right now on news channel 8 at 5:30 pm: >> learning from their mistakes after a tragic deadly shooting, the punta gorda police department is making changes. on the policies and procedures now in place. i am jennifer lee. >> and i'm joss -- josh benson. it's been nearly 3 months since i woman was tragically shot and killed in a citizens academy. as the investigation continues, the department has made policy changes. the officer did not realize there were real bullets in the chamber when the officer pulled the trigger and as john rodgers shows us, the city is doing all it can to learn from this and

>> reporter: the police department is taking steps to ensure this tragedy doesn't happen again and they are hoping other departments can learn from them. it was a citizens academy that went entirely wrong after officer lee coel accidentally fired shots at mary knowlton during a training exercise, killing her. now, the department has changed its policies. from now on, citizens academy's will no longer use guns capable of firing live ammunition. also, all guns stored in an armory that can only be accessed by specialized officers and a safety officer must be present with a first aid kit during future academies. they have also made changes to the hiring practices. stock -- >> we've looked at day to day operations based on what happened and although they are just interim measures, there may be more to come . >> reporter: department learned other state agencies have not instituted these guidelines so

adopted across florida. the city and the molten family agreed to a settlement of more than -- nolting -- knowlton family agreed to a settlement of more than $2 million today. >> it's a concern to me just in terms of the cost to the city, what it means going forward . >> reporter: th and it's unclear when the state attorney's office will file charges in the case . john rodgers, news channel 8 hillsboro county sheriff's detectives are trying to find a tutu wearing burglar who pulled off an unusual heist. we are live where this all went down. i would say this is bizarre but that seems like such a dramatic understatement. you and i were texting about it earlier. it's just weird . >> reporter: i mean really, you just cannot make this up.

halloween night but yes, a guy did break into a farmers market wearing a tutu. and then he ate fruit and drink juice. i'm not kidding. it's a short black-and-white clip of a burglary in progress but it's the quick's choice of clothing that dances off the screen. >> ? >> reporter: yep, the guy is wearing a tutu. >> they >> reporter: john runs the tampa farmers market on fletcher with his sons. he has been here for a couple years but has been running markets like this for a very long time.>> they jumped the fence. you can see like a little warped in the fence . >> reporter: and all of that time, he has never seen anything like this. >> i think that it was halloween and i don't know if it was like a prank the way the guy was dressed. he didn't seem like he was

>> reporter: he says the thief and his accomplice who was wearing a hoodie didn't do too much damage. >> thank god it was minimal compared to what it could have been . >> reporter: after spotting the surveillance camera, they ate a watermelon, a pineapple, a few apples and through the remnants on the ground but they weren't done. they took this crockpot -- crockpot lid and smashed a door at the market. >> they went inside and just things around in their . >> reporter: and then they drink juice and now the hunt is on. >> so now we are on the lookout for the tutu thief.>> ? >> reporter: mc, here is the bitter irony. john told me had these guys just asked him for the food, he probably would have given it to him -- them. my theory here is the

they could be wrong but i'm going with that. >> i've had to ask reporters many times on stories about a suspect description but i'm having a hard time uttering these words. any description for these guys besides the tutu and the hoodie? >> reporter: i didn't think you would ever say that on tv. the guy in the tutu was kind of like a cheerleading costume and he either had on a wig or a lot the guy with the hoodie had any owl on the front. detectives are hoping that someone might see something and would just give them a call to let them know who this is. >> for the owl? you're just not right. rod carter reporting. a developing story out of south florida. police are going door to door searching for a killer and

death inside their home and then went to a real estate attorney's office and shot him. the attorney was rushed to a hospital where he is undergoing surgery. court records show the attorney represented the man during a foreclosure case. we will bring you more details as they become available. a florida teacher is facing charges after an investigator says she exchanged more than 100,000 inappropriate messages with a 14-year-old female student. text messages with the student, most of which were sexually explicit in nature. investigators say some of the messages included discussions about sex and drugs. a south florida toddler and her grandmother are alive thanks to the quick thinking of a deputy. two-year-old miley and her grandmother were playing when the toddler jumped into the lake outside their home. the grandmother jumped in after

she started yelling for help. one of her neighbors heard her and came running.>> by the time i got there, they were both drowning and the baby was losing her head so i grabbed her and handed her to my wife. and then i was able to pull the great-grandmother up to the bank. >> both were taken to a nearby hospital and are doing just fine. a four-year court battle between hulk hogan and gawker media has me struck a settlement contract awarding the wrestler $31 million in cash. hogan sued gawker after it posted a sex tape of him online. a florida jury handed over a $140 million lawsuit gawker filed for bankruptcy after the judgment and the company assets were sold to univision. proving no one is above the law. >> a police officer caught

you. apparently nothing is safe, not even your kit cat. how a thief made off with this college students's candy and the note that's going viral. a few more clouds around the region and even a few raindrops. we will see if that trend will carry on and we have a cold front through the weekend -- through the weekend. we have those numbers for you coming up. >> that and more coming up on news channel 8, the station that's always on your side. he's gus! he's gus! he's gus!

bilirakis! gus is for us. for us. all of us. and he gets things done. and he gets things done. gus stood up to his own party... to stop flood insurance hikes. he's protecting our veterans... and our seniors. and he's fighting to keep america safe. gus is for us. gus is always for us. gus is for us. for us! all of us! vote gus bilirakis for congress. i'm gus bilirakis,

the search for a group of missing miners in china has come to a heartbreaking end. all 45 minus have been found dead. 35 workers were in the privately owned mine at the time of the explosion. to were able to escape and

the government has ordered an investigation into what went wrong. new details surrounding the malaysia flight that crashed into the indian ocean. it was circling and flying at outrageous speeds. the really important news is that the flap found in tanzania was stowed. that means there was no way the airplane was being flown by anyone. it was out of control, ran out of fuel and plunged into the sea. panda in southwest china. the bear climbed onto a metal platform and got trapped by the raging river. someone spotted the bear and called for help. wildlife cruise came in, slipped a harness over the panda and used a pulley system to hoisted up and set it free. a police officer was a little surprised about who he caught on video breaking the law, himself. the officer ran a red light and paid the price. melissa marino joins us from

you can't really slip by these red light cameras to easily . >> reporter: they take a picture of your vehicle if you run a red light this is undeniable evidence that has this officer scolding himself.>> he can request that he only pay one amount for the court hearing . >> reporter: officer tim glover is used to writing red light tickets. >> it shows the vehicle behind the stop bar. is. >> family members, neighbors, police officers . >> reporter: recently when reviewing footage, he noticed a patrol car running a red light. >> when i first saw those like i'm going to have to issue one of my coworkers a ticket. and i'm not going to be mr. popularity . >> reporter: until he looked closer. i was like that kind of looks like my tag number. that looks like my unit number. i walked out to the parking lot after seeing that and it was.

>> i walked back into my boss's office and i said just to let you know i ran a red light. >> reporter: you could have pretended like it didn't happen. >> yes ma'am, i could have hit the reject button but i wouldn't have been able to live with myself . >> reporter: officer glover says at the time he didn't even realize he did it.>> i saw myself running it. i did the exact same thing i've been preaching. i took responsibility for my actions and paid for my ticket have a sense of humor about it. >> i was on my way to pick up a cuban sandwich. it was good but it wasn't 170 something dollars good. [ laughter ] >> reporter: the officer couldn't technically right himself a ticket so he had a sergeant rated for him. >> what did the chief have to say about this incident?>> reporter: the officer did get a letter of reprimand for the incident but he was also

>> just an honest guy doing the right thing. melissa marino and polk county. an apology note left behind during a candy caper is going live -- viral online. 's college student was unloading his car at his dorm room. he took a few things inside and left his car unlocked. he left the car with a kit kat bar in the cup holder but when he returned, he noticed it was missing. the thief didn't take phone or wallet, only the candy. they felt guilty so they left a note. >> it just that i saw a kit kat in your coupler. i love them. i didn't take anything else from your car. i'm sorry and hungry. i got a kick out of it. i thought it was really funny. >> hunter gave the hungry thief a break. get it cracks kit kat break? he didn't report it to the police but he posted it to his twitter account where it has been shared and liked hundreds of

send him some replacements. there is no tomorrow, only tonight. the chicago cubs and the cleveland indians down to one final game of the world series. the cubs hammered the indians last night to force tonight's decisive game seven. you're wanting, their historic drought is about to be over. for another, another year ending in heartbreak. know someone looking for a ticket? they can expect to shell out a now with the average price paid for a game seven ticket at $2700. uber users, listen up. the ridesharing service is issuing an update index adding you to your friends faster. you can request a ride specifically to a friend. you don't even need to know their location. uber asks the friend to share their whereabouts, the driver then takes you straight to your

temperatures across the southeast are warm. 88 degrees is our high temperature, one degrees shy of the record in tampa. north of us, the pictures are cooler but not this -- bad for this time of year. it won't be that cold for the world series. a ridge of high pressure in the west with temps running 15 to 20 degrees above average. that is pretty warm for this time of year. cooler air mass moving southeast across the u.s. will allow slightly cooler, dryer air to move through the area. the timing on that generally is friday into saturday. breezy m cooley this weekend -- cooler this weekend. more warmth ahead. up until then, warm temperatures in the 80s. temperatures will stay above average throughout the friday time period but eventually that cool front will slide our way and we will's -- we will feel those effects this weekend. 85 degrees in land o lakes

11 miles per hour. there are some showers to the north. north cleveland and also back into the great lakes. there is a possibility of seeing some showers for this game. as we look at the forecast, temps not bad. 65 degrees for the cubs and indians. last night, we got some great pictures from our viewers. venus, a little saturn just to the right, and also the waxing crescent moon. should be a similar seen tonight. check that out. robert scott a nice shot from lucerne park with a few clouds earlier and we see very colorful skies of late. both in the morning and also the evening. the eight-day mugginess forecast, we had to raise this a little bit. we will have an impact from the cold front but perhaps not as great as originally thought. that cold front is coming through but it won't be particularly cool. it will dry out the air just a little bit. 80 degrees at 8 pm.

degrees. you might be feeling a little bit more humidity and that's true in downtown st. petersburg as well. think that easterly breeze in downtown. the winds are fairly strong, gusting at times over 20 miles per hour. here is tampa and lakeland at 21 miles per hour. as evening goes along, things should become less breezy. that's the easterly flow, a week disturbance adding sprinkles. it hasn't been particularly rainey. 78 degrees before gametime tomorrow as the falcons are in town to play at raymond james stadium. should be fantastic weather. high pressure sitting just to the north. not that unusual. the high pressure this time of year with the southern side providing consistent easterly flows. occasionally it generates a few light showers and breezes across the state. thursday morning, mild and same for this afternoon. a 10% chance of showers but

moves across the u.s. friday, the front moves in for about a 10% chance of rain. not much going on behind that. friday and beyond saturday and sunday, cool air continues to push farther south as high pressure builds back in. breezier conditions want the front comes through through a north and northeasterly breeze. that helps along the cooler, dryer air. 84 degrees thursday, 82 degrees for friday. by the weekend, the rain chances are still pretty w. high temperatures in the low 80s. really nice weather getting into a pretty good groove. temperatures are feeling a little warm the next few days because the humidity is on a bit of a come back. we were 10 shy of the record today. >> we're looking forward to the weekend, thank you. first, it was consumers worried about the samsung fire prone galaxy note 7. >> and now greenpeace is sounding the alarm. we will tell you why.

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the heart walk is just 12 days away. we are working hard to raise $100,000 but we still need your help. go to www.hali.com/heart walk to join the team and donate. we want to take a quick moment to thank some of our donors. they each gave $25. thank you for your generosity. hillary clinton: i'm hillary clinton and i approve this message. vo: in times of crisis america depends on steady

more about isis than the generals do, believe me." vo: and calm judgment. donald trump: "and you can tell them to go fu_k themselves." vo: because all it takes is one wrong move. donald trump audio only: "i would bomb the sh_t out of them." vo: just one. this year the voters of pinellas county have an opportunity to elect a public servant who has always put the people first. charlie crist. as governor he worked with both parties to get things done and i know you can trust charlie to do the same in congress. he'll fight to protect social security and medicare. defend women's health care and planned parenthood. and take care of our veterans.

i'm charlie crist and i approve this message. now to what's making headlines across america, greenpeace is blasting samsung for not getting details on how it will dispose of millions of recalled galaxy note 7 phones. in my mental group says dumping the phones would create enough containers. the phones were recalled last month after reports of bursting into flames. greenpeace is urging samsung to recycle as much of the phone as possible. a military mishap as a plane in flight accidentally drops its bombs. it happened last week as a national guard plane was doing an exercise. luckily, the bombs did not contain explosives. they all opened an open land

in the national guard believes a mechanical issue caused them to release. a woman trying to dodge police ended up with hypothermia after jumping into a frigid river. she crashed her car and then took off down an embankment. when they tried to stop her, she dove in the water and swam around for about 45 minutes before letting voters pull her out. she was then taken to a hospital and is doing okay but expected to face charges. news channel 8 at 6:00 is up next. >> thanks guys. pasco county leaders are trying to stop people from throwing up their garbage he legally. >> coming up, the surveillance video that actually copies? red-handed. plus promoting florida beaches is causing -- costing taxpayers. what the state is keeping from you tonight. residents are complaining about campaign signs turning up missing in several tampa bay counties. >> stolen mail in ballots in pinellis and fraudulent voting.

storm team 8 forecast coming up on news channel 8, the station that is always on your side. amendment 1 is endorsed by florida's firefighters... because it does solar the right way. amendment 1 protects consumers from scams, and unsafe solar installations. safe solar for the sunshine state. vote yes on amendment 1. for the sun. carson and i have seen some terrible ads attacking our mom dana young. for things she never did. whenever something is not right mom is on it. trust us we know from experience. mom put her career on hold for us. to raise our family. she is a role model for everyone in our community. i'm proud of you mom, we both are.

y25ehy y16fy this is mike's office. if he doesn't show up, he doesn't get paid. too often marco rubio didn't show up and failed us when he did. i am patrick murphy. to get things done, you've got to show up. you've got to work together. whether it's protecting social security and women's health care or growing the economy, i am patrick murphy and i approve this message because i'll never stop working for you. why are out-of-state billionaires attacking amendment 1? because amendment 1 keeps them...

you don't pay to keep billionaires in business. it's solar... without subsidies. vote yes on amendment 1. news channel 8 at 6:00: >> votes stolen and pinellis county. >> the bigger issue is how many other people's votes have been stolen. >> ahead, what went wrong that allowed someone else to vote for another person. then political signs nabbed from yards. the penalties the perpetrators could face coming up. and a sexy secret hidden by a state contractor. the reason details of a promotion on our beaches is being kept under wraps. >> thank you for joining us. >> holding the powerful

attorney's office. >> getting results. stephen bannon -- steve andrews is target 8. >> ballots stolen, voter fraud expected -- suspected. an indian shores man got a letter in the mail warning something was up with his mail- in ballot. >> someone apparently swept both his and his wife's mail-in ballots, voted, signed the ballots, and then sent them to the county elections office to be counted. get to the bottom of it. >> reporter: a week and a half ago, the supervisor of elections went on our air and says voter fraud did not exist. let me tell you, voter fraud is alive and well in pinellis county and here is the proof. counting early voting is well underway and pinellis county. there are questions about some of those.