>> news 4 was first, live on the scene there, and melissa mollet has been at the scene all morning, covering this for us. she joins us now with the latest. melissa? >> reporter: good morning. at this point, investigators say the suspect is in his 20s, and they do believe that he acted alone. now, we have brand-new video to show you this afternoon. if we can roll that right now, his vehicle was towed out of here, just a short time ago, about 15 minutes ago. a red 2011 nissan. that vehicle, of course, the one that was parked along washington boulevard in the north lot of the pentagon, for much of the morning, causing all those traffic snarls. now, let me take you through a timeline of what happened here this morning. this all started early friday morning, when the suspect was found in arlington national cemetery, on those grounds, by police. he fled, they say, but then was caught by police a short time later. now, no word on why he was there or what he was doing there, but they say once they started questioning him, he became very uncooperative. investigators then found that vehicle you just saw nearby, that red 2011 nissan, with some items they said were concerning inside, so they shut down the roads here. they then took the suspect into custody and searched his backpack. now, inside that backpack was a nonexplosive material divided up into bags. we are not sure at this point what that material is. it is, right now, being tested, but the fbi telling us it was not any type of advice. >> with we believe he did act alone. the items in the backpack are being further tested. i don't have, november confi confirming results of what that is. but i can tell you that there was not a device and the products found are determined right now to be inert. >> reporter: now, the suspect's vehicle, again, that nissan, was also searched by the arlington county bomb squad. nothing was found to be suspicious inside that vehicle. again, the substance inside that backpack that was found early this morning, we understand, a black backpack that he had on his person is now being tested at fbi headquarters. back to you. >> melissa mollet, thanks very much. >> thank you, melissa. our team coverage continues with a look at how badly this incident messed up the commute for thousands this morning. not only were roads closed, but parking lots at the pentagon were also shut down. news 4 east megan mcgrath is standing by live in crystal city with more on that part of the story. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, barbara. i'm happy to report here that things are finally looking good, after several hours, we have normal traffic here on 395. the hov lanes, as well as the regular lanes. we've seen the columbia pike ramp off of 395 reopen. things are looking good now. now, earlier today, when this investigation was going forward and they were closing down major highways and ramps near the pentagon, that was not the case. in fact, we saw just horrific traffic during the height of rush hour. a lot of folks were frustrated, just pulling their hair out, trying to get to work. a strange sight. the ramp from 395 to columbia pike car-free during rush hour. the exit, just one of many closed as police investigated a suspicious car near the pentagon. traffic came to a screeching halt. route 110 was closed. so was washington boulevard. frustrated drivers tried to figure out how to get to work. >> it started at 7:45 and now i'm just walking to the pentagon, on the bus. >> reporter: and it's 9:20? >> yes. >> reporter: not a good day? >> no. >> reporter: all said and done, how long has it taken you this morning? >> all said and done, it's been over two hours at this point. >> reporter: what is it normally? >> about 40 minutes. >> reporter: south hayes street turned into a busy transportation hub. buses that normally drop folks off at the pentagon came here instead. riders had to walk the rest of the way. >> got on the metro bus and had to get off 395 and went around alexandria and arlington, because 395 was backed up. so just made -- waited for 30 minutes at the bus stop before a bus stopped by. >> reporter: while it was a horrible commute for thousands, some say caution in the face of a possible threat is a good thing. >> i think that the precaution is good. i'd rather have a long commute than some of the other possibilities. >> reporter: so a pretty frustrating morning for a lot of folks, but really, the people we encountered seemed to take it in stride. i asked one guy who was stuck on a bus for about an hour and 45 minutes how they were all doing, how his fellow riders, what their attitude was like, and he said, you know, what are you going to do? he said, he stuck his nose in a newspaper, he read, they relaxed, and they basically took it in stride, because they know that living in the washington, d.c. area, working at the pentagon, working around the pentagon, things like this happen. so you certainly want to be safe and the good news here is that nothing was found in terms of explosive devices. so people really took it in stride. barbara, back to you. >> all right. thank you, megan. and we'll have an update on this story at 11:30 from megan. and we're getting a little more information now about the man in police custody right now. we just learned his name is yanathan malaku. he's 33 years and from alexandria, pennsylvania. >> pat collins is live on the telephone. can you tell us what you found out? >> reporter: well, joe, it may be over at the pentagon, but it's very active out here in the franconia area, where the suspect lives. there are police bomb squads here, there are police command posts here, there are people searching around the suspect's house, at the town house here in the franconia area of fairfax county. we can tell you that the suspect is 22, 23 years old, that he's said to live here, and the police, just to be sure, are planning to search the house. i would suspect the delay is here the investigators waiting for search warrant that will give them the authority to go in the house, because right now, they pretty much just have it surrounded, the street blocked off, and they have a lot of officers at the ready. all they've done so far is just walk around the house. sources tell us that the man who was arrested up there in arti e arlington secemetery this morni had a backpack and what they found in his backpack, apparently, were cans of spray paint, cans of spray paint that they believed to be suspicious. so that's what triggered this whole thing. that and his uncooperativeness early when the police tried to talk to him. so that's what we have here. we have a lot of police around this town house, apparently, waiting for a warrant and then they'll begin to search this man's house. but, so far, i don't think he's been charged with anything. joe? >> pat, this has been such an extraordinary response. we have a vehicle that had nothing suspicious in it, it turns out. we have a backpack that has material in it that is described as inert. therefore, not threatening. now you're reporting the spray paint was found in there. what do you think -- might he have said something or might they have something else that led them to believe they have to do this -- they have a bomb squad and wait for a search warrant to go through his house for other materials? >> reporter: well, you know, i can only speculate a little bit about this. here's a man who was found after hours at the arlington national cemetery, who was reluctant to answer questions by the ft. meyer police. he appeared to be suspicious. he had things in his backpack that made police suspicious. they called in to the park police, the arlington county police. they located his car, which was parked in an errant way near the pentagon and then one thing led to another. here's what happens. when you encounter someone suspicious and a suspicious car near a prominent national memorial, such as the cemetery, certain protocols kick in. and there are things that, i think, they're told to do. and one of those things is to create a perimeter. so that in the event they do have something that's very dangerous, they have a big enough perimeter to keep people out of harm's way. and then more and more, they narrow that perimeter, if you will, until they get to a smaller circle. >> pat, excuse us just a moment. we have a picture now of the suspect, yanathan malaku, whose residence you are outside right now in alexandria. the man who was found in arlington national cemetery this morning, or i guess it was early this morning, and who is being questioned now about the things that they found in his backpack and in his car. pat, are they saying whether he lived alone in this town house? >> reporter: no, they're not saying anything about his living conditions or employment conditions as of yet. we do know that he apparently has a history with law enforcement in leesburg, and that last month, apparently, he was arrested and charged with breaking into some cars down in leesburg. he was brought to jail there, and he was held on a $5,000 bond. apparently he must have made that bond, because he's out and about, or at least was out and about last night. but we really don't know that much about him, except that he lives out in this franconia area. these are beautiful town houses, joe and barbara, very nice, well-kempt town houses. i don't know what this man does for a living, whether he lives with his parents or who he live livelives wi wit with,but we know that the police are interested in his home and have blocked off streets around his home. d i can only presume that they're waiting for some sort of warrant to give them the authority to investigate further. >> pat collins reporting live, thanks very much, pat. and we know you're there in the neighborhood and will have more later on this afternoon. thanks very much. >> we've been talking all morning about how bad the traffic was as a result of this. let's take a look now and see how things are laooking at this hour. . >> denellla is here with the latest. >> we actually have some relief. 110 is open, and you can see. 66 is in the green, inside the beltway here. and it was jammed before. so that's great for us. 395 was also jammed from the beltway to the 14th street bridge, and now your delays are just on the 14th street bridge. as we take a live look here, you can see you're slow going over the bridge, pretty slow, but at least we are moving. i want to bring your attention to 495. it is jammed as well. 495, this is 495 outer loop of the beltway. you're jammed from new hampshire avenue to georgia avenue. back to you, joe and barbara. >> thanks. meanwhile, drivers are moving again after another major traffic issue this morning. downed power lines blocked route 7 in both directions at the capital beltway and tyson's corner during the morning rush hour. a live power line had fallen across the roadway. route 7 was closed while crews repaired that problem. they did complete that job and route 7 is now open again. turning to the weather now. doesn't look too bad out there, but what a stormy night we had last night. >> we really did. but we've got some sunshine going right now, going to cook up that humidity, i would bet. 79 degrees. here's tom with the forecast. >> hey, tom. >> hey, barbara, joe. well, we have had it turn a little more humid, but it's really not that sweltering humidity we had about a week or so ago. now things have turned more tranquil, since the overnight storms. on radar, though, we do have a little shower activity passing just to the south of washington along interstate 95, from near dale city and prince william county down to fredericksburg and sponls vainya county, that little area of light rain is slowly drifting east and it may move into charles county in the next 15, 20 minutes or so. it looks like it's dissipating as it does head off to the east. right now, temperatures around the region have hit the mid- and upper 70s. right now, 78 at reagan national. and it is rather humid. elsewhere, we're near 80 degrees in southern virginia and around the eastern shore. farther west and north in the mountains of western maryland, west virginia, in the low to mid-70s there. and over the last 12 hours, we've seen this one little batch of rain passing south of washington, that's tending to dissipate now. that will be replaced by quite a bit of sunshine here, and turning partly sunny by mid- to late afternoon as clouds build and we could get a few late afternoon thunderstorms developing late afternoon and into the early evening hours. and before then, we'll climb into the mid-80s by midafternoon. we'll look at your friday night, look at the weekend, and into next week as well. that'll be in just a couple of minutes. barbara and joe. >> tom, thanks very much. >> thank you, tom. an alexandria family is cleaning up this morning after a possible lightning strike sparked a fire in their home. it happened in the 300 block of park road. the homeowner tells us she woke up around midnight to the smell of smoke. when she went downstairs, she saw a small fire and put it out with an extinguisher before calling firefighters. despite heavy damage, she feels fortunate. and another family in prince george's county is out of their home this morning after a possible lightning strike sparked a fire there. it happened on white water court in clinton, maryland. you can see the fire on the upper floor of the home and spoke on the roof there. there are no reports of any injuries and no estimate of how much damage was done. the official cause is still under investigation this morning. and those same storms have power crews still restoring lights to some homes around our region. pepco says about 400 of its customers are still in the dark right now. most of them in prince george's county. in northern virginia, dominion says 270 people are without power. smeco is reporting 30 outage and bg&e says about 80 people rl still without power. the luck of the irish has spilled over into day two for the u.s. open for a familiar and quite young face. 22-year-old rory mcelroy is distancing himself from the field. he's four under par for the day, making him 10 under so far for this tournament. mcelroy is seven strokes ahead of american zack johnson. fan favorite phil mickelson had a bad start yesterday, but he's rebounded today, sitting at one over par through 12 holes right now. and so far it's been pretty easy going on the roads around congressional, but but you should know should expect, that is, delays to spring up, especially over the weekend. more than 250,000 people, a quarter million people, are expected to make their way to the course during the tournament. and sunday will be, by far, be the most crowded day and potentially cause the most traffic headaches. and be sure to plan ahead if you're taking metro to congressional this weekend. metro will be single tracking on three red line stations south of grosvenor, beginning tonight at 10:00. 3,500 golf fans are using the shuttle service at metro stations to get to the u.s. open championship every day. and metro warns to add some 20 minutes to your commute. metro's also single tracking on the blue and orange lines this weekend. and, of course, be sure to stay with nbc all weekend long for the u.s. open coverage. you can tune in this afternoon at 3:00 for live coverage from bethesda. tomorrow, nbc 4 will air a special at 1:00 followed by live coverage at 2:00. then on sunday, look for an nbc 4 sports special at 12:30 followed by live coverage of the u.s. open beginning at 1:30. this is all here, right here, on nbc 4. our time now, 16 minutes after 11:00. coming up, we'll continue to bring you the latest on anything we learn about a man arrested this morning, carrying suspicious items near the pentagon. plus, is anthony weiner already getting job offers just one day after his resignation? and the joke mitt romney may wish he never told. the house of representatives is expecting a formal resignation from congressman anthony weiner as early as monday. he announced his intentions in a press conference briefly interrupted by hecklers. >> so today i'm announcing my resignation from congress -- >> yeah! >> bye-bye, pervert! >> -- so my colleagues can get back to work. >> weiner explained reasons for his resignation at a new york senior center where he launched his first campaign. he once again apologized for causing an embarrassment after he posted lewd pictures of himself online, and then initially and repeatedly denied it. weiner now needs to send a resignation letter to the new york secretary of state and then another to the speaker of the house. new york's governor can then call a special election to fill the seat. weiner's future could include a brief stent in hollywood, according to entertainment websites. producers for hbo's hit show "entourage" asked the embattled congress manning to make a cameo. the request was made before his resignation. the hollywood reporter website is reporting that weiner would play himself. no word if the congressman has accepted the offer. and now to decision 2012. republican presidential candidate mitt romney is catching some heat from democrats this morning for a joke that apparently missed the mark. sitting in a florida coffee shop, romney listened to the stories of several unemployed floridi floridians. then he said, quote, i should tell my story, i'm also unemployed. millionaire business man, romney, then added, he has his sights set on a particular job. democrats seized on the remark, calling romney's comments inappropriate and insensitive. let's head out to the weather now. tom's here to tell us what we can expect for today. and it's friday! which means we can talk about the weekend. tom? >> always wonderful topic. and i'm told there's some interest in it. >> always. >> so, yeah, we'll talk about that. but right now, we'll talk about what's happening at this hour, as we are now just passed 11:15 in the afternoon -- in the morning. and as we get into the afternoon hours, we'll have more sun. right now, we have quite a bit of cloudiness over us. that's the live picture from the sky watcher camera. you can see the national cathedral there in the middle distance. and washington still kind of lost in a little bit of summer haze. still not very humid. the dew point's up to 63. whenever the dew point's around 70. that is sweltering humidity. so it's not really that humid. we've got a west-southwesterly breeze now, and 78 at reagan national. and the radar is showing a few sprinkles just to the east of interstate 95, now. they're drifting across the lower part of charles county, just now coming in there, and a few sprinkles just east of fredericksburg. these are tending to dissipate as they move off to the east. temperatures all around the region in the mid-70s now, in montgomery county, arlington, fairfax, prince george's county, and they've had the second round play under way at congressional with no interruptions this morning. right now around the blue ridge, in the low mid-70s there. and around southern maryland, much of the eastern shore into the 70s. right at the atlantic beaches, temperatures have already hit the low 80s in many locations. farther to the west, still in the low 70s in western maryland. much of west virginia. and over the last 12 hours, we've had some of those showers heading off over new england. just a little area of light rain to the south. we have a front that's going to be hanging out for the afternoon and perhaps giving pouring rain by midafternoon, and then into the late afternoon hours, there's a greater chance of some isolated thunderstorms popping up. i don't anticipate as widespread activity as we had yesterday or the number of lightning bolts we had last night, but there still could be a few into early evening hours, and any storms that do get going sho