiv of control. Well have the latest on were back at 11 30 with a look at what we learned from this mornings News Conference with metros general manager. Major Service Changes are starting next month. Single tracking will happen continuously on multiple lines starting june 4th. That is a saturday. Latenight and Weekend Service could also be eliminated for a long time. Were streaming the whole News Conference right now on the nbc washington app. News 4s adam tuss will have a live report on news 4 first at 4 00 this afternoon. Major developments this morning. Tens of thousands of people running from the widespread wildfires in alberta, canada. Many followed a Police Convoy out of the city of ft. Mcmurray today. It could be a long time before any of them can actually return to their neighborhood. Its stressful. You dont know whats burned and whats not burned, when you can go back. The fire is about ten times the size of manhattan right now. Its torched hundreds of homes so far. Im Erika Gonzalez at the live desk. We are hearing reports of a possible shooting we can see Montgomery County police appear to be responding to that scene. We have a camera at west lane and democracy right now. News 4s chris gordon is on his way to the scene. Follow him on twitter for updates. What we know is this is off of 270 at democracy and west lake terrace. A lot of folks familiar with this mall in bethesda. This is Westfield Montgomery mall. Police responding to reports of a possible shooting at Westfield Montgomery mall. Well try to get you more information on this. Stay with us here on news 4 midday. Thanks, erika. Well continue to follow that breaking story. Its been more then a decade in the making and now were just months away from the opening of the new National Museum of africanamerican history and culture. Today were giving you an exclusive first look inside. Unless a truck tour bus pauses for picture snapping tourists, it would be hard to miss this decidedly different presence on the national mall. This is the brand new museum of africanamerican history and culture. I wanted a building that spoke of spirituality, resilience and uplift. I wanted a building that was a bronze corona. Theres always been a dark presence in america that often got undervalued or overlooked. It has a distinctive covering. This historian spent the last 11 years painstakingly planning, persuading and perhaps with the same intensity of a Political Campaign fundraising and following leads to the historical treasures that are beginning to fill the enormous 400,000 square feet of this 540 million soon to o museum. To the right will be africa. To the left will be europe and you basically are drawn by a media piece that from a distance looks like the angry ocean. Its laid out to allow the visitor to follow the slave ships from africa across the atlantic ocean. You will tell the story through artifacts here. But in here, this will be kind of an emotional look like youre inside a ship. Youll have a piece of wood that we brought up from a sunkle slave ship off the coast of capetown. From there the tour takes you into the new world. Then youll walk through the creation of america. In this area, an original slave cabin. This is from the edistow island, a rice plantation, cotton plantation. A family of slaves would live there. Many of the larger collected artifacts like this other home, the log cabin where freed slaves lived in maryland and further up the time line of africanamerican plane flown by tuskegee airmen, a cadillac and the mothership of fu funkadelic. We were able to because of this grand space give people a narrative where they can walk from slavery to freedom. We can still go and see things on sport, music and other stories. Construction manager charlie yetta and Renee Anderson are working hard with an opening date of september 24th. Are you getting excited . You know, i am about as excited as a man can be. Areyou going to be ready on the 24th of cseptember . Piece of cake. We may not be ready on the 23rd but well be ready on the 24th. They have a lot of work still to do. The Museum Director says he has to contain his excitement because there is so much left to do. He says it is opening its doors impressive grand opening with the president and unbelievable lineup of stars will be here in washington for that event. We have more exclusive behind the scenes photos on our nbc washington instagram account. Make sure you are following to get a sneak peek. The International Womens Soccer League is in its Fourth Season. In case you do not know, many of the women who play in the league will lead the women in olympics in a couple short months. Here to talk about this is briana scurry. This is not going to be your first olympics. No, no, no. This will be your third, is that right . I played in three Olympic Games in the past and won two olympic gold medals. I know youre retired. You were saying i watched opening games and i think that gives me the chills. That is unbelievable. You say going is still i mean, looking at those folks still gives you chills. And see the fans, crowd, excitement and energy, its amazing, a dream come true. When i watch it on tv, i tell get those chills every once in a while. Youre the goalkeeper for the 2014 team that won the gold in the olympics. Why do you think interest wanes a bit . Everybody gets excited when olympics roll around but it doesnt get talked about as much. There are a lot of different sports in the land escape of america. I think the rise comes up during the olympics in womens soccer because were usually expected to win. Talk about your team, the spirit. You play in Montgomery County at the germantown soccer plex. Undefeated season so far. Tell us about the spirit. Yes, spirit are fantastic team. Im an honorary captain with the team. We have a game on saturday at 7 00 p. M. At the soccer plex against the portland thorns. Which is exciting, they lead the table. Theyre the highest goal scorer and assist leader with crystal dunn and alley krieger with olympics and that coming up soon, it will be exciting. Its great to get out there and see the girls play. It really is a big deal that youve made it to the Fourth Season of the nwsl. There have been two different leagues that have come up and failed in the third season. This is the very first season a league has been able to get into the Fourth Season. Its very historic an a milestone for the league and it definitely says a lot about the players in the league and the fan support and sponsorship as well. All right. Briana, thank you so much for being here today. We appreciate it. Check them out this weekend, the spirit play tomorrow at 7 00 at the germantown soccer plex. Barbara . Thank you. A lot of us have plans for brunch or dinner this weekend for mothers day. After the break, will the weekends stay drive for all the big outings . Plus, how you can help reach their look, i know youre a cow and all. And you may not know what im talking about, but, uh. The yogurt made from your milk, is delicious. Mmmm, yoplait. Okay. Weve got an update for you to that breaking news we just brought you a moment ago outside Westfield Montgomery mall in bethesda. Weve got a spokesperson from Montgomery County fire and rescue services confirming the fact that they are, in fact, responding to a shooting outside Westfield Montgomery mall. What we are learning at this point, i think we have live pictures for you of that intersection there. I believe this camera is actually at west lake at democracy. This mall you know is located right off of 270. Weve got reporters that are headed to the scene there. Meagan fitzgerald just put out some information on twitter saying that some one to three victims are known at this point after a shooting outside Westfield Montgomery mall. Pete barringer tweeting they are several injured persons. Treating and transporting several injured persons for an incident happening, a shooting happening outside Westfield Montgomery mall in the bethesda area. Theres a map there of that location. As we mentioned before, this is right at west lake at democracy or that specific intersection of the mall is west lake democracy and west lake again in bethesda. This is all happening right now. Were trying to bring you the latest information. As i mentioned before we do have reporters headed to the scene. What we can tell you right now we do have several victims that are being treated and transported because of a shooting at Westfield Montgomery mall. Barbara, melissa, ill send it back to you. Were continuing to follow this story, Westfield Montgomery mall theres been a shooting there. Were looking atc a live pictu right now. One to three victims is one report. Were hearing from pete baggering that and transporting several victims from montgomery mall. This is something were developing right now. Were trying to get information as were on the air. Well keep you updated throughout the rest of the show and the rest of the afternoon today. Shooting outside of Westfield Montgomery mall there. Montgomery mall, very popular for lots of people in Montgomery County. I grew up going there. I know you go there a lot, right there off of democracy boulevard in bethesda. All we know, several victims transported to the hospital. This is a live look there. I think theyre at west lake and democracy, taking a look at a police suv there blocking part of the intersection. What else can you tell us right now . We got new information. Were hearing from a mall employee saying that the mall was never placed on lockdown. There doesnt appear to be any injured inside the mall. Witnesses say there were three people out ground. One was a woman. There was some sight of blood in that area. Were hearing from a mall employee, a Westfield Montgomery mall employee saying that the mall, at this point, was not on lockdown. Has not been on lockdown. We are bringing you this breaking news that just came in about 15 minutes ago of montgomery conte Police Responding to reports of a shooting at Westfield Montgomery mall. A spokesperson for Montgomery County fires rescue tweeting out they are treating and transporting several individuals. We dont know the extent of their injuries or what their injuries are. This is developing right now. We have a number of reporters that are headed to that scene, again, this is happening right now. Were trying to bring you the latest information. Again, hearing from somebody inside the mall saying that they have not been advised that the mall is on lockdown or has been on lockdown. Barbara from what you heard this happened in the parking lot of the Westfield Montgomery mall . Yes, were hearing this is from outside. Montgomery county police just tweeting their preliminary information is that there are three shooting victims, two male and one female. There is a suspect outstanding. This tweet just coming out from Montgomery County police, preliminary information indicates three shooting victims. Two males, one female and the suspect outstanding at this point. And erika, we done know whether the three people were shot were all together . No, barbara, at this point, all we know is this appears to have happened outside the mall. We just got a call from somebody inside the mall saying they were not aware that the mall was placed on lockdown at any point in time. This happened a matter of 15, 20 minutes ago. I can tell you right now, the Montgomery County spokes from Montgomery County fire and rescue hes saying now the ub we have several reporters on the way to that scene. Again, another live Traffic Camera for you here. This is the same shot as before. I think that is west lake at democracy boulevard. Again, in bethesda, right now, we do have a scene at montgomery mall. Sounds line everybody inside is safe. No report of any problems inside the mall. The mall again, never placed on lockdown. We are dealing with the situation in a parking lot, perhaps a parking garage. We dontc know. Somewhere outside of the mall. Three victims, two male, one female. The suspect it sounds like still at large right now. We are trying to gather more information for you. We know as erika just told us, three victims, two male, one woman apparently just happened in the parking lot or somewhere outside the Westfield Montgomery mall at democracy in bethesda. That mall employee saying no lockdown for the mall at least so far. Nobody hurt inside. Re injured. Erika, you have Something Else for us . Were following our team of reporters. They are our eyes and ears right now in that area. Megan was tweeting that this was what she was hearing from a spokesperson was that this was happening outside the mall. Were not hearing this is happening inside the mall. Were hearing this has happened outside the mall. Montgomery county police, their latest information that came in just a few seconds ago was that they had three shooting victims. Two males and one female which would coincide with the information we just got from a mall employee or witness i should say that said they saw three people on the ground, one of them in fact, a woman and there was visible blood in the area. What was it from Montgomery County rescue that they heard they were treating and transporting victims . Right. A spokesperson for Montgomery County fire and ems said they were treating and transporting what they said was several injured. What the extent of their injuries are as a result of what we do not know yet. This is a developing situation. This all happening right now. Were doing our best to bring you the latest information on it. Okay, erika, just to recap. This is what we know right now. We want to share this with you. Public Information Officer on the way to that scene. Police investigating the report of a shooting at Westfield Montgomery mall in bethesda. Its where the spur joins into the beltway. You can see it with the parking garage, a big massive structure. A number of reporters on way for this shooting reported outside. Democracy boulevard in bethesda. Several victims they say have been transported but it sounds, again, like all of this is happening outside and no problems inside. We have reporter Meagan Fitzgerald on the phone with us learned so far. Are you on the scene, megan . Yes, barbara. We just arrived here on scene. I can tell you, its a very hectic scene. You have Police Officers here. Theyve taped off a perimeter outside of the west field montgomery mall. Right outside of the macys here. What we know is that there was a shooting out here in the parking lot. Montgomery county police are confirming one to three victims. This happened at around 11 13 this morning. Thats when Montgomery County police say they received a call. We had an opportunity to speak with some witnesses here who say they heard two gun pops as they describe it. They looked over and they stated they saw a gunman walking away with a gun. At this point, Montgomery County police tell us they do not have a suspect in custody but this is certainly a fluid and rapidly developing situation here. We are on scene and we will cont and update our viewers on our nbc washington app. Again, ac shooting outside of e montgomery mall, right near the macys. One to three people wounded. One to three victims. Thats the information we know right now. Megan, does it appear that the people inside the mall in the stores there know whats going on outside . You know, a lot of people out here watching, asking questions, wondering whats happening. Police are trying to keep people away. Theyve set up a perimeter here. And, again, there are people here who saw or at least heard this incident take place. They heard two pops as they describe it and they saw this gunman, they say, walking away. And they saw three people on the ground. Were told those people have been rushed to the hospital at this point. But here and a large perimeter around the parking lot here just outside of the macys. Does it seem like anybody is getting out of the mall . We were just talking about the fact that we didnt believe the mall was on lockdown. An employee talking to Erika Gonzalez on the live desk saying they did not think anything was on lockdown. Can anybody get out of the mall . Is there an exit for folks perhaps on the other side of mall where sears is. Thats a good question. I just talked to a Security Guard here, asking him if they are shutting down the mall. He tells us at this point they are not. The mall, people are still allowed to go in and out of the mall. Were seeing that. We are seeing people going inside of the macys. Were also seeing people standing outside. It certainly appears as if though this was an incident that happened just outside in the parking lot. We ha was a shooting inside the mall. It certainly does not appear as though any of the people inside the mall are in danger in any way. Again, were working to confirm that a suspect is still at large. Just as of 20 minutes ago, we were told that they dont have a suspect in custody. But, again, its a rapidly evolving situation here. So things could certainly change. As soon as we get that information, well update our viewers on facebook, twitter and on our nbc washington app. Megan, we will get back to you in just a moment. Lets go to erika and see if she can tell us whats happening with the schools in the area. Hey, barbara, were hearing from scott macfarlane, reporting at this moment that Montgomery County Public Schools has ordered a shelter in place at Walter Johnson high school. Thats in now ordered for Walter Johnson high school in bethesda. This new tweet coming per our scott macfarlane. Again, you heard Meagan Fitzgerald recapping what witnesses told her, they heard from gunshots and saw a gunman walking away. Police told us they do not have a suspect in custody at this time. Folks from inside the mall telling us that the mall had not been placed on lockdown, has not been placed on lockdown. This is a scene that started developing within the past 20 minutes or so. Were hearing also from Emergency Responders that several people are being transported as injured. The extent of their injuries at this point we do not knosn but this happening outside Westfield Montgomery mall. You heard megan say she saw the area right outside of macys being taped off. This is right off of 270 at democracy and west lake terrace. This is in because of the proximity of Walter Johnson high school, that school has been ordered a shelter in place. We are hearing that at least one to three victims are involved, because of this shooting that police began responding to outside Westfield Montgomery mall. We have chris gordon, Meagan Fitzgerald and a number of other reporters headed to the scene now. Were trying to show you different vantage points here. These are live pictures so you can see. Youve got the police cars there on the scene. I believe we have new information, barbara, melissa, what are you hearing . Erika, are you still with us . Im here. Can you hear me. Yes, we can. You say theres no suspect in custody. Ill check back with our assignment desk let me get new information from you guys. Ill check back with you in just a moment. Give me a while shes checking we will tell you or bring you up to date here. Theres a shelter in place order for Walter Johnson high school which is a nearby high school. Two of the Westfield Montgomery mall shelter in place for students there. But the mall apparently is still open. Yes, they are still allowing shoppers in and out. We have a couple of different cameras here. This looks like this could be from one of our trucks. Chris gordon, his shot was on the scene from the parking lot. Were not sure where outside the mall threes three people were shot. We know it was outside the mall. Chris gordon is outside the mall. We had a shot a couple minutes ago. Can you hear us, tell us whats going on out there . The parking lot just outside of macys and the arch light cinemas, you see a number of police cars, crime scene tape right here. This is in the parking lot outside of the mall, the macys, which is a twostory building. Second story of macys. Police cruisers on the scene i talked to, captain paul starks of the Montgomery County Police Public information office, he says there is a report of a shooting. We have been told three people injured, not confirmed that they were going long by gunshots. There was a report of a shooting. Three people transported to a local hospital. Closest, probably suburban. Two miles away south of here Walter Johnson is a short distance away down democracy boulevard heading east. This happened just about 11 15 which would be the earliest of the lunch hours for Walter Johnson. There are a Couple School buses on the scene if you can see them there. School buses we dont know if they are involved in any way. It is doubtful. c i think we lost chris gordon. We have new information we can report to you here from the live desk. Were hearing of a second shooting scene at aspen hill shopping center. This is in Silver Spring. Connecticut avenue. Scott macfarlane joining us here for news 4 midday. Not sure if this is in all relation to what were tracking at Westfield Montgomery mall. A second shooting scene being reported in Silver Spring, 661 connecticut avenue. We do have a live picture there. This is the aspen hill shopping center. Immediately we can tell you Montgomery County Public Schools has ordered a shelter in place at the nearest school for the mall. Thats Walter Johnson high school. A spokesman said its possible. That list might grow. There are a lot of schools throughout the county. Because it is active scene at the mall theyve ordered a shelter in place which ensures that the doors remain closed throughout the perimeter of Walter Johnson high school. As we take you back to the scene of what is Westfield Montgomery mall, police tweeting to us that they do not have a suspect in custody. What we know at this point is that there was a shooting that happened outside the mall is what sources are telling us, that there are multiple injured that are being treated and transported from the scene and a suspect is not in custody at this point. We have another school ordered to be sheltered in place, tilden middle a shelter in place. We have Walter Johnson and Tilden Middle School in which theyve instituted a shelter in place. Let me explain what that means. All exterior doors locked. Nobody can leave, body can go in. The school day continues but the perimeters are sealed now at tilden middle and Walter Johnson high school. Im sure this is an area you are familiar with, right off of 270. What were hearing from folks inside the mall, we spoke to somebody from inside the mall that tells us that the mall has not been placed on lockdown. A witness in that area telling news 4 they saw three people on the ground at least one woman and that there were signs of blood on the ground. We can tell you that at least one to three victims in this shooting outside Westfield Montgomery mall are being reported at this moment. These are live pictures for you. Meagan fitzgerald was saying this was happening right outside the macys is what i believe youre seeing roped off in your live image. The macys is in close proximity to a major parking garage. Montgomery mall has an enormous and relatively new parking garage. Macys is cohabitated alongside that parking garage. Theres the map for you, the location were talking about. You heard Meagan Fitzgerald saying witnesses on the scene were describing hearing at least two gunshots an they could see a gunman walking away from the scene. Police saying at this point they do not have a suspect in custody. Now, less than five minutes ago we learned of a second shooting scene. At this point we dont know whether or not these two incidents are correlated. We can tell you that the second shooting scene is in Silver Springs. You were saying this was like 25 minutes away from this scene. If youre driving in reasonable traffic its about a half hour, 25 to 30 minutes, nine miles. Connecticut avenue in Silver Spring is quite a distance, a beltway strip from montgomery mall