Naresh Bhatt trial continues Wednesday following day of witness testimony | FOX 5 AT 4AM

Good morning, I'm Julie Donaldson. It is 4 a.m. Thank you for starting your morning with us right here on Fox 5 and streaming on Fox Local. Here's what's happening today. A new scare this morning involving suspicious packages and local lawmakers. We look at the latest hazmat scare at a Leesburg Mall mail facility. And data center plans dropped the new plans this morning for the former George Washington University campus in Ashburn. Plus a stretch of restaurant burglary is going back months the new video released as police hope to track down the suspects and welcome on in to this Wednesday glad to have everybody here with you uh it's what october 21st yeah oh my goodness we're almost at the end of october i mean it's coming fast halloween's just around the corner and the weather is definitely uh kind of flip the switch right um it's been a quiet week so far but that's you know a good thing for everyone great stretch of weather to get outside and enjoy it we'll have Another nice fall day for outdoor plans. I think temperatures will get back to the upper 60s. And we'll kind of have the same deal every single day this week, even dry through the upcoming weekend. So more on that seven-day coming up. Julie? Okay, thank you very much. Well, tense moments at a Leesburg mail facility after a hazmat scare involving a suspicious package. It comes as federal authorities investigate other suspicious letters sent to lawmakers and election offices across the country. Fox 5's Maureen Umeh is here with the details. Good morning, Maureen. Good morning. So, crews determined that the package at the mail facility was safe, but there are still questions about whether the incident is connected to other mailings. Hazmat crews checked a package for potentially hazardous materials at a mail processing facility on the 16,000 block of Courage Court in Leesburg. This was just before 5 yesterday. Then they determined it was safe. The response came just one day after an envelope containing what Congressman Suhasini Ramanam called a suspicious substance arrived at his district office also in Leesburg. The office was evacuated and police and hazmat teams responded. The congressman says it was an act of political intimidation. That's just the new reality. I mean, I've gotten death threats. We've had people say all sorts of things to us. It's just a new reality. One thing I'm trying to stress is that we have to make sure we keep people in our community safe, especially in a public space like our office where we have constituents come. We want to make sure people aren't scared of visiting our office. Now, other local lawmakers have also reported suspicious letters, including Maryland Senator Angela Alsobrooks and Representatives Steny Hoyer and Jamie Raskin. Raskin says his Rockville district office received one this week, and they're not alone. The FBI, U.S. Postal Inspection Service and Capitol Police, they're all investigating suspicious mailings to congressional and election offices nationwide. Now, while the package checked at the Leesburg mail facility was deemed safe, investigators have not confirmed a link to the letters sent to those lawmakers and others. and investigation continues. Julie? Thank you, Maureen. Well, a big change this morning in the county nicknamed the data center capital of the world. Amazon is dropping plans to build data centers on the former George Washington University campus in Ashburn. The company bought the GW Virginia campus back, bought it back in February for more than $400 million. And now Loudoun County Chair Phyllis Randall says Amazon will build a community arts center and sports facility there instead. That is going to cover part of the land. The rest will be zoned for housing and mixed-use development. Now, a wider vote to pause data center development in the county is on hold. It has been pushed back another month. The Board of Supervisors was supposed to take action last night. Now, that vote is not set to take place, is now set to take place in November 17th. The county believes the delay will help staff gather more information before making a decision. Well, the future of Flock cameras in Fairfax County is under the spotlight. County police say Flock cameras have helped to recover more stolen cars locate missing people and fentanyl seizures but police say that they are reviewing how they use the license plate reader program countywide in a meeting yesterday county supervisors raised concerns about privacy now police revealed that they have reduced the number of people who can search the license plate data it was at 821 and now it's just under 300 we as the Fairfax County Police Department own all the data that is collected by the cameras. We control who can see it. We control the data retention, which is also controlled by the state. The data is stored in the Amazon Web Services GovCloud, similar to many other systems that we use here in the police department. FCPD adds that they do not use the AI tools that allow officers to find out detailed information about individual people. The department currently operates 85 Flock cameras and 714 ALPR and vehicle mounted systems alongside more than 120 privately owned cameras 4:05 good morning it's Wednesday halfway through our week good morning everybody waking up in Prince George's County with us there at the National Harbor taking a look at the Capital Wheel Taylor is here with us to let us know what kind of weather we are in for I know you were saying there's like really kind of nothing going on which means you might be a little bored but for everybody that's out there it's actually kind of wonderful it's been so nice i went for a good walk yesterday had the doors open had the windows down i mean i'm i'm all for boring weather i know me too i it doesn't last that long here ever so it's like october you have to enjoy it before we get uh you know full full swing of the winter coming up so right now we're currently in the mid 40s at Dulles Airport 50s elsewhere it's going to be a chilly start to the morning for most of you not nearly as cold as where we have been the last couple of mornings. Regardless, it's still going to be cool out there, so make sure you have an extra layer with you. We'll talk radar with high pressure, again, dominating our weather this week. It's going to be pretty quiet, so a nice stretch of weather. That fall-like air is certainly in full force. It's going to be a great day for outdoor plans. As you can see, we still have that system off the shoreline, which is bringing windy conditions along the coast in Ocean City, the Delaware beaches, also some rough surf there, too. Here locally, we're not going to see any kind impacts from that system sunshine's back today low 60s around noon upper 60s by 5 p.m julie okay taking a look at your morning commute and there's some construction that is going on on 395 southbound that's arlington to alexandria it's between glebe road and virginia 236 our cameras and a little red arrow that's kind of showing you that traffic's only getting by in the left lane only right now no delays maybe as traffic picks up that might slow you down ever so slightly. Naresh Bhat, the man accused of killing his wife back in 2024, is back in court this morning. Now, this is a complex case expected to last several weeks, and we're breaking down the big moments every morning so you know what's going on. Well, on Tuesday, we heard from a family babysitter and Mamta Kaafle's co-worker and friend. Well, that friend described her first encounter with Naresh at the hospital after Mamta gave birth. Jurors also heard from a disposal business owner. Prosecutors believe that Bhat discarded his wife's body at various garbage compactors across northern Virginia. The trial resumes at 9 a.m. A D.C. police chase ends inside a Prince George's County high school. It started Monday morning along 51st Street in northeast D.C. Officers tried to pull three people in a car over before they took off. The chase came to an end about 45 minutes later in Riverdale, but officers only nabbed two of the suspects. The third was found a short time later inside Parkdale High School. U.S. Park Police say that the suspect was not armed. They did not say how the suspect was able to get inside. And now to a Fox 5 exclusive. Police releasing new video of a suspect's vehicle in a hit-and-run in Springfield, Virginia, earlier this month. They are searching for a white Nissan Rogue, model years from 2017 to 2022, with a missing side mirror and black fender guards. Thomas Gumm was struck off Old Keen Mill Road and Black Lake Road. Officials say the 44-year-old homeless man was crossing the busy road outside of a crosswalk. That's when he was hit. Police say the driver did not stop. Now, we spoke to some of his friends. And he would bring people to me to get them IDs, you know, health care, just general connection to, you know, food resources in the community. and he was always doing stuff like that a friend to many he was a defender he he watched out for every person not just other unhoused individuals but members of the community in general no suspect description has been released police at fairfax county are searching for a suspect in a string of burglaries across the county targeting restaurants the overnight break-ins have been happening since july now this is surveillance video from the hook and real restaurant in bailey's crossroads that's where the suspects threw cinder blocks to shatter the front doors then steal cash drawers before running off we only keep two hundred dollars in our register so they got about two hundred dollars and uh it was three of them and the driver so i guess it was four people so they probably split about fifty dollars cost us about a thousand dollars in damages Fairfax County Police they put out a list of nine restaurants that have been targeted they include K-Pac Korean Barbecue, America's Best Wings, and Taco Bamba. Can I see your license, please? Sure. Thank you, sir. And then do you have the registration for the vehicle? Yes, sir. Newly released body cam video shows the traffic stop of Fairfax County Executive Brian Hill last week. The police chief defended the officer, saying that he was professional and polite, after Hill claimed that he was disrespectful. Now Hill apologized in a statement, saying he was stopped for not having his license plate on the front of his car, which got him a warning. He admitted to mentioning his position twice, but says that he was not trying to influence the officer. Republicans on Capitol Hill are slamming the Fairfax County Sheriff's Office and prosecutors. They accused the department of ignoring more than 1,600 ICE detainers over two years. The House Judiciary Report accused its Commonwealth's attorney, Steve Descano, of not pursuing charges against illegal immigrants for crimes like assault, drug possession, and DUI. Now, he recently testified on Capitol Hill denying special treatment for undocumented defendants. Descano's office sent us a statement saying, in part, quote, this report is nothing more than recycled Republican talking points put out weeks before the midterm elections as a desperate attempt to distract from widely anticipated Republican losses. Well, we are less than two weeks to go before voters are heading to the polls. Fox 5 goes one-on-one with Maryland Governor Wes Moore, what he wants voters to focus on as Election Day approaches. And a push to ease up on utility penalties, how it is just one of two newly approved bills aimed to help people in Prince George's County stay on top of their bills. And Taylor, with what you were waking up to weather-wise. Yeah, it's going to be another beautiful day. A little bit chilly to start out. We'll end up in the 60s by the afternoon. I'll have a full check on how long this nice weather is going to stick around. Coming up after the break.