as the country mourns the death of fidel castro . our exclusive coverage, coming up. i am keith cate. >> and i am stacie schaible. thank you for joining us. an organized effort to grab as many guns as possible. surveillance cameras captured these slamming through a gun store at 3 am this morning, making off with dozens of firearms -- firearms. those guns are clearly in the wrong hands so investigators are work weapons. candace mccowan joins us, tampa arms company. these were fast acting thieves. >> reporter: in fact they were. it took less than two minutes for those these two smash grab and get out of here and now that's more than 35 guns in the hands of god knows who. >> we had full bars. they are all smashed. >> reporter: they were no match for the truck or suv that

8 to 12 people ran inside and scattered with faces covered, grabbing guns off the walls and out of cases. in less than two minutes, they were gone. >> from what i know, a couple other cars were waiting outside. >> reporter: the co-owner of the tampa arms country is baffled saying they do repairs and maintenance as well as sell. workers are now working aggressively. >> we are very concerned. the guns are in the wrong hands an's >> reporter: the heist isn't new to the area. in september, 36 guns were taken from a shop in polk county and in may, another 25 taken from a pasco shop. last october, 42 guns taken from a hillsborough county shop. the atf regulates the sale of guns but it's up to the shop owners to protect their stores. >> fortunately, we did have state-of-the-art security. we did have bars on the window. it's not going to stop a 6000

and alarm systems. >> reporter: security, not enough to keep this from happening. one thing that is for sure, the guns are now in the hands of criminals. and one thing that we asked investigators is with all these gunshot burglaries, if these crimes are connected, they tell me they don't know for sure what happened. there is also a $10,000 reward being offered for information. >> and investigators are looking for multiple cars in thieves? >> reporter: absolutely. it wasn't just the truck. they believe there was other cars filled with people that people jumped out of and put back into those cars before leaving the scene. >> 14 thieves and all, correct?>> summer between eight and 12. >> thank you.

inside the gun store, we posted the entire video on www.wfla.com a 14-year-old polk county boy is dead after an accidental shooting. detectives tell us kyler daughtry was shot by his 16- year-old friend at the lack more resort hotel. another teenager who was with him told investigators the shotgun accidentally went off while the 16-year-old was showing off the weapon. >> originally, the shotgun was unloaded whenever they were looking at it and for whatever and it went off. >> at this point, this appears to be a terrible accident. deputies are still investigating. plant city police have released the name of a woman who was stabbed to death yesterday. she was stabbed several times near a green minivan on the side of salmon road. she died at the scene.

quest. the van was later recovered but the suspect has not been taught. a court hearing ends in a shouting match today. a judge decided jennifer fichter must continue serving a 22 year sentence for having sex with multiple teenage boys. the former teacher admitted to having sex with one of the students more than 20 times as well as having sex with two other teenagers. after the ruling, the parents of a victim fichter's parents got into an argument. >> we had to make a decision that affects another persons life. i did because your daughter put us in that position. >> reporter: a lot of emotions after the hearing. her attorney has 30 days to appeal the decision. and now special coverage on the death of fidel castro. thousands are pouring into revolution plaza in havana, cuba, just ahead of a memorial for the leader who died at the

nine days of mourning and news channel 8 will have a crew there every single day. raul castro will speak during a massive public memorial honoring his brother tonight. news channel 8 is in the middle of this historic event. jeff patterson is the only reporter in cuba covering castro's death. he is joining us now from havana. >> reporter: cuba is in nine days of mourning. for many, that means coming here to say a final goodbye. one of the most remarkable things we have seen in havana is this scene, a line of people who have come to the place where fidel castro made many political speeches. until just a few years ago, he was the only leader some cubans had ever known. >> for education, for culture, for sports, cuba was an important country. >> reporter: ivan waited in line with his entire family,

found people from all over the world in line. one group of dutch tourists it just happened to be in line when news of castro's death brought to the world.>> we took a cab this morning and went to hear. >> reporter: they came to stand in line with native cubans because while many americans have always thought of fidel castro as a dangerous, communist dictator, the view in the netherlands is different. >> he did a lot for the cuban people. stand here and bring him a last goodbye. >> reporter: we found one group of americans in line from new jersey. they sailed to havana to bring medical supplies to a church. >> we feel bad for the cuban people that they lost their leader and we hope that maybe this will lead to a little bit of change in our relations with the cuban people. >> reporter: these observances

throughout the world for people who have come to be a part of it. jeff patterson, news channel 8. >> jeff will bring us coverage all week from cuba as the country mourns fidel castro. an eagle found suffering by clearwater first responders. >> and now two months later, what a difference. we are going to show you the happy ending for this beautiful bird coming up. plus, cars that communicate with each other and the you and when it will debut on tampa bay streets. 83 degrees today. that was our forecast high. it looks like something similar tomorrow and the humidity is quite high. a cold front is on the way. we will talk about the effects coming up. good people doing good things. that is what bonds our communities. they are inspiring stories all across america.

with lester holt on nightly

eagle 8 hd is brought to you by your local suncoast hyundai dealers. visit your local hyundai dealer today or visit www.buyahyundai.com. >> we have an 8 on your side porch pirates are on the prowl in tampa bay. detectives arrested two teenagers just yesterday for swiping packages. they were targeting the seven oaks subdivision and admitted to stealing boxes delivered by ups that contain electronics. deputies also found a bag of mail on these suspects. >> wildlife officials are conducting a wildlife rescue for several manatees stranded in lake tarpon.

with the weather getting cooler, fwc is concerned about a lack of water. the rescue team will begin searching for the manatees by boat and plane. a bald eagle hit by a car in clearwater is back in the wild thanks to the hard work of rescuers. our cameras were rolling and it was set free at lake chautauqua park. the fire department found the bird and busch gardens missed it back >> we did surgery initially that day. without the bone spur out and get about six weeks of rehab at busch gardens working with the bird until he got strong enough so we could build up his flight muscles. >> workers with the owls nest sanctuary helped to get it strong enough to fly again.>> what a beautiful creature. still to come tonight, cars at

this technology is going to be tested out in tampa bay very soon. >> we are going to take you are

cars that talk to each other and the roads they drive on. this futuristic technology is much closer to becoming a reality than you might think. today, siemens put their connected vehicles on display and said they could soon hit the roads in the bay area. ryan hughes went along for the

>> reporter: connected vehicles could soon be on bay area roads. the vehicles have software inside that connects with technology on the roadside, making driving easier and safer for everyone. seamans engineering company is using tampa as a test city. infrastructure is already in place to link vehicles with the roads we use every day. >> the first scale connected vehicle in the united states. >> reporter: system a floral. we went for a test drive as we made our way downtown. technologies car determined if traffic signals ahead were red or green. that information helped drivers slow down or speed up. >> it also allowed us to keep harmonized speed recommendations to have the traffic flowing throughout the city with a minimum of stops. >> reporter: the software will likely be built into future vehicles where drivers can put

the capability of mourning pedestrians about potential bicycles, making the roads safer for everyone. >> the u.s. d.o.t. says it can reduce accidents. >> reporter: experts like the technology instead of constantly rebuilding is redeveloping highways and roads. >> we would see more of the intelligent transportation systems used, especially in cities and areas where we do >> reporter: each month, 40 intersections should be equipped with the technology. ryan hughes, news channel 8 . >> but camera technology detect potholes? anyway, this test project was funded by the u.s. department of transportation to find more about the connected car technology and how it works, we have an interactive explainer on www.wfla.com and today is given tuesday.

holiday season. find these toys for tots donation stations at toys "r" us stores all over the bay area. this particular one in citrus park. just pick up an extra point while you are shopping and drop it in the bin. or better yet, come see us at news channel 8, the station that is always on your side. for kindness day. toys for tots is just one of many great causes you can support next friday, december 9. you can drop off a teddy bear for the rough riders, donate food or even give blood. kindness day is south parker street from 6 am to 7 pm. now, max defender 8, the world's most powerful radar and your storm team 8 forecast with chief meteorologist steve jerve. >> i talked about that southeast flow helping to lift low lever moisture -- low-level moisture but it hasn't added up to moisture. max defender 8 is quiet at the moment. rain chances increase over the next couple of days thanks to the approach of a cold front

-- color left in the sky. that southwesterly wind at 8 miles per hour. kindness day is coming up. rough riders will be out there with the teddy bear van collecting those brand-new bears to give to kids who can't be home for the holidays. it helps in many ways. also want to bring in a new toy for the u.s. marine corps reserve and you can bring up that food and give blood if you want to. that's december 9. you can see the reflection of the cloudy skies at this particular location but we have the dolphin here. thanks for that picture. at 9 pm, 79 degrees. 68 degrees at 8 am, 83 degrees at 4 pm. that was our recorded high temperature of 83 degrees at tampa international airport.

mama, sebring, 78 degrees. inverness 75 degrees and north port 72 degrees. dew points are back in the 60s and when you see dew points in the 60s, especially mid and upper 60s, you are definitely noticing the humidity. that's why it feels much warmer although temperatures are not unreasonable. a few thunderstorms and storms active in alabama. the cold front is wrapping up with other fronts set to move our way. that will push through with the rain chance on thursday. that's the way it has been we picked up a few more as the days progressed. maybe a few in the gulf of mexico. the front is north of us. but not here, wednesday morning, warm, a bit monday and a light breeze continues but it's the direction of that breeze that is important. southeast and south. just a northeast flow makes it more humid. that will likely continue throughout the forecast tomorrow. the front back to the northwest, a few showers near

that front coming through with a rain chance about 20% locally. that front gets a little closer to our neighborhood. wednesday, thursday, friday, temperatures are warm. low 80s for tomorrow, 80 degrees with extra clouds around. 78 degrees for friday, 76 degrees for friday rather. a little cooler behind that front and more sunshine. friday is a nice-looking day and noticeably dryer. saturday and sunday, the weekend los probably above normal and that will help make it feel just a little bit warmer. monday, tuesday, and wednesday just a little drier. we talked about december, january and february how we would likely see a warmer and drier winter. so far that is coming true.

important update for frontier communications subscribers. the contract to carry tran01? expires tomorrow on november 30 at 5 pm. as of right now, a new agreement has not been reached but by law, frontier communications cannot carry our stations without an agreement. please know that we have tried hard to reach an agreement with frontier communications and we will continue to negotiate. without fair and equitable treatment, locat www.wfla.com. coming up in sports, the bucs add to their roster. find out who is coming back to tampa bay. but meanwhile, the bucs are making a push toward the postseason. is it time to believe in this team? of course it is. the locker room attempts to answer it for us coming up next

sports on news channel 8 is sponsored by your gulf coast honda dealers. now that the luster of victory monday has one away, tampa bay fans find themselves in an unfamiliar position, legitimately asking the question, is it time to believe in the bucs? yes, there is a koetter's corner clause. is stocking overflows after the win over seattle. the buccaneers have one three straight, against bona fide nfl contenders. the bucs can do something they haven't done since 2012, win a

tampa bay is now very much part of the postseason picture at 6- 5. one game behind the nfl falcons and one game behind the nfl spot for the playoffs. is it time to believe in the bucs? >> i don't know. i'm going to let everybody decide what they want to do. we know who we are. we know who we are working to be so we're just going to keep showing up every day and do now taking it one meeting at a time. one re if people don't want to believe in us, then they don't but we will just keep working until we get better. >> i was just starting to show and now we are starting to get believers, followers, and fans but we have to stay true to ourselves. we've got to keep doing the things that got us here. we are going to come back in on wednesday, watch it, move on and get ready for the next one.

against the saints has been flexed to a 4:15 pm start time. adjusts your plans accordingly. safety chris conte suffered an injury against the seahawks. the bucs are reacting accordingly -- accordingly. major wright has been signed. he was with the bucs in 2014 and 2015 but has not played in the league yet this season. a two game losing streak lightning don't seem to be taking any chances. andrei vasilevskiy will start against the columbus blue jackets, the same team the past five on wednesday night. he is the backup for the bolts. he is quietly turning in caliber numbers this year. he is 6-1-1 in eight starts and has mimicked his last four, and allowing three goals in that span. he leads the national hockey

the bolts will be rocksteady tonight against the suddenly competitive blue jackets who are 11-5-4. i will have highlights tonight at 11:00 on news channel 8. >> a nice problem to have. >> if this isn't enough reason to move ben bishop's contract i don't know what is. >> thank you. finally tonight, speaking of the buccaneers, some players took over a tampa bay elementary school in the name engineering and math. the goal of the visit was to get children more interested in those fields. this was at lockhart elementary school. our own meteorologist, julie phillips was also there to talk about science to the children. working here with steve jerve and the max defender 8 team. >> she blinded me with science. >> it's a good thing, isn't it? >> nightly news is coming up

at 7:00. >> we will see you back here

tonight, raging inferno. a massive wildfire exploding in the great smokey mountains turns deadly. wind gusts surrounding running their lives. fire close to dollywood. survivors in the wreckage of a tragic air disaster as the plane carrying an underdog dream team goes down. revoking citizenship. president-elect trump's new threat over flag-burning that