>> right now on newschannel8 at 5:30. >> good evening. i'm jennifer leigh. >> i'm josh benson. thanks for being withtous night. >> let's get to an update on the breaking news involving the death of a baby in pinellas county. kathlene steele is charged in the death of her two week old daughter. steele left her children in her van for about half an hour while she went into a cell phone store. that is when her six-year-old her car seat and in the sheriff's words, pummeled her to death. the sheriff described it as one of the worst things he has ever seen. >> the baby was simply beaten, traumatized. gross swelling of outer space. the skull was cracked in numerous places described as mush. and there are some people out there ... >> right now, steele's other

dcf. we will be working to get updates on this story throughout the evening. the police chief accepts responsibility for the tragic shooting of a librarian. we learn more about officer lee cole's history. this officer is no stranger to controversy. >> reporter: good evening. officer lee cole was involved in a controversial k-9 incident that was caught became viral. despite this, the police chief would not take any questions on the officer today saying that the case is still under investigation. in august, 2015, officer lee cole spotted richard schumacher riding a bike without a headlight. >> stop now. >> reporter: after a brief pursuit, schumacher finally began complying with orders but cole sent his k-9 to attack him. >> stop resisting.

>> reporter: schumacher pled and screamed while the dog bit him. his attorney says the animal hung on for nearly two minutes. >> i can tell you that officer cole the wreckless. >> reporter: cole abruptly resigned from the police department. he was a k-9 handler and they say it was a complete accident when he shot and killed mary noulton on tuesday. chief tom lewis takes the blame. accept full responsibility for my department. >> reporter: lewis acknowledged the k-9 incident and said it was investigated by internal affairs. the case is now in civil litigation. they feel the department needs to take action. >> i think the chief need to resign. i think officer cole need to be fired. >> reporter: the police chief says this will be his last press conference as the case is being handled by the florida department of law enforcement and their investigation is

weeks, john rogers, newschannel8. and that was john rogers reporting. we are going to keep an eye on that story. we will bring an update on that much late tore night. a six month old puppy is getting much needed love and medical care after she was found starving and mangled on the side of the road in plant city. this is little alana. she was rescued yesterday by a woman who tells us the pup was thrown from a car and left to suffer in a ditch. alana is being help at vets for pets. a tampa rescue group that takes on dire cases of abuse and neglect. she has internal bleeding, mange, liver damage, and is severely malnourished. >> she is a happy little girl. there is no dough about that. she is happy to be here. she has seen bad times so readily recognizes good times. we will work with them throughout the day. she has a long road ahead of her to recover.

there. >> vets for pets tells us alana has a sweet nature and is responding well to treatment. they are hoping she will eventually be up for adoption. the animal charity has reported the case to plant city police. one man lounging on his screen porch was suddenly bitten by a four foot long ball python. shawn olison says he felt something sharp pierce his side and when he looked down l were the fang marks. they are still there, but luckily, wasn't venomous. a friend killed the python with garden shears. the number of nuisance alligator complaints increased around florida after a two-year- old was killed at disney. a distraught woman says she wants all alligators removed from the city park after one of them killed her dog. now, biologists are coming to the defense of these

gator debate. >> reporter: good evening josh. we are at lopez park. though i don't see any gators right now, you can count on the fact that there are alligators here because this is florida. but a professional naturalist told me today it is important these alligators remain here. >> this is where that gator lies right here. >> reporter: sue is understandably upset after she watched an alligator kill her beloved dog. >> i will never bring my dogs back here again. it is just way too dangerous. >> po city of saint petersburg to do something. >> i would really like to see them take the gators out. they don't need to be in the middle of the city. >> without alligators we would be in trouble. >> reporter: damon shepherd is a naturalist with years of experience as an education coordinator with the zoo. >> i know a lot of people are afraid of alligators. >> reporter: but he main tans gators are florida's last

predators. without them, we would be overrun with possum, raccoon, rat, rabbits. all these animals that are the staple diet of the alligator. >> reporter: sue believes the gator who killed her dog is now a danger to others. >> the gator must be watching for rapids but now he wants dogs. >> reporter: an alligator's brain can't tell the difference says shepherd. >> to an alligator, a dog looks to them nothing more like a funny looking raccoon. to them, it looks like part of the menu. and so, it becomes our responsibility to keep control of our pets and to keep them away from danger. >> reporter: yeah, just to be very clear about this, he does feel very, very bad for this woman who lost her dog. he empathizes with her, but he says this is a reminder for all of us to be careful around bodies of water because this is the alligator's home. josh? >> and that brings up the question. any chance that they would remove this alligator?

but remove the alligator that killed the dog? >> reporter: you know, i called the florida fish and wildlife commission today to ask them about this. they told me they could not give me an on camera interview because they received too many requests since the disney incident and they can't accommodate all of the requests for on camera interviews. i asked them how many asks did you receive? they told me they would get back to me on that. >> we will stay on top thanks jeff. good news for people flying delta. the system outage that plagued the airline for days is over. 2,000 flights were canceled following a computer glitch on monday. delta is trying to ease the pain for travelers who were impacted. the carrier is offering $200 vouchers to those whose flights were delayed more than three hours. the thought of landing a plane without landing gear doesn't sound appealing but that is what one pilot had to do in orlando.

circles for an hour after he couldn't get his landing gear to work. he was forced to make a belly landing basically skidding down the runway. did a pretty good job. it all worked out. and he walked away unhurt. and priceless treasure. that is how a team of explorers described this amazing discovery they made off the coast of cape canaveral. you are looking at the remains of three french chips. archaeologists say the ship set sail nearly 400 years ago but didn't make it to their destination obviously. instead, they sank and sat undiscovered for centuries. that is until now. the wreckage also contained bronze and iron cannons and a french coat of arms. >> wow. that is pretty cool. still ahead on newschannel8, wrapping up unfinished business. two of america's favorite olympians are going head to head tonight competing for gold. >> coming up, hear what swimmer ryan lochte has to say against his epic show down against michael phelps. >> today on better call

don't even know they have. so far, we have helped people find money in 195 accounts. coming up, i'll tell you how much money that adds up to. >> plenty of sunshine and a few inland showers and thunderstorms still waiting on a bit of a collision from the east and west coast sea breeze. we will look at radar and look ahead to the weekend forecast shortly. >> we'll have that and more coming up. you're watching newschannel8, the station that is always on

ople are working hbut in washington -. "republican senator marco rubio has the worst voting record in the u.s. senate." marco rubio stopped showing up for work. let us down. i'm patrick murphy and enough's enough. i'm proud to work with president obama. to protect social security and a woman's right to choose. and grow this economy so it works for all of us. i'm patrick murphy and i approve this message

>> it is hot day without much in the way of rain relief.

area. the sky haves been mixedful sunshine mixed with clouds through the day. 89 degrees at hula bay. northwest winds, no rainfall at this location. we see sunshine as well. traffic moving just fine. no rain, thunderstorms to slow them down. overall, no rainfall adding up here at the moment. as we look for the meteor shower tonight, the perseid meteor shower, this will be a good one. there will be a lot of haze in the atmosphere because it is moveing in the next couple of days but hopefully if you get away from the city lights, up to 200 meteors an hour. the tail of comet swift tuttle. nice shot from sun city center. got a rainbow going on here. we saw a lot of them the past several days. temperatures warm. a bit of a bump.

with the shower activity. lingering rain possible at 9:00 p.m. partly cloudy skies. some of the rain should be gone by then. can't rule out a light rain shower. most of the it should be over. showers and thunderstorms not as widespread today. but they are moving to the west here on the east coast sea breeze heavy across the northern part of polk county. a few scattered showers in citrus county. folk ins dade city, zephyr hills may want to watch this area sliding your eastern part of pasco county. we see the sea breezes there. you can see it on radar. we might see a few showers light up l. are some showers possible this evening for us. so plan on that if you will be out later. temperature 94 degrees in brandon. 87 degrees treasure island. 90 new port richey. 90 in north port. these are the feels like temperatures. over 100 degrees. feels like, without obviously

us off. that upper low still here way back to the west moving away from us. it is influenced just way on the outside of our viewing area. you can see in the gulf of mexico, not an issue for us. some of those showers are just off the west coast yesterday and right now we are waiting on the east coast sea breeze for some activity. perhaps a few scattered showers. drier air aloft. i was talking about. right now, it is relatively moist, but the drier air is sliding our way from the southeast helping to give us the lower rain chances for saturday. by sunday, we are normal. rain chances afternoon and evening hours and a high temperature near 92 degrees. temperatures could be a little warmer. overnight temperatures are warmer. two degrees above normal. we are certainly in that range there. tuesday, wednesday, thursday, you can see we are looking at classic summertime florida weather with the easterly flow which will be in place throughout this entire time period which is what we expect.

guys? >> thank you very much steve. >> yep. we are putting together max defender 8 special to show you how the newest fastest radar in the world will work. that is this coming saturday at 7:00 on newschannel8. now, 8 on your side special coverage of the rio olympics. >> a one-time olympic sport finally made its return to the games this morning and tonight, we will bring down the curtain on one of swimming's greatest rivalries. a lot going on. jarod smalley joins us live from rio. are you ready wa showdown? >> reporter: i have nowhere else to be jen. i can't wait. it has been a great day for team usa. kayla harrison won her second consecutive gold medal in judo. she is a force to deal with in that sport. she brings home another goal for the usa. tonight, two iconic legends in their sport will go head to head.

four american ins the field. justin roe stealing the show at the par three fourth hole. a welcome back moment for golf. tonight, two showcase events lie ahead. simone biles and allie raceman compete for the gold medal in the all round. an american has won the past three gold medals in the all round. and tonight, for what is likely the final time the two titans in men's swimming swear off. michael phelps and ryan lochte meet in the final meter individual medley. >> i don't know about the bromance part, but me and him have been racing since 2004. so we definitely created a good friendship. it will be fun. >> reporter: and here comes the nightly disclaimer. yes, the women's gymnastics competition is concluded. i would feel awful if i told you the result now and you were waiting to watch it in prime

you can enjoy it yourself at prime time at 8:00. if you want to know who wins and who doesn't. you have the internet. you are all good there. but again, prime time tonight 8:00 on nbc. don't want to miss it. >> you have to go social media dark right now if you don't want to know the outcome. >> it is impossible. >> all right, thank you very much, we appreciate it. talk to you late tore night. in the meantime, paul ryan also in rio covering the olympic games for us. you can catch his live reports every morning on newschannel8. you can also watch the special as under the olympic section on wfla.com. tonight, we have a special edition of better call behnken. shannon behnken is joining forces with florida's office of financial regulation to reunite you, our viewers, millions of dollars in unclaimed cash. shannon, how is it going so far? >> reporter: good evening guys. this is so exciting. the phones have been ringing

with serious money. tell us how much money so far you have helped people get? >> our first 30 minutes we did almost 200 accounts for $37,000. we had one claim for over $15,000. >> reporter: $15,000 for one guy. >> one guy. and 2900 and 2800 in two others. >> reporter: people have to be just absolutely amazed when they call here and they are connected with money. >> they are amazed and you said it earlier in your earlier interviews but this is real. we take in a lot of money. we took in nearly $500 million this past year. returned close to 300 million of that to citizens and it is real. you have 400,000 accounts alone here in hillsborough county. >> reporter: that is what you do day in, day out. try to connect people with their money. >> reporter: we doubt all day

>> we stand in their shoes and make available what they could have otherwise not known about. >> reporter: we are so happy you chose newschannel8 and better call behnken to help you get the message out. can you talk to us about how much money is out there? i know you have a chart. can you show us that? county by county? >> in your viewing area, we have nearly $400 million value of accounts. nearly 1.5 million accounts. hillsborouou is the largest. but manatee, pinellas, hernandez, citrus, polk, a lot of accounts here. and all the counties and even other counties if you are viewing this, go online if you can't get through to us, go online. fltreasurehunt.org. >> reporter: you heard it guys. this is a lot of money. serious cash. this is your chance to call in. 1-800-528-0808.

>> thank you very much. we will check back with you throughout the night until 7:30. right now, we are experiencing high vol volume in the calls. the phone number is correct. just have to keep trying to call. if you can't get through, head to our website, wfla.com. we put the link there. you can actually search your name on our website to find that out. so, we will be here until 7:30. you can call that number one calling is the best way to find out if you have unclaimed cash. head to our website. wfla.com. still ahead on newschannel8, a 911 mixup nearly cost one man his life. >> we will explain why state troopers were sent to the wrong house and why that erupted in

i got shot down over vietnam and spent eleven months in a pow camp. what donald trump said about our members of the military being captured is a disgrace. he's a war hero because he was captured. might be against you being able to come home. donald trump doesn't understand the weight of sending americans into harm's way. he's unfit to be president.

>> a 911 call mixup leads a troop tore mistakenly shoot a new jersey man three times. after a disconnected 911 call, an attempted trace, incorrectly redirected the troopers to this house. the troopers say they announced who they were before going into the house. but the homeowner says he never heard them and mistook them for

the troopers were not hurt, but sykes was hit several times. the situation is under investigation. newschannel8 at 6:00 is up next. >> stacie is here with what we are working on. >> thanks guys. we continue to follow that breaking news. a newborn baby killed by her six-year-old brother. an update on this very disturbing case coming up. >> plus, a tampa police officer accused of violating a woman and betraying the force he was a part of. why this former officer s allegedly did during a traffic stop. and our better call behnken phone bank going on right you. call in to find out if you have any cash that belongs to you from the state. >> a three-year-old child left sitting in a hot car in this wal-mart in lake wales. the child is fine, butly tell you who is facing charges. >> i'm dan lucas with the bucs in philadelphia. it is the preseason opening

players have a lot to prove

>> right now on newschannel8 at 6:00. >> bomb shell betrayal. a tampa police officer accused of attacking a woman he pulled over and his ar the department to its core. >> a child trapped in a stifling hot car. her family members under arrest. did they leave her there on purpose? >> plus, preseason in philly. we are there live as the bucs get ready to take on the eagles. i'm josh benson. >> i'm stacie schaible. thank you for joining us. we begin with breaking news that is both heartbreaking and very, very disturbing. a newborn less than two weeks old is dead tonight. investigators believe the

us the baby and her brother and another sibling were left alone in a car. >> now their mother who is 62 years old is facing charges. peter bernard joins us live from largo. peter, this is a story with so many layers, each more unbelievable than the last. >> reporter: totally heartbreaking guys. this doesn't get much worse than this. the sheriff says a 13 day old girl named kathleen steele is de year-old boy named frankie killed her but he is not the one in trouble. follow me on this one. his mother 62-year-old kathleen steele is charged in the death. the mother stopped at a cell phone repair store to get her phone fixed and left her three kids in the car for 38 minutes. during that time, baby kathleen