then the van was gone. tonight the story of who took that van, where it went and how it one on up back at home. >> and a bad buzz -- how it wound up back at home. >> and a bad buzz, asj gets a strip to jail and the unemployment line. good evening, everyone. i'm josh benson. >> i'm jenn holloway. thank you for joining us tonight. paramedics rushed 81-year- old robert walker to the hospital hours after news to him about the attack. >> reporter: good evening to you. i was on my way back to the neighborhood to knock on the suspect's door. he lives about a block and a half away from here when i noticed a fire truck in front of walker's home and learned he'd just been rushed to the hospital. how are you feeling? >> well, i got a bump here and

>> no. >> reporter: when i spoke with 81-year-old robert walker, he told me the teen who attacked him had done it before. >> well, i was robbed once before by him. >> reporter: you were robbed by him before. >> he tried to kill me. >> reporter: the attacker may have succeeded this time. walker identifying him as 14- year-old alexander perez. shortly after i spoke with walker he was carted away ambulance. pasco animal services arrived to retrieve his dog. deputies put up crime scene tape and will now work with prosecutors to determine if walker died of natural causes or if injuries he received during the attack contributed to his death. perez is facing charges of home invasion and battery on a person over 65. depending on what detectives find, perez could face additional more serious charges.

passed away. >> reporter: people who live in the neighborhood are beside themselves. >> nobody should die like that. nobody should actually get hurt like that and if it happens to him, it could happen to any of us here. >> reporter: prior to his passing walker told me he did have something to say to the young man who attacked and robbed him. >> why did you try to kill me? >> reporter: i did reach out to the suspect's family members. he wa with his sister. no one answered the door at this home. i also phoned his mother who lives in tampa and she hung up on me. in pasco county i'm chip osowski, news channel 8. well, this, too, is a crime that makes you cringe. tonight two kids are accused of stealing a specialized van leaving a man paralyzed from the neck down stranded, but thanks to some quick thinking witnesses and police that man has his van back.

now. before you tell us how they got the van back let's talk about the two kids who stole it. what is up with this? >> reporter: just 14 and 15 years old and even at that age they had extensive criminal histories. if it hadn't of been for 1 quick thinking woman who knows, what would have happened if she hadn't of called the cops. >> excited. i was excited. >> reporter: margarita chapman breathing a sigh of relief. her husband eric has als and that van is the only means getting anywhere. >> to my husband it was devastating because he thought we were never going to get it back. >> reporter: stolen last week after margarita accidentally dropped the keys in their driveway, the next morning it was gone. eric paralyzed from the neck down was devastated. he couldn't go anywhere, so he never got out of bed. police say 15-year-old julius royal and 14-year-old lemeyah lloyd stole the van and parked it in this west tampa driveway. the woman who lives there knew

you helped somebody? >> i feel good about that. >> reporter: there's more. the woman had gave them the van, her son died of als, so they passed it down with the promise it would be given to someone else next. >> so it's a gift that keeps on giving to people in need because that's very expensive, a wheelchair accessible van, for somebody. you don't prepare for this. >> reporter: the couple certainly wasn't prepared for eric's als diagnosis, but they're fighters, so in the grand scheme of things -- >> we didn't need it was just ridiculous, unnecessary but grateful at the end that the van is fixable. >> reporter: police tell me the damage to the van comes out to be about $2,000. margarita tells me people have already stepped up to the plate to help them out. >> i keep thinking about these 14 and 15-year-olds, first where are the parents in this whole thing? how does something like this happen with such young kids? >> reporter: yeah, a lot of people want to know where the

confess, that they have extensive criminal histories and at least one of the kids already has one count of grand theft auto on their rap sheet. >> at 15, wow. paul mueller live at tampa tonight, thanks so much. a tampa bay buccaneer player released today in more ways than one. the team released tight end austin seferian-jenkins following a dui arrest early this morning. a trooper stops him on i-275 miles per hour in a 50 mile-per- hour zone. litter this morning seferian- jenkins didn't have anything to say bonding out of jail. it's not his first time the department said being tipsy behind the wheel. >> also based on previous arrests, that driver was supposed to have ignition interlock device on his vehicle, which he did not have. >> the team general manager jason light sent out a news release saying the bucs were

particular time. tonight a bay area middle school employee is charged with impregnating a teenage girl. lamont houston worked with at risk youth at lincoln middle school. palmetto police say over the summer he befriended a young girl and the two met for sex. after she became pregnant she told her mom and he was arrested. a friend of houston tells us he can't hardly believe it. >> he's a good guy. he's out there in the community. he helps the community. he would never wrong. >> houston faces felony charges including sexual battery and child abuse. a judge issued him bond of $55,000. tonight a jury has found a sarasota mom accused of stabbing her own 6-year-old daughter guilty. that attack happened in june of 2015. ashley parker held her daughter under water and stabbed her causing serious injury, but the child did recover, even testified during this week's

the sewage spill following hermine's heavy rains is having impact on a lot of local businesses. charter fishing chap taken tom charlton told us people are chance ling their fishing -- captain tom charlton told us people are cancelling their fishing trips because they're worried about eating fish from tampa bay. the hillsborough county environmental protection commission gave us some answers today. >> if someone wanted to limit r that the fish swam through, they should wash their hands. they should wash the fish and they should thoroughly cook the fish. >> the epc told us it may take up to a year to analyze the impact of the wastewater dump on the overall health of tampa bay. we did hear from the department of health late this evening. in addition to 14 beaches in pinellas and hillsborough county, the agency has tested

ranges. today the epa officials looked at a massive sinkhole in mosaic in polk county, their first visit since the sinkhole draped millions of gallons of contaminated -- drained millions of gallons of contaminated water into the aquifer. also today a lawsuit filed against mosaic asking for court oversight of the clean-up process and the ground monitoring of the water people are now drinking. protesters are again in the streets of charlotte, the fourth night following a deadly police shooting. so far things appear peaceful. hillary clinton decided to post opponent a sunday trip to charlotte. tonight new video gives a glimpse of the incident sparking these protests. >> tonight shoot him. don't shoot him. he has no weapon. he has no weapon. don't shoot him. >> keith scott's wife shot this video as she pleaded with officers not to shoot her husband warning officers that

truck brain injury, but moments later shots -- a traumatic brain injury, but moments later shots were fired. protesters also took to the streets of atlanta organized by the naacp and was peaceful. organizers say the focus of the protest is ending police violence nationwide. as hillary clinton and donald trump prepare for monday night's debate trump has a new supporter, ted cruz. the texas senator would not give an endorsement during his speech at the republican convention, but this afternoon fa will vote for trump and also is encouraging others to do so as well. meanwhile both candidates are preparing for their monday night face-off. clinton and vice president nominee tim kaine are focusing on claims that donald trump is sexist. trump met with rudy guiliani earlier today to strategize. his campaign suggests he doesn't want to overprepare. he says he hopes his unpredictability will be an asset. news channel 8's rod carter

presidential debate reporting live from hofstra university in hempstead, new york. his reports start sunday night here on news channel 8. we are less than 10 minutes away from the friday night blitz. >> dan lucas and paul ryan are coming into the studio now. they'll have all your high school football highlights and scores coming up. >> and the 2016 tampa bay heart walk is just around the corner. we need your help raising $100,000. kia is matching the first $50,000. head to www.wfla.com/heartwalk for how to join stacie

this is a great shot in lakeland of a sunrise this morning. she was getting nice sunsets in plant city tonight. thanks, tony.

2010, so that's a tie. yes, it was a hot day and the humidity exceptionally high. so that's not good when you're looking forward to fall and cooler weather most folks tell me of 94 degrees at 4 p.m., 84 degrees currently, 85 in clearwater beach, 80 in riverview, 88 sun city center, upper 70s in frostproof, arcadia mid-70s, 76 degrees in crystal river, north port 78. dry air has helped limit the amount of shower activity, although heav occurred around the lake placid area today, but this dry air across the north and central part of the state has been the tale of two different parts of the state, wet here, dry here. most of the shower activity has been south including the highlands county area. most of the activity has quieted down moving offshore, east coast, cocoa beach, that area. karl and depression lisa still out there, another area 20% chance of development over the next five days. we'll keep an eye on that. otherwise the other two storms

sea. you can see that forecast track well off to the northeast, karl with 65 mile-per-hour winds and lisa looking less impressive today, now a tropical depression, will likely stay that way and eventually fizzle out probably sometime this weekend out to sea. football forecast, florida state in town to play the usf bulls at raymond james starting at noon on a day where we have 93 today, you can expect it's going to be warm tomorrow. plan for that. dress for the warm gators in tennessee. this is knoxville, lingering storm possible, 86 degrees at 3:30 and ucf and florida international evening storms, 83 degrees in miami saturday, 7 p.m. down in south florida. south carolina state and florida a&m passing clouds up in tally, 87 degrees saturday at 6:00 and the bucs play the l.a. rams opener. of course, you'll hear about that in the sports segment

plan on the warm temperatures this time of year, no surprise. partly cloudy skies, quiet overnight, throughout the day tomorrow about a 20% rain chance moving inland, probably sea breeze activity developing not only tomorrow but into early next week, a little more widespread activity. next three days rain chance 20% saturday and sunday 30%. monday and tuesday, 40% rain chance which is actually above normal keeping in mind we're in the 2nd half of september. we do expect the temperatur little bit each day. we get to the cooler time of year which isn't here yet, by the way. so the rain chances are dropping, but they just aren't there yet. >> we've noticed. thank you. coming up next it is the friday night blitz. >> danny and paul will have all of our high school football action. guys? >> tonight's picture of the day

i wore a badge for 38 years knowing how much you trusted us to keep you safe. yet when a officer was killed in action eeded. dana young understood. that was wrong, so we changed that law. to ensure these families get the benefits they are entitled to and the honor they deserve. dana young has our back and she has yours. dana young for the florida senate.

we are the palm harbor university hurricanes and this

>> very good. welcome to the friday night blitz, dan lucas alongside paul ryan and a trophy. we had a fun night tonight, rivalries in hillsborough county, pinellas county. >> two of the top teams in the state in our own backyard playing high school and undefeated middleton playing host to archrival blake, nothing but highlights for these. >> first let's start in pinellas county, the st. pete green devils, blackout night the devil is overheated. how is that possible? thumbs up, though. that's good to see. hey, the packers on offense, this is a fought downplay. there's the pitch, dives in for the touchdown. largo on top 7-0. here come the green devils, though. on the ensuing drive to yates, getting across that goal line. there he is. >> tied game 7-7. st. pete back on offense here. look at this catch, matt

young man. now the green devils knocking on the door. cozi rolls out. this one kind of dies on them, picked off by brown. st. pete was down 10-9 at halftime, comes back to win it 31-10. >> soak it in, man, time for the spongers. east lake at tarpon springs, we pick it up in the 2nd half when it's all over but the kicking and screaming, david lucas, touchdown. in two, 38-0. can we get 1 spongers highlight for the road? yes, we can because i edited this video. thanks for shopping at the armani exchange. east lake wins the battle of tarpon springs 38-0. >> one-sided rivalry there. how about the rams of riverview in sarasota making the long drive to palm harbor tonight.

muton says can you catch this? untouched muton popped that ball out. touchdown palm harbor up 6 -0. ramsey will answer. welter to wideman for the score 7-6 riverview on top. still in the 1st quarter, 13-7 palm harbor back on top. back and forth we go. here comes riverview. boyce, look at this, spins through two tacklers, four defenders with a shot score. >> he's hurt. >> palm harbor pulls out the win 35-30. time now for the game of the week, a match-up that needs no introduction, armwood and plant chasing state titles every year. >> these days still robert weiner and shawn callahan decided we need to play. this weiner said he might just

hand tonight. anthony allred in south tampa for the clash of the titans. he has the highlights from our friday night blitz game of the week. >> reporter: the hawks coming to this game of the week match- up ranked 12th in the country, third in the state. can the hawks come into the stadium and steal one on the road? i don't know, so to the highlights we go. you know this game is huge when the special ops drop in from 5,000 feet to deliver the game ball. now it's worth mentioning the armwood hawks haven't been scored on in 10 quarters. that's because their hawking defense is always putting a couple of hats on the ball, but as the father of english literature coined the phrase, all good things must come to an end because ty thompson is taking it all the way to the house. when it came time for armwood to answer, the panthers defense shut him down. that's a three play game tackle sack on the quarterback, but

the east, back come the hawks. junior running back brian snead round the left side, nobody's going to catch him. then panthers quarterback completing 80% of his passes this season throws right, doesn't like what he sees, comes back left and oh, my groceries, oh, no, he didn't. just drop a dime to the receiver burgess and oh, nellie, folks, we've got ourselves a ballgame because ryan snead zone goes untouched, unharmed, unbelievable, but the panthers would win it and just like every ice cube friday movie ever made in the beginning the boys got into a little trouble, but in the end it was all good in the hood. anthony allred, news channel 8 sports. >> i think this means robert weiner is retiring now. armwood had not lost to a hillsborough county opponent since 2012.

plant panthers. >> more friday night blitz coming up, going to hit the air

i'm hillary clinton and i approve this message. i'd look her right in that fat ugly face of hers. she's a slob. she ate like a pig. a person who's flat chested is very hard to be a 10. does she have a good body? no. does she have a fat [expletive]? absolutely. do you treat women with respect?

welcome back. each week we hit the friendly skies aboard eagle 8 hd for our friday night blitz skylights. this week we burned some fuel to pasco county. >> a quick stop that to check out a ft. meade team on the verge of cracking the top five in class 1a. let's get to the chopper. show me the skylights. >> reporter: beautiful night in the clouds in eagle 8 hd and a jaunt to polk county as the frostproof bulldogs host the lakeland christian vikings, bulldogs getting mauled by the vikings defense. the option is kept churning but not a lot of room early to run.

pressure, roll wide, jacob stevens crashing down near the 20. this time wadly looks, launches it, stevens inside the 10. vikings give it to adrian morris who steamrolls through the bulldogs, touchdown. lakeland christian kicks off and outing has it at the 4-yard line and he finds a seam and it's up to the kicker. no. outing is off 96 yards but lakeland christian wins big 43-19. so now past crooked lake in the painted sky to bartow, home of the yellowjackets and the miners, yellowjackets surly on defense, not a whole lot of room. williams tosses it to smith who

bartow continues the sting and jeremy henderson gets the ball and gets by everyone for six. bartow wins big 42-11. that's going to do it for eagle 8 hd skylights out in polk county in eagle 8 hd. paul lamison news channel 8. let's pay respects to reverend abraham home of the tigers. more yak than the himalayan region of south central asia. that's where yaks live. defense prefers iceberg to romaine quite honestly. kj crawford with the interception to kill a jackets drive. later on ron peterson, if you're not using that, i'll

to robert overton. it's like he's headed on the ox corn. the magic runs out for middleton. the tigers are blanked 33-0. >> yaks and llamas. let's go down to bradenton, tigers jason spicer on the keeper points to the target, hits the end zone 7-0. palmetto up early and for the bruins. the quarterback sacked by houston. the next possession for the tigers elijah davis walks in easily. another win 40-0 tonight there at bayshore. >> more friday night blitz coming up after another break. check out the play of the week.

welcome back to the blitz. it's time for the play of the week. let's go back out to palm harbor. tj, fantastic catch, one handed, baby, palm harbor big winners tonight. >> i want to mention avon park, 5-0, 203-3 they've outscored their opponents this year. >> nature coast sharks our team

crowned on thursday. good night, everyone. >> friday night blitz coverage brought to you by banko overled

[ cheers and applause ] ? >> steve: from studio 6b in rockefeller center in the heart of new york city, it's "the tonight show starring jimmy fallon." tonight, join jimmy and his guests -- will forte,