tampa police are on the hunt for the group of men who shot and wounded a 21-month-old little girl. she is recovering from non-life- threatening injuries and chip osowski joins us from the rolling park housing complex were officers spent the afternoon at the try to piece it all together. >> reporter: police are telling us that this was not a random act of that a group of gunmen would open fire in this housing complex in broad daylight, well as you might imagine, that is a major cause for concern. police believe eduardo avila was the intended target. he watched as police gathered evidence outside the apartment, where his 21-month-old daughter aliyah was hit by a stray bullet. >> the father -- the father of the toddler was approached by some other men while he was

shots were fired. we were counting 15 or more shots. summer shot through the door. one ricocheted and hit the young girl. >> is it world war iii? what is it? what is it coming to in the daylight now that people are now beginning to come out and shoot innocent kids? >> reporter: a concerned resident and neighbor, like many, is tired of seeing the cop cars and crimen >> we just had a community meeting yesterday. crime and safety was one of the issues we talked about. i just went to a board meeting this evening considering -- concerning some other issues. >> reporter: a motive for the shooting remains under investigation. there were plenty of people outside and as i had -- said this happened in broad daylight. detectives have their hands

witnesses and they're looking into the possibility that a nearby resident or a nearby business does have surveillance video of what happened. >> fortunately, the little girl is going to be okay. a manhunt continues at usf tonight. two men robbed a female student there last night. right now, police are coming through hours of surveillance footage hoping to identify the guys responsible. melanie michael joins us live from the campus where as they should. students should feel safe on campus.>> they absolutely should. this is truly a terrifying time for parents and for students as well. kimberly santos says she felt it in her gut, the fear that boils down to one word. >> uneasy and honestly like my stomach is in knots because i have been here at that time. >> reporter: kimberly's buddy,

owes like i don't want to go out at that time anymore. >> reporter: they are among many students worried and wondering, could they be next?>> people walk at night every day after class and you feel this is a safe campus so having like a robbery at 9 pm is pretty scary. >> reporter: both lorena and kimberly can't believe a fellow student was robbed just after 9:00 on tuesday night in a well- known, popular spot on campus. a young woman told police she was being followed by and then grabbed her backpack and a necklace. >> it wasn't that late in the night so it was weird that somebody got robbed at that time but it was two random people. >> reporter: a mass text went out to students and their parents through the university mobile messaging system. >> this campus is pretty safe. i haven't had any other experiences like this so she was freaking out a little bit. >> reporter: meanwhile, these 19-year-olds say they are utilizing a free service called

dark. >> this gives me a sense of security because there is another person with me in a go- cart. >> reporter: here is how the case stands at this hour. that female student is recovering, still shaken and scared but no physical injuries. the two guys who robbed her got away with a backpack -- got away with nothing. the backpack and nicholas were recovered later. there are so many cameras around campus, they are just trying to find the right angle to see if they can id the two guys. we will have more for you on news channel 8 at 11:00.>> melanie michael live from usf. police released surveillance video of two cars connected to a gun heist. at least 29 guns were stolen from a home on adams road. the car on the left was seen in the area at the time and on the

connected. a pasco county woman that she found the perfect home to rent. turns out the person who rented it to her wasn't on the up and up. patricia lamp pretended to be the owner of this home and rented out to dana molina and her family. she apparently broke the law rocks, took the keys, remove the sign and put up her own sign to rent it. >> she worked with me. all i had to do was pay $650 the first month, she will work it. i was like awesome. i thought this was like a miracle. >> lamp is facing scheming to do fraud charges and faces a similar charge and hillsborough county as well. tonight, she is in the land o lakes jail. a stubborn fire rips through a home in my mama. this is the scene on aerosmith road from eagle 8 hd. the fire pretty much gutted this place in a rural area. firefighters had to siphon

fire. fortunately, no one was hurt. a frightening mishap at a worksite in north port. a 100 2010 cream toppled over. these are some pictures from the north port police department. we are told crews were working on a cell phone tower when that crane fell over. fortunate hear that no one was hurt. and right now, the search is on for thieves targeting elderly victims at publix. they stocked the women through the aisles, and then made their move it happened at two different publix stores an -- had their wallet stolen from their shopping carts. melissa marino is in polk county with the winning from police to be on alert. >> reporter: talk about the worst of the worst. police say this trio is targeting the most vulnerable elderly women for some easy cash. police believe these three are grocery store predators. in the past few weeks, stealing from three elderly women shopping at publix stores in plant city.

i'm not sure of what their roles are, within their actions. >> reporter: they prey on unsuspecting shoppers. one of them distracts the victim, asking where to find a grocery item while another moves in on their wallet. the thieves then cash in at a nearby cvs. so far, using the stolen credit cards to buy at least $1000 in gift cards. >> i think that's awful. it's deplorable. >> reporter: crooks like this are the >> i usually keep my a person very close to me. >> reporter: police say you should do the same. also, make your wallet hard-to- find. >> a presumptive thief would have to work to get it. >> reporter: with the holiday season approaching, count on one thing, thieves will be prowling. >> the goal is to make your self a hard target not an easy target. >> reporter: take a good luck.

van, commonly used to transport people. a $3000 reward is being offered for information leading to these suspects. melissa marino, news channel 8. some big changes are coming to the apollo beach skyline. >> what tampa electric is planning to do. plus, is the state breaking the law? what target 8 learned from newly released records and the questions they are still not answering tonight. and we just received an upda stephen stamhouse. the details on his injury and how long he is expected to be out. a cool start to the day but a warm afternoon with bright sunshine. temperatures topping out in the upper 70s but quickly falling again into the upper 60s. we look ahead to your weekend

a landmark at apollo beach is going away. tampa electric is going to demolish the original red and white striped chimney at its big bend power station. that chimney dates back to 1968 but it hasn't been used since 2008. it will be dismantled and pieces. the work will start in the summer and should wrap up in april. former buccaneers coach tony dungy is teaming up with the department of children and

he and the dcf launched a statewide campaign at raymond james stadium today. the cause is personal to tony dungy because he and his wife have seven adopted children of their own. he now wants others to take a chance like they did. >> there is so many kids out there who are really waiting for homes. whether that's foster care or adoptions, just somebody to take care of them and help them grow in a normal fashion. >> there are more than 22,000 children currently in foster ca on any given day, 800 of them are up for adoption. still to come tonight, target 8 digs deeper into the details about mosaic, dumped by the state. >> what those documents show about how environmental officials responded to the

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asleep at the wheel or breaking the law? serious conditions -- questions about the state's response to this sinkhole. records show the state was in no hurry to share information about the sinkhole.>> not only did the department of environmental protection keep this from the public, but records reviewed by senior investigative reporter steve andrews show dep kept its own people and other state agencies in the dark as well.

provided us were really all they had, there was no real discussion about informing any of the neighbors who are on well water but if the state is holding back records, it's breaking the law. while this massive sinkhole unnerved mulberry and with your neighbors, documents provided by the state showed little to no urgency about the radioactive water that poured into the aquifer. either that or congresswoman gwen graham says the florida department of environmental protection and the governor failed to provide records >> it's appalling either way. >> reporter: on september 12, more than two weeks after water began escaping, the federal epa wrote to the state "we have received the mosaic document on friday, september 29 in which mosaic suggested a meeting between the governments and mosaic." has there been any discussion related to that meeting? dep responded that mosaic suggests the meeting within the last week of september. that would be a full five weeks

august 27. informed dep the next day. dep kept it from the public until target eight -- 8 reported on september 18, the sinkhole dumped 315,000,000 gallons of highly contaminated water into the aquifer. records show on the 19th, when a neighbor asked the groundwater management division how it will require mosaic to clean up the contamination, the response was "i'm not familiar with the incident you are referring to." the neighbor's reply "you work for the florida dep and groundwater management and you don't know about this?" gwen graham said the office should have been ringing alarm bells and taking swift action. either we are missing documents or the state didn't particularly care. >> the people of florida deserve better. >> reporter: 2000 emails and hardly any of them discussed the sinkhole before we broke

the wheel, made a point to not put anything in writing, or its withholding records and violating the law. >> so any one pattern you're seeing? >> the dep seemed really more concerned about skirting answers to the public and the media that was about sharing information with its own scientists. how was that for communication? >> more answers as you keep looking. that's what you do. we thank you for that. if you have a problem you want steve to investigate, you see his face and now you see his telephone number. a lot of folks are talking about the lack of rainfall at tampa international airport. 1/100 of an inch of precipitation. this is the dry season. november is the driest season of the year but rainfall has been recorded once in the last four weeks. not much needless to say.

sunset in clearwater. and also some ducks from gary. just hanging out. a beautiful day. watch wildlife, look at the sky. 7 am, 58 degrees. our forecast low near 80 degrees tomorrow. 29 degrees our recorded high for tomorrow. temps already falling quickly into the 60s. it's going to be a cool evening. 70 degrees at the airport, the university of tampa in the background. should be a love you're going to be out later or even early. 66 degrees crystal river, and zephyrhills, 70 degrees st. mark, why mama 71 degrees, and a lot of dry air high above in the atmosphere. that cold front passes through the area and then yesterday that service boundary was stuck over the florida straight, keeping a lot of clouds in south florida. not the case today. this dry air aloft give us a quiet atmosphere. hardly a cloud in the sky anywhere across the state.

we have some winter weather going on. these are blizzard watches from the western part of minnesota. northeast and sections of the dakotas, winter storm watches in place as well. sections of nebraska and wyoming. this area of low pressure is coming out of the west and could add a foot of snow for sections of minnesota. perhaps less than that. 6 inches across the dakotas back into parts of colorado it looks like. snow weekend -- snow event for that part of the country so far this season. out there you will be dealing with very different weather. here is a look at the forecast tonight. mostly clear skies, a little sunshine and a chill to start the day. should be a very nice balance of cool air early and warm air in the afternoon. a stunning range of temperatures in terms of comfort in the air.

easterly flow kicks in. that's a new pattern. we see more of an easterly flow adding moisture back in. the heating of the peninsula drives, a few fairweather clouds looks nice. cold air moving across the country. we are at the southern end butted heads our way saturday. a cold front moves through the area and saturday is still warm. upper 60s for highs comes along with a breeze, going to feel much cooler on sunday than it does on saturday. thursday, a high of 80 degrees,1 the weekend. two different days chapter wise. it will feel much different for sure, especially where the cool air is helped along by a stronger wind. long-term, the turkey is back. he is very excited about it. >> but he's silent. >> sometimes he will make a noise. >> gobble mac -- [ gobble ]

about the lightning. mike evans will stand for the national anthem from now on. but he is not finished protesting the presidential election. find out what's next for him

breaking news off the top. the tampa bay lightning captain stephen stamhouse is out of the lineup after suffering a lateral meniscus tear. the injury occurred during last night's win over the red wings. he was sent home from the five- game road trip today where doctors made the diagnosis.

general manager steve eisner has not ruled out saying the team is "evaluating options for repair and rehabilitation. recovery time for such surgery ranges from 1 to 3 months based on the severity of the injury." minor meniscus tears will heal on their own after some rest. >> some people were saluting me. some people showed a lot of evil and a lot of hate. i want people to understand that you can't just hate somebody because you have different beliefs. truck after 48 hours of backlash regarding his decision to set for the national anthem, mike evans offered an apology yesterday and will stand with teammates henceforth. speaking at his locker today, evans insisted he came to this decision on his own without pressure from the bucs front office saying it felt awkward to sit and he doesn't want to bring any negative energy to his teammates. he was back on the practice field with his compatriots this afternoon. his fellow buccaneers have been nothing but supportive of his

veterans and the people he offended yet remains resolute in his protest of trump's presidency. and that is sitting pretty anthem, he intends to pursue other avenues to support minority groups affected by the president-elect. >> looking back on it i probably would have did it a different way but it's done you know? it won't happen again. i will be standing with my teammates. i know i hurt a lot of people so i want to apolog affected by what i did, and the people who are disappointed in my decision, my decision stands with my teammates..more. i'm going to continue to use my voice and my platform for minority rights. i'm going to reach out to organizations. the organizations i feel is doing the best up to help women, lgbt, african-americans, the people that are in fear of donald trump and his presidency. >> he is attracting a lot of

time to get his focus on the field for sure. finally tonight, an unforgettable learning experience for tampa bay students. clearwater police officers and firefighters took time today to visit pinellis county schools as part of the great american teach in. the children got to climb aboard a fire truck, sit behind the wheel of a police car and here is a k9 unit giving a demonstration of what we are glad we can show it to you. and it was brisk this morning. that's why i broke out the turtleneck but it warmed up in a hurry. >> by the time you leave it will be cool again. temperatures this evening, quickly in the 60s. we are seeing that right now, 70 degrees at the airport. won't be long. the dry air cools off pretty quickly. lots of sunshine in the forecast for tomorrow and

followed by news channel 8 at 7:00. >> we also have news at 8:00

tonight, officer charged after a fatal shooting caught on camera. a diver killed while his girlfriend pleaded in the passenger seat. the four-year-old in the car. the aftermath streamed new emergency evagszuations as wildfires explode across seven states. smoke blanketing big cities sending people rushing to the er. up in the air. trump tower as the president elect denies reports of chaos as a surprise name emerges for a powerful post. surprise medical bills. when a hospital takes your insurance, but the doctor who is treating you doesn't, a staggering one out of five patients