inside of that home will hold more clues into this murder. >>reporter: and they've just started searching that home, in the last 20 minutes or so, we watched them wait for that warrant for the last five hours. now, police say when they arrived here around noon today for a welfare check, the were concerned that son was in grave danger, and they found the mom with a handgun and the son dead in the shower. >> there's a lot to do in this investigation. >>reporter: but already, altamonte police have done a lot. arresting 59-year-old virginia ortega and charging her with premeditated murder. >> miss ortega planned the murder of her son, blake howard. and again, shot him multiple times while he was in the shower. >>reporter: they were led her by a call from a relative who spoke to ortega and grew concerned for the safety of her son, blake howard. >> virginia ortega, confronted one of the officers with a handgun, in hand. >>reporter: after that confrontation, they asked her to drop the gun, she did, and that's when they found her son dead in the shower.

clearing the scene, though, police have not been able to go with in to gather more evidence. >> we really need to get in there. we're waiting for state attorney's office and a judge to sign off on the warrant so we can make entry into the residence and further investigate it. >>reporter: and because they were waiting on that warrant, howard's body is still there inside the home tonight. they're hoping once the medical examiner is able to get that body, he will be able to determine a closer time of death. we're live in altamonte springs tonight, channel 9 yns news. -- eyewitness news. we have had over a dozen tornado reports, including damage across the south. >> and we'll be watching for impact from that same storm system tomorrow. how certified chief meteorologist tom terry is tracking those storms, and when they'll be hitting central florida. >> yeah, this is a monster size storm system, what we call a particularly dangerous situation, tornado watch. pds tornado watch. is out for the deep south, including parts of the western florida panhandle tonight. and

we've already had a dozen reported tornadoes, widespread dablg, louisiana now -- damage, mississippi. this storage storm energy will track to the east. we'll get another tornado watch for the part of the florida big bend tonight. a lesser risk for us but a slight risk of severe weather, including a few isolated tornadoes, towards the late morning and early afternoon hours in central florida. so we're going to be watching the storm system very, very closely, also getting new pictures in of storm damage, right now in the deep south. much more coming up in a few minutes. orange county sheriff's sergeant marci pierce was visibly upset today after attending the juvenile court hearing for the teenager whom she says tried to kill her with a stolen car. she was trying to arrest carlos ortiz on friday morning, on four burglary charges. he has faced other felony charges in the past, and channel 9 was in court today, cathy,

found out he was once a good student. >>reporter: he was tears filled his mother's eyes when i showed this photo of her son with a school trophy, that was five years ago. he's being accused of trying to murder a sheriff's sergeant. you can see how physically and emotionally drained orange county sergeant marci paefrs before -- pearce was before the hearing started. but after she saw 15-year-old carlos ortiz today, the one she says tried to kill her by running her down with a stolen car on friday morning, shifting his eyes, no remorse, no sympathy, she was overpowered by raw emotion. >> we fk aed why. -- asked why. >> he tried to kill me. >>reporter: the teenagers mother looked drained as she sat waiting for court to start.

facebook from 2010 holding a trophy forgetting the honor roll and her post about how happy she was. we tried to fientd out why things -- find out why thing r things changed. >> what went wrong with him? she never answered. sergeant pierce says she hurts from head to toe but plans to go back to work as about soon as she's well. >> i imagine your husband was terrified when he heard this happened? . >> of course. >> he loves me. >>reporter: and they managed to smile as her husband, sheriff sergeant small paul smalley helped her to the car. the state has not yet decided how to charge the teenager for what it says he did on friday. he'll be locked up here at the juvenile detention center for at least 23 days, until he goes to trial on an unrelated burglary charge. reporting live at the juvenile justice center in orange county, cathy bell ich, channel 9 yns news.

officials say they have a bush friar, 90% contained -- fire 90% contained. it burned a couple hundred acres from homes. a prescribed burn got out of control this afternoon. officials say a tractor used to contain the fire got stuck. no injuries have been reported. watching another fire that's close to several homes, this one along land fair avenue in deltona. not far from tom hoffman park, you can see the flames got as close as someone's backyard fence. a couple of lake county high school students face charges tonight for bringing a gun to school this morning and here's a picture of the gun, the deputies found at the high school. 17-year-old chance bass says he had the gun in his jacket, while he was in class, but he claims another student, 16-year-old tyler trap, fwaif it to him. investigate -- gave it to him. the investigators say the gun does not work. the search for missing baby

possibility her mother could be walking out of jail. susan richardson is behind bars on child neglect and abandonment charges after the police say she discarded her child. proving the charges will be tough if investigate tors never learn what happened to the baby. >> if mb has the baby, please bring her. and at least for the community's sake because we are worried. >>reporter: if charges aren't filed in 30 days, she may be able to walk out without paying bail, but prosecutors have 175 days from the time of the arrest to bring the case to trial. this afternoon, there was a public ceremony for a father and daughter found dead in their merritt island home on sunday. >> we just feel so bad about the baby, you know, known her since she was real little. >> investigators still haven't said how 13-year-old -- died. but they say her father,

a buddhist monk blessed their spirits today. >> the orange county millionaire convicted of murdering his wife, has been granted a new trial. bob ward filed 30 complains with the court last year, claiming his lawyer was ineffective. this 32 minute video and other mentions by prosecutors of ward's right to remain silent should have been objected to by his attorney. but they weren't. tonight, we don't know why his defense attorney, kirk kirkconnell never expected but our legal analyst says that might have been the plan all along. >> mr. kirkconnell had to know that the state had a power fful case. if he would have tried dvsly a perfect -- defensively a perfect case and kept the trial clean, there would be no grounds to appeal. >> ward's attorney will ask for bond eyewitness news uncovered the arrest history of another candidate for county commission,

alleged witness tampering and has a list of drug charges and stalking accusations against him. but he told angela jacobs his criminal past shouldn't deter voters from su poring him. >> -- supporting him. >> i want to be commissioner to serve these people. >>reporter: the people's candidate, jose says he's the leader district 3 needs, he also wants to explain a criminal record. >> some guy said that i said that i was tampering with him and that was a lie. >>reporter: we covered the case in 2010 when he was accused of threatening the campaign manager and he $2010 when he was accused of threatening the campaign manager and he husband, a former mayoral candidate. colon was accuse of threatening to take out rob richmond, adding richmond's wife would get hers if the couple testified against hernandez in her racketeering and bribery case. >> he proceeded ways to approach me and make threats against myself and my wife. >>reporter: more than five years later, richmond tells me he still has concerned about colon,

two years probation. >> i was worried he may take action. >>reporter: we found complaints from roommates at this orlando residence, it's the same address colon lists on the supervisor of elections website and where court documents we found showed the landlord is trying to evict him. in numerous texts, logged in the 12 page filing, threats. so we fk aed colon if anyone -- asked colon if anyone has any reason to fear him. >> should be a yes or no answer, should they fear you, yes or no. >> he maintains he is misunderstood. >> to the people that i said i'm a bad guy, i'm sorry, get to know me first before you make a judgment. >> angela jacobs, channel 9 yns news. three stalking complaints were dropped due to insufficient evidence. marijuana possession arrests stemmed from a past medical condition that he no longer suffers from. thousands of local homes, sold during the housing boom,

because of defective stucco. half of the homes have water intrusion. others have serious wood rot, and mold. a structural engineer recently told a florida house committee defective stucco repairs could cost 1 billion dollars statewide. signed. action 9 is live chatting about the damage right now, that could be lurking in your home. if you have a question for todd, log on to the wftv facebook page right now and submit your questions. bus drivers and other hourly employees are mounting a silent protest at an orange county school board meeting, right now, the workers say they are trying to bring attention to issues like low pay and extended hours. they believe their unions are overshadowed by the teachers union so they don't get enough attention from the school board. workers say they've been having to work split shift days that

a local police officer accused of writing bogus tickets and lying to get out of work is out of a job tonight. >> the other claims of misconduct that we uncovered that got him fired from another agency. >> dozens of residents in celebration say they are being charged to repair rot and termite damage, they say they shouldn't have po to pay. >> several damages tornadoes have struck in the deep south, more tornadoes on the ground

a police officer is accused of writing bogus tickets, incomplete reports, and lying to get out of doing work. >> and because the state says none of those are moral problems, he could end up at another department. >> channel 9's field sutton spent the day digging into the officer's law enforcement

another central florida department twice. in the past. >>reporter: before he was at lady lake, here, he was in mascot, and we took a look at the personnel file from there, his bosses wrote him up repeatedly, ended up getting fired. looking at the personnel file here, it's full of disciplinary forms, too, except this time, he chose to resign. 8 years ago, paul got thrown into the lake county jail, two years before that, he was kwithed of putting the wrong tag on his vehicle and never bother to pay the fines. he answered honestly when he went to the mascot police for a job. he was disciplined for not properly searching a prisoner, putting a juvenile in a cell at the adult jail and leaving the child there. and for the calls back and forth between he and his wife, when he was supposed to be on patrol. the city of mascot had enough and kicked him off the force. i went to his last known address to talk to him about all of

door told me i had the wrong place. according to the discipline records, i might have had better luck tracking him down for the other methods, the david computer system. and that was just the beginning. ard coing to these reports, there were traffic citations, that never got turned in for a supervisor's review, a report of a stolen vehicle, where he allegedly lied and said the theft happened in sumter county instead of investigating and another time he was interested in the stolen car that was not in his area, and allegedly disobeyed a direct order, leaving the north end of the city unmanned while a call for service was holding. well as of monday, he has left two central florida departments after what the state calls unfavorable misconduct. i did finally reach him by e-mail late this afternoon, he claims his departure from lady lake was something mutual. live in lady lake, field sutton, channel 9 eyewitness news. more than a 100 residents in

this, under blue tarps, because of leaking roofs and water damage, and tonight, there's a fight over who is going to pay for all of the repairs, celebration town center condos has had structural problems for years, and the owners are responsible for repairs to their individual units but lex season responsible for the outside of the building. home owners could have to pay an assessment. for some, that could be $40,000 this year. >> i'm angry, and as are the other 104 unit owners. and we're not going to take it. we're not going to take it. we're going down swinging. >>reporter: condo owners signed contracts agreeing that they would split repair costs for the billing, both sides met last night and failed to reach an agreement. problems with state testing are helping to fuel the opt out movement. organizers say their orlando group has grown to roughly 4,000

are po testing florida -- protesting florida's education tests. the computer based tests ran into numerous problems, and was attack. >> it is not that anti-testing. but we have no left to deny this data make an impact. >> the state says it has tested the system and had students take part in practice exams. the first actual computer test of the year, begins on monday. and tomorrow, orange county school officials will discuss the newly released school grades, they were released last week, and they're based on the controversial fsa test. school officials will hold 9 meetings to explain how the grading has changed, and if you're interested in attending, we have a list of the meeting times posted on our website, go to wftv.com,/web links. seminole county

to pch more bear re-- purchase more bear resistant trash cans for parks. $73,000 to buy 81 new bear resistant cans, they will be spread out among the ten pashgs in the bear management. meet to discuss three possible train station locations and hopes all aboard florida adds a stop along the space coast. planned to travel from oia to miami, making stops only in west palm beach and fort lauderdale. melbourne's mayor wants to add brevard county. one of carnival cruise lines ships is headed to port canaveral ra this spring and getting a make over before the space coast debut. a multimillion dollar dry dock that will add dining and bar innovations, and the magic currently sails from galveston, texas and will make port canaveral the new home in april, to begin year-round caribbean departures.

outbreak, still on going, going to be a very stormy night, just some of pictures, i have a more on my twitter feed. coming in from baton rouge, damage there, this was earlier today. another report coming in, that was over the lake, that is a kind of a tornadic waterspout, it is more like a tornado than just a fair weather storm over the water. but you can see it also had mini spouts on the sides. here is the big winter storm, through the south and lift north. and this will be a weaker storm system for us, but it's going great guns tonight. a dangerous situation, pds, tornado watch, we don't get many of these in the deep south. but we've had several reports of damage and tornado reports so far, for central florida, by the time we join you in the modern, we will have a slight risk

we'll be watching a line of thunderstorms developing between 9:00 a.m. and noon approaching i-4. so you need to start thinking about it right now. what you're going to be doing in the early to middle part of the afternoon tomorrow in case there's a tornado watching or a severe thunderstorm warning. if you live if a moeshl manufactured home, they are not safe. in a tornado event. so start thinking about maybe you've got a relative nearby that may have a more sound structure for you to hunker down in tomorrow in case we're on the air tracking tornadoes. either way, we'll keep it quiet for tonight. gusty thunderstorms as well. notice the enhanced thunderstorm activity by 1:00 as they storms meet up with warmer temperatures, we'll see an isolated tornado risk, i'm not expecting a tornado outbreak, but in all of our previous big outbreaks in florida, it's been one main storm, that's done the damage. so it doesn't take several. just one will do. so we're going to be watching carefully tomorrow, during the mid to latter part of the afternoon, 3:00 o'clock, as the

so it's going to be fast-moving storms, we will all be here to watch this storm system for you. tonight looks good. 74 downtown, a nice evening for you, rain will hold off until after daybreak, by the time everything moves out, anywhere from about an inch and a quarter to almost two inches of rain, in a few spotss along the heavier pours. pooif week week. likely -- five-day forecast with you weekend always in view. fantastic return to winter with dry weather, bob, all the way through the weekend. 100,000 vehicles are being recalled for faulty brakes. her recall notice came two days late and she had to take emergency action to keep from blowing through an intersection. >> some drivers could be out of luck when it comes to repairs, that's tonight on eyewitness

surveillance video has once again forced an nfl play tore apologize. the nfl's investigating jacksonville's dontae fowler, watching a fight between his girlfriend and the mother of his child. fowler, a former florida gator, apologizeded, said he was

in soccer, the staerts have played -- starters have played limited minutes. but the vacation is over. >> hoping to give what you hope to be as near to start in -- a full 90 if we can. we're sending one fan to the season opener as a tv 27 vip, one person can win a 4-pack of tickets, including purchase merchandise and on field access. i see florida.com. in the nba, the orlando magic get a redo. beat the magic by 9 points last month. at this point, orlando probably needs to win at least 18 of their final 28 games to make the playoffs ch head coach scott says this one they need to get. >> this is the must-win. if you want to talk about the playoffs and stuff, this is a

pressure to ourselves and see what we can do. >> as for high school basketball, orlando christian prep's season ended. lost 62-54 to grand view prep. bob, martha. all right. thank you, joe. and thank you for watching channel 9 eyewitness at 6:00.

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? breaking news tonight. the state of emergency this hour. multiple tornadoes reported already. the devastating damage. we're on the scene. about to power right up the east coast, 45 million in the path. also breaking, the new surveillance images of the alleged uber gunman. where he was in the hours before the rampage. the race for the white house, and tonight, the showdown in nevada. donald trump lashing out at ted cruz. and what trump said when asked