one man is dead after a gunman opens fire during peak rush hour on 295. i'm surae chinn in southwest with the rush coming up. >> what's closing lanes on the arlington memorial bridge? >> 4% property tax increase passed by the prince george's county council. why the county executive's grand plans for a school turnaround are in shambles despite the increase. >> our summer weather pattern continues. the best time to fire up the grill over the weekend. >> your chance to see frank underwood in action. how to try out for house of cards this weekend. tonight, dc police are searching for the gunman who did this to an suv. it happened during the morning rush hour so investigators know

there were plenty of witnesses around. thank you for joining us. i'm lesli foster. >> i'm derek mcginty. our surae chinn reports police need your help. >> reporter: police believe someone must have seen something here on 295 this morning during peak rush hour but still police don't have a suspect in custody nor a good description of the gunman's car. an suffer in the middle of 29 -- suv in the middle of 295 northbound riddled with bullet holes. the driver and passenger windows shattered the driver dead inside his passenger in the hospital with nonlife- threatening injuries. >> so someone shoots into the car with two people in the car that were struck one of which died on the scene here. >> reporter: detectives in a line walk 295 for clues and bullet casings. chief lanier says they thought the shooting may have been road rage but says the gunman

followed the suv from virginia into the district. >> initially we thought this might have been some sort of confrontation right here maybe road rage but now it seems more like there was a car and i don't know the description of that car that was following this suv out in virginia before they even entered the district. so i'm kind of asking to expand that a little bit. >> reporter: 295 northbound was closed for several hours causing gridlock for folks driving into d.c. if you called 911 before 845 and 8:55, they want to hear from you again. so call again. they are looking for a black or dark colored sedan. in southwest, surae chinn, wusa9. >> call the number at the bottom of your screen with information. also find that information on our app. tonight investigators are trying to figure out if a string of robberies is connected to a chase and a shooting involving a dc cop.

officers were out investigating incidents in southeast this morning when they spotted some potential suspects in a silver dodge charger. police tried to pull them over but they drove off and crashed a couple of blocks later. police chief cathy lanier said officers were trying to get the suspects out of the car when the driver put it in reverse. >> the car backed up and almost struck an officer. one officer was involved and discharged his firearm. nobody was struck. one person stopped there and the car continued on. >> police grabbed one person after the car crashed while the other officers kept following the car and ultimately they tracked it down and stopped it in prince george's county on suitland road. we're learning more tonight about the woman killed overnight in a shooting in d.c. police say 27-year-old sharn ese milton was caught in the crossfire of a random shooting. she was a reportedder for

capital city news. the shooting happened in southeast near alabama and good hope before 10:00. she was on the way home from work. police are looking for a young black man with dredlocks who they say was on a dirt bike or a scooter of some sort. that shooting was one of five that occurred overnight in northeast and southeast dc. we have a commuter alert for you and it's bound to make your life tough if you are a virginia commuter. both the curbside lanes of memorial bridge will be out of commission starting before the rush hour tomorrow morning. four feet of sidewalk will be off limits, too. a routine inspection turned up the deterioration of the bridge's concrete deck and they need to make those repairs. the lane closures will remain in effect until the repairs are done and that could take up to nine months. >> late this afternoon, prince george's county's council drastically trimmed back the ambitious tax increase plans for a school system turnaround. but a property tax hike of 4%

was approved nonetheless. >> reporter: i'm scoot broom in upper marlboro. despite the 4% -- i'm scott broom in upper marlboro. despite the 4% tax increase for schools, the school system is in shambles. >> there comes a time to draw the line in the sand. >> i believe our challenges are greater than just putting money into the school system. >> reporter: those were two of the three no votes. the chairman mel franklin is for the budget but said the county executive school turnaround plan is simply too expensive. >> the county executive's initial proposed 15.6% tax increase as well as yesterday's revised 7% proposed tax increase are not affordable for county taxpayers. >> reporter: and yet councilmembers voted for a tax increase nonetheless. an increase to cover the costs

of teacher pension obligations that the state of maryland is now refusing to pay so the outcome is a tax hike to cover teacher retirement obligations and no money for schoolchildren. the county executive has the option of vetoing this. in prince george's county, scott broom, wusa9. right now more thunderstorms are popping up across the metro. our chief meteorologist topper shutt tracking where they are now. so what's the doppler tell you, top? >> reporter: if you are south of town, this is where all the showers have been for the most part south of i56 and south of route 50. this is a pretty big storm. see the lightning? this indicates this storm is growing. this one is actually on the wane the one hammering alexandria and old town toward mt. vernon, lighter rain there. that's moderate rain toward the airport. this storm is a different story. look at all the lightning. that's the most lightning we have seen with any storm this

evening. this is a big storm. mel wood, upper marlboro all dropping to the south very, very slowly. so this is going to produce some heavy rain possibly some street flooding heading down 301 towards brandywine get ready and dunkirk. we'll come back and talk about the prospect of more storms tomorrow and look ahead to the weekend forecast. thank you, topper. two women at the center of a robbery that began as a craigslist will be sentenced. 21-year-old jamyra gallmon admitted she stabbed to death capitol hill attorney david messerschmitt in northwest. her girlfriend said she helped to buy the zip ties at the cvs across the street. it brought the widow to tears and she kept her head down as she left superior court today gallman is behind bars. a suspect faces charges. wossen assaye is the man police say escaped from

custody last march at inova fairfax hospital and led police on a manhunt. at the time assaye was being held for a single bank robbery. now he is indicted on bank robbery charges involving six cases in northern virginia starting back to 2013. he also faces charges of escape, kidnapping and assault stemming from the manhunt in march. the deadly violence continues this morning in baltimore with the killings of a woman and a 7-year-old boy. police found them with gunshot wounds to the head just after 8:00 this morning in west baltimore. their deaths bring the homicide total for the month of may to 38. that is the highest monthly tally since 1996. the metro has run into a barrage of controversy tonight after banning all so-called issue advertising on the system for at least the rest of the year. critics called the move a quote surrender to al qaeda affront to the first amendment but a sensible move to avoid

violence. they unanimously approved the ad moratorium after pamela geller applied to plaster a cartoon on the prophet mohammad on buses, trains and stations. that cartoon was the winning entry in the jihad watch mohammed contest in texas where police killed two failed terrorists who attacked the convention center with assault weapons. the metro board chair declined to explain the vote. >> litigation pending possibly on that. i don't want to comment. >> why did you act today? i mean you acted today to put a moratorium on. >> take your own conclusion on that. >> on twitter mohammed wrote arrest geller. banner. she is disturbing peace and spreading hate. but from neon taster alternate headline washington, dc shuts down political speech due to fear of islam. and from another disgusting the chilling effect on speech continues. no word on whether the washington monument will re- open tomorrow. it had to shut down today

because of an electrical issue with the elevator which is the only way to get up 555 stories and get down that much. luckily, the national park service said no one was inside at the time. and the monument will stay closed through 10 p.m. tonight. >> actually you can walk. >> i guess you could. it would be tough though. >> yes. how did the defense department ship out live anthrax samples? after the break, the army's top official speculates on how he thinks it happened. >> and up next, more fears of flooding in texas. where the waters could rise to dangerous levels over the next day. you're watching wusa9 and your only local news at 7:00. why am i so awake?

did you know your brain has a wake system... and a sleep system? science suggests when you have insomnia, the neurotransmitters in your wake system may be too strong, which may be preventing you from getting the sleep you need. talk to your doctor about ways to manage your insomnia.

the river is rising it's time to get out. that's the message going out right now to hundreds of families who live right near the colorado river in north texas.

the rain-swollen colorado is expected to spill over its banks sometime in the next 24 hours. and that means big trouble for towns like wharton, texas, where more than half the residents live in the floodplain. a neighbor has seen it before. >> it's going to be my third flood, 1998, 2004 and it ruined everything so i have been moving for the last two days. i know to go. >> at least 21 deaths are already blamed on the flooding in texas and oklahoma. emergency management agencies fear that that number will climb once those floodwaters recede. human error probably wasn't to blame in the shipment of live anthrax spores to a maryland lab. instead, something went wrong in the technical process of killing the samples. live anthrax bacteria arrived at a civilian maryland lab last week and other labs including one in virginia might volunteer gotten it, too. so far no one has shown any

signs of illness. the defense department used fedex to ship the anthrax but says there was never any danger to the public. the hit show house of cards is holding an open casting call this weekend up in annapolis. casting directors say they range of looks everything from working class to art gallery types to government officials and they want you to show up camera- ready with your makeup everything already or not. of the open casting starts at 10 a.m. saturday morning pitt memorial recreational center in annapolis. if you are game, good luck. i'm meteorologist topper shutt. here in northwest partly cloudy skies very quiet. this is a legit storm in prince george's county. i mean hammer time in upper marlboro. look at the lightning strikes. don't cross a flooded street. we'll come back and take you through the weekend coming up. >> it's been 70 days since martese johnson was badly injured when he was arrested by

abc agents outside this irish pub. despite the outrage and

uva student martese johnson faces a september trial date in charlottesville. his bloody arrest by abc agents sparked controversy and made national headlines but as peggy fox reports, the charges could be dropped in the next two

weeks. >> reporter: i'm peggy fox in charlottesville. martese johnson the uva student charged after that bloody arrest by abc agents spoke out after his hearing today. the wounds on martese johnson had healed. but continued outrage over what happened to him is drawing him new supporters. >> i'm horrified to see that happening in this community. >> reporter: protests erupted after johnson's arrest by white abc agents which left a gash on his head requiring 10 stitches. the 20-year-old is charged with public intoxication and obstruction of justice. >> we believe that the police lack justification to detain or arrest him so we think the right thing to do is to dismiss the charges against him. >> reporter: in court today the commonwealth argued for a two- day trial. but the judge said they would have to settle for a one-day as long as it takes trial on september 30. >> i hope in the near future this process will end. it's endured a bit longer than we all expected. but i believe that justice will be served at the end of the

day. >> reporter: state police have been reviewing the arrest. the commonwealth's attorney plans to meet with police before deciding whether to drop charges. another status hearing is scheduled for june 12. in charlottesville, peggy fox, wusa9. >> martese johnson will be in our area this summer for an internship on capitol hill before his fourth year at the university of virginia. another day, another candidate hopping into the 2016 presidential pool. today it was former new york governor george pataki who told supporters in new hampshire he is joining the race to preserve and protect the freedom of americans. he said government has gotten too big, too, powerful, too, intrusive. he is an underdog. he served three terms as governor including during the 9/11 era but has been out of office now for fine years. looking ahead, what can we expect in terms of an announcement from south carolina republican senator lindsey graham on monday? and this saturday, former maryland governor martin o'malley is expected to throw his hat into the democratic

ring. today, supporters announced they formed a super pac to raise money for his anticipated presidential can pain. ten spellers are preparing for the spelling bee championship. the remaining local contest tents are out. the semi final round took place this afternoon at national harbor and this year's finalist include several competition vets including a 13-year-old from kansas who is competing for the fifth time and her sister, who previously won the whole thing. the championship round starts in about 40 minutes. >> you got to love spelling to come back. >> again and again. >> right. >> always watching always tracking, wusa9's first alert weather. dc's most accurate. >> and they study those words like you study meteorologist. they mean business! >> yeah. >> they can spell. >> they can! >> i can't. i used to be able to spell but

i can't anymore. >> my handwriting used to be neat but it's not anymore. temperatures today more like july and weather pattern is more like july and that's going to stick around for a while. we're looking north at the cathedral upper left-hand of the screen. here in northwest it's fine. at the airport different story. a shower or thunderstorm, 81 degrees. winds east-southeast at 9. we'll let you know if our 3- degree made it. we went 89 today for a high. we'll see at 11. here's the radar. most of the activity is still south and east of town. a couple of showers just renegade showers popped up here and there so if you are trying to grill out the odds are in your favor but a couple of showers in between potomac and rockville toward reston and west of tyson but the main event certainly is this monster here. it's a big storm. i got to tell you, down 301 will not be fun driving down 301 toward brandy wine. the red is heavy rain. probably 1 to 2" an hour. upper marlboro heavy rain with freak lightning strikes and a strong storm. we'll zoom in and we have

really rain to beat the band on farm road. william bean's road and also old crane highway so 301 as well toward upper marlboro so this is a big storm. no reports of hail, no wind shear or damage but lightning and heavy downpours will cause you to slow down. this is going to drift slowly. i do mean very slowly south and east kind of in between sunderland and huntingtown say in the next 30 minutes or so. heavy rain is the main threat. so isolated storm possible tonight. otherwise, just humid and muggy. bus stop temperatures mid-60s to upper 70s. that's like summer. hot and humid again friday afternoon storms the same pattern and then the weekend humid with more storms. a better chance of a storm will be good through each day with a good chance on sunday. so 10:00 tonight most of us no showers, showers possible south of town between dale city and fredericksburg. 5:30, 6:00, upper 60s, low 70s

mainly just clouds and fog. by 9 p.m. couple of showers trying to develop to the south but by and large most of the showers and storms develop in the afternoon. by 1:00 there could be showers and storms already in parts of the metro area and certainly by the time we get into 4 or 5:00 it will be scattered throughout the metro area. so day planner. 70s to start. kind of muggy. lo 80s by 11. average high is only 80 so we are well above average. scattered storms saturday, better chance of storms on sunday down to 85. next 7 days: more showers and storms low 70s tuesday. maybe some rain and then we are back in business on wednesday and thursday. long home stand for the nats they return on monday. well, with the seven-day like that it's easy to forget about this frigid winter we had but there are still a few reminders lingering in boston. we are going to show you the snow piles that are still sitting around up there. that's next on wusa9 and

for boston it's after memorial day and they still have signs of winter. look at these huge piles of

snow that just refuse to die. in fact, this one here started off as a 75-foot-high mound. now down to 3-story pile of dirt and trash. >> ew.

[ bleep ]. >> star couples in the cross-hairs. >> it's ridiculous. >> emma stone and andrew garfield bombarded by paparazzi. >> ben and jen after the tabloid split rumors. >> we have new video of tracy morgan after settling with walmart. >> tracy, are you happy with the settlement? then trying to become adult film stars. >> this can't be good for to you have sex that much. >> so weird. >> find out how this "parks and recs" star became involved in a shocking documentary. >> there are people who have become really famous from amateur sex tapes and are now well respected. also, our flashback with the rock. >> this is the most appropriate response, what [ bleep ] are you doing? and -- >> stunts 101, always warm up. got it. >> we have chris pratt's hilarious "jurassic world's" video diary.