Crime and Public Safety

Two men were arrested for trying to abduct Tarpon Springs High School student while she was walking to her bus stop Wednesday morning, investigators said. 

Authorities are offering a $5,000 reward to find the gunman who opened fire into a family's car as they slept in a Tampa parking lot early Wednesday morning. Police say the father, pregnant mother, and their three young children are homeless — and the shooting appears to be a random act of violence against them.

Polk County Deputy Blane Lane had dreams of becoming a law enforcement officer. After graduating from Mulberry High, he joined an academy, knowing he wanted to be the next Sheriff Grady Judd. He was shot and killed by friendly fire this week. He was 21.

A man was arrested Tuesday for breaking into utility trucks that were in town for Hurricane Ian relief, the Tampa Police Department said. 

An investigation is underway into an officer-involved shooting in Winter Haven, just hours after a Polk County deputy was shot and killed while serving a warrant in Polk City. 

After three teens allegedly stole an unlocked Maserati and crashed it into a Pinellas County business, the sheriff's office has released dash camera, helicopter and surveillance video of what led up to the crash. 

Officials in Lee County, Florida, are warning that not all post-Hurricane Ian looters may get off as lucky as the jailed accused scavengers arrested earlier this week — some of whom are in the U.S. illegally.

Loved ones and fellow law enforcement officers are mourning the loss of a 21-year-old Polk County deputy who was killed by gunfire from a fellow deputy's gun while serving a warrant in Polk City early Tuesday morning.

Convicted killer Julie Schenecker was back in a Tampa courtroom, continuing a two-day hearing to decide if she should get a new trial. She was found guilty of killing her two kids eight years ago but said her attorneys made mistakes and wants to tell her story to a new jury.

Julie Schenecker, who was convicted of killing her two teenaged children in 2014, was back in a Tampa courtroom Monday asking for a new trial. 

Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz told a prosecution psychiatrist he began contemplating a mass murder during middle school, doing extensive research on earlier killers to learn their methods and mistakes to shape his own plans, video played at his penalty trial showed Monday.

It's been five years since Trevor Summers kidnapped, raped, and tried to kill his ex-wife. The failed murder-suicide plot set off a long legal battle, with Summers ultimately representing himself in Tampa court and being found guilty on 11 charges.