rodney dunigan on the scene. were any of the deputies involved hurt? >> reporter: thankfully they are ok. the four deputies responded to the apartment complex around 11:00 last night when they received reports of a man standing in the parking lot here screaming, waving a gun. as you can see behind me the scene here is still pretty active. the suspect in this case has been identified as 27-year-old jeffrey cassell. we're told he was shot multiple times. was taken to a local hospital and the sheriff's office tells us at last check he was in critical condition. deputies say when they got here to the winwood oaks apartments last night they confronted cassell and he was waving what they describe as a semiautomatic handgun. investigators tried to get him to put that gun down but say he aggressively came towards them pointing that weapon and that is when they fired. we're also told cassell did have a prior history of trouble with the law. we're still trying to gather more information on that. the four deputies involved in this case have been placed on routine

. >> abc action news reporter rodney dunigan keeping us up to date on the numbers killed and injured in the attack. rodney, the information continues to come in and the numbers have been changing throughout the morning. >> reporter: that's right. morning. as you mentioned 26 people killed in the attacks and at least 123 people injured. and those numbers continue to fluctuate so we're expecting them to go up. following the spletions -- explosions at the brussels airport and subway station the level. the subway is closed entirely and brussels airport officials have been advising people not to travel to the airport. in fact all flights to that airport have been cancelled until further notice. at this point no group has claimed responsibility for the attacks. just minutes ago we spoke with tom benigis by skype, a native of lakeland, in brussels on a mission trip. he's safe but at the time of the explosion two friends were set to take flight out of that airport. >> there's a lot of tension now of course. the whole transportation system, you can't go anywhere in brussels. no doubt i haven't

rodney dunigan headed to the courthouse now and will bring you updates as soon as we get them. >>> breaking news from seattle, washington. officials are on the scene of a massive gas explosion. >> nine seattle firefighters are in the hospital now. people are evacuated after a natural gas leak caused that building to explode early this morning. the blast happened in the city's greenwood neighborhood. officials say about 40 minutes after firefighters arrived to check on that gas leak the >> the nine firefighters only suffering minor injuries. right now dogs are being used to go through the rubble to make sure there are no other victims. officials say at least one building, possibly two, are heavily damaged while others suffered shattered windows and other minor damage. >>> the blast happening in the greenwood neighborhood. we're going to continue to follow that and keep you up to date. >>> right now though we turn to breaking news update, that we talked about earlier. a man is dead, four administrative leave following a shooting at the winwood tampa. >> 27-year-old jeffery casale was shot aft

abc action news reporter rodney dunigan joins us from the courthouse in st. pete. good morning, rodney. >> reporter: good morning. the jury in this case will be deciding if hulk hogan's right the release of the sex tape. his attorneys contend seven million people viewed the grainy sex tape since its release in 2012. they contend he made his sex life public with several media interviews the last few years. they posted a short clip from the full video. the six-member jury selected last week will determine if hogan's rights were violated. hogan, whose real name is terry bollea is suing gawker for $100 million for posting the tape of him and the ex-wife of a tampa radio host having sex, recorded in 2006 and released by this web site in 2012. hogan is possibly the biggest star in the wwe's history and was inducted into the hall of fame. for his part hogan says he had no knowledge of this tape being made. the tampa police department did a bit of investigating but at this point no one has been the case begins at 9:00 a.m. we'll bring you the latest developments on air and

rodney dunigan on the scene. were any of the deputies involved hurt? >> reporter: thankfully they are ok. the four deputies responded to the apartment complex around 11:00 last night when they received reports of a man standing in the parking lot here screaming, waving a gun. as you can see behind me the scene here is still pretty active. the suspect in this case has been identified as 27-year-old jeffrey cassell. we're told he was shot multiple times. was taken to a local hospital and the sheriff's office tells us at last check he was in critical condition. deputies say when they got here to the winwood oaks apartments last night they confronted cassell and he was waving what they describe as a semiautomatic handgun. investigators tried to get him to put that gun down but say he aggressively came towards them pointing that weapon and that is when they fired. we're also told cassell did have a prior history of trouble with the law. we're still trying to gather more information on that. the four deputies involved in this case have been placed on

reporting from north tampa, rodney dunigan, abc action news. >>> dozens of students from slide middle school stepped inside this mega heart. it's the world's only portable inflatable walk-through heart exhibit. the students are getting a hands-on learning experience from a medical professional. >> wow. you can actually see what the heart actually looks like without looking at little details in a book or from reading little passages. it's really a whole lot easier. long heart lecture series that educates guests on heart health. the exhibit is included with admission and open to all guests. >>> our thoughts are with the firefighters who were injured. as a first responder, we understand the danger they face. >>> a natural gas leak causes an explosion just as fire crews get to the scene. coming up, we will show you what is left and how the men are doing right now. >>> plus this -- >>> pinellas county is beautiful this time of year but also hit hard by extreme weather events. i'm adam weiner. we will have a look how frequently these extreme weather events are hitting us in the tampa bay ar

some are calling it the final rodney dunigan joins us live from tropicana field with the political impact of this visit. good morning, rodney. >> reporter: good morning. as you guys mentioned this visit, along with this game signals a major shift in relations between the u.s. and cuba but this visit also comes with a bit of controversy, a number of people here in the cuban community, in the u.s., believe this game along with the visit ignores the pain that the cuban people have endured under this regime of this government for many years. the communist cuban government resisted change for a half century now. it's believed this game along with the meeting between the leaders of our two countries is a slow sign of progress. raul castro has stressed his grievances with the u.s. including an embargo that still stands. president obama has delivered a tough message to the cuban government to begin respecting basic human freedoms. >> continue as president castro indicated to have serious democracy and human rights. president castro and i have had very frank and candid conversations on the subject

abc action news reporter rodney dunigan now following that side of the story. >> reporter: political experts believe that the state of florida is a true test market to determine if a campaign can win nationwide so you can expect to see a lot more of these faces across your tv screens and political ads and in local communities over the next two weeks. many of these candidates are quietly ramping up their campaign offices opening and field operations picking up. 99 delegations up for grabs for the republicans and democrats are looking for 246 delegates. on the democratic side early polling indicates that florida favors former secretary of state hillary clinton because of the state's diversity. at this point clinton leads florida with more than six campaign offices that she's coming. on the republican side one person who is really counting on the state of florida of course is senator marco rubio. in fact in his super tuesday rally last night rubio vowed to win florida's primary. >> two weeks from tonight, right here in florida, we are going to send a message loud and clear! [ cheering a

abc action news reporter rodney dunigan live at the courthouse >> reporter: in just a matter of hours, 8:00, hulk hogan will be walking through the doors of the pinellas county courthouse. he's expected to take the stand once again and today he'll be describing in further detail what led him to make the decision to sleep with his best friend's wife. in day one of testimony he described how he was in a dark place in his life at the time. he was going through a breakup with his wife and he believed that bubba and his wife heather were some of the only friends that he had at the time. at the urging of his friend he agreed to sleep with heather at the couple's home but what he claims he did not know was that encounter in 2006 was being recorded. that video made its way to the web site gawker. they posted it and here we are today, millions of internet views later. hogan says he was completely humiliated when he learned of the tape's release. he described in court exactly how he was lured in. >> it was like a low point in my life that -- when bubba house, let's talk. i was so desperate i we

abc action news reporter rodney dunigan is here to show us what is at stake. >> reporter: a lot is at stake. half the delegates needed for the republican candidate to win the nomination are at stake and in a dozen state races republican frontrunner donald donald and democratic leader hillary clinton seem to be

abc action news reporter rodney dunigan is live at tropicana field. with more on the political impact this is happening. stirring a little bit of controversy. >> reporter: it certainly is. many folks in the cuban community in the u.s. see this as a slap in the face. they see the pain endured but so many folks by -- by so many folks in cuba and they say that is being ignored. the game and meeting between president obama and cuba's ruler raul castro is a major shift in relations. the communist cuban government has resisted change for a half century. the u.s. still has an embargo against cuba and that still stands today. president obama has maintained that cuba has to make changes in respect to basic human freedoms. >> we continue as president castro indicated to have serious differences including on democracy and human rights. and president castro and i have had very frank and candid conversations on these subjects. >> reporter: president obama will be making an address to he will also be attending that game between the tampa bay rays and the cuban nati

abc action news reporter rodney dunigan joins us live from the courthouse in st. petersburg. this could have a damaging effect on the gawker web site. >> reporter: it can. the outcome of this trial could not only force gawker out of business but it could force other celebrity web sites just like this to change the way they do business. for their part attorneys for the gawker web site say they've process. just a few minutes ago we got fresh video of hulk hogan as he entered the courthouse today. he didn't have comments for the media but did appear to be pretty confident, as you can imagine. the punitive damages are meant to punish defendants for intentional wrongdoing. gawker's appeal will focus on the recently unsealed documents in this case, also lawyers for the web site contend that hogan filed the lawsuit in efforts to hide racist statements he made in that video. for his part hogan maintained he did not know that video was being shot and did not authorize its release. we have a crew in the courthouse today and we will be following this story throughout the morning. if you

abc action news reporter rodney dunigan is at the st. pete courthouse. it's take an long time to get this case to court. in fact this tape was first posted in 2012. hogan is suing gawker forstein 100 million -- for $400 million. his attorneys say this grainy sex video has been viewed across the world more than seven million times on the opening statements are set to begin at 9:00 in the civil trial between hulk hogan and the popular web site gawker. hogan is suing that site after the release of that sex tape of him and the now ex-wife of love sponge." the jury will decide in this case if hogan's right to privacy was violated. the web site says he made his sex life public on several media interviews the last few years. hulk hogan, real name terry bollea was recorded in 2006. the biggest star in the wwe history and inducted into the wwe hall of fame. and 40-second clip from the 30- -minute interview. hogan says he didn't know he was being recorded at the time. today's court proceedings begin 9:00 this morning. we'll have a crew inside and streaming those o

. >> abc action news reporter rodney dunigan live at the courthouse in st. petersburg. rodney, hogan is pretty emotional about this. reason. when he walks back through the 8:00, just a few hours and more of his personal life will be put on display for the entire world to see. he is expected to take the stand once again this morning. hogan says yesterday that he was at a low point in his life when he was lured into this sexual relationship with the wife of his best friend, tampa radio host "bubba the love sponge." at the time hogan says he was going through a tough breakup with his wife testifying again in day one of his privacy lawsuit against the gawker web site he says he didn't authorize the tape to be made or give gawker permission to publish it. hogan says the taping of his encounter with heather klem was a setup by a couple he believed were his friends. heather? >> to the best of my knowledge three, maybe four but it was the only place that i actually felt safe. as crazy as that sounds. those people -- bubba made me feel he was my best friend. the people made me fe

abc action news reporter rodney dunigan is here to show us what is at stake. >> reporter: a lot is at stake. half the delegates needed for the republican candidate to win the nomination are at stake and in a dozen state races republican frontrunner donald donald and democratic leader hillary clinton seem to be donald trump expected to win colorado, along with oklahoma and arkansas. we also have alabama and georgia here. along with tennessee, minnesota, up here. and the small state of vermont along with massachusetts. senator ted cruz is expected to win his home state only of texas. at this point as it stands donald trump has 82 delegates, ted cruz has 17, florida senator mubarak mubarak has 16. 595 delegates are up for grabs today. republicans are almost half the delegates needed to win the republican nomination. for the two democrats in the race, they are fighting for 865 total delegates today including the super delegates, former secretary of state hillary clinton is expected to take at least nine of the states. we have oklahoma, we also have arkansas here, along with we have georgi

pete, rodney dunigan, abc action news. >>> 6:35. tampa police are still searching for a hit-and-run driver who killed a man on a bike. here's video from the scene. we learned the victim was a man in his 40s. investigators have not yet released his name but we're told he was riding his bike on interbay boulevard, this is near 6th street south, happened saturday night, we're told he was hit and we're working with tampa police, again, to get you involved. >>> covering hernando county -- several families are back in their homes this morning after a gas leak forced them out this weekend. we have some photos of fire crews working on the problem on killian street in spring hill last night. turns out an underground pipe from one of the homes was leaking propane gas. 800 homes were cleared as a precaution. all the homeowners were able to return after crews fixed that leak. >>> an easy way to save money on your child's next money, if school there. the district is providing free lunch for them today and the rest of the week. pick up your free

abc action news reporter rodney dunigan joins us live from the courthouse in st. pete. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. i want to set the scene if i can. a lot of media attention and attention across this community for this case this morning. actually just came out of the courthouse, it took us 30 minutes to get inside going through security. a lot of media presence and just court observers, from this community wanting to get in the courtroom to see what is going on. to give you an example of the wide media scope, a team from "good morning, america" here as well as people magazine. that shows you how much attention this case is getting. it dates back 10 years ago to when the tape was first shot, to 2012 when gawker media released it. the attorneys for hulk hogan say since that time about seven million people have watched this tape and now hulk hogan is seeking $100 million from gawker media. hulk hogan was known for his flamboyant style and huge personality. in recent years it's been this grainy video of the wrestling superstar garnering all the attention. the 1

throws the campaign into high gear as candidates vie for a abc action news reporter rodney dunigan is here to break down some of the predictions. >> reporter: this is a huge day for the democrats and republicans starting of course on the gop side, 595 delegates are up for grabs as it currently stands now. donald trump leads the pack with 82 delegates, if you head on down, texas senator ted cruz has 17 and florida senator marco rubio with 16. 11 states will be deciding today's outcome. knows, texas with 155 delegates on the line for republicans. as it stands now ted cruz is expected to win in that state. anything less than a major victory there could be majorly damaging to his campaign. results from super tuesday of course have the potential to shake up that race or simply seal the deal for donald trump's campaign. 1,237 total delegates are needed to secure the republican nomination. trump has already looked good in early polling numbers in states. meanwhile of course for the democrats, when you add up the super delegates former secretary of state hillary clinton has a large lead over

. > it is, abc action abc action news rodney dunigan at the tampa international airport. have you seen increased presence? >> reporter: you couldn't miss it. as soon as we walked through the doors there were three uniformed police officers walking the halls even before passengers got here. airport officials say it's a key part what have they are doing to not only keep people safe but keep minds at ease. what you will also notice when you arrive here, more tsa agents at the checkpoints and also notice more police k-9s walking the property as well. at tampa international announcements have also been passengers that if they see anything suspicious they should report it right away. left unattended. we spoke with a number of passengers this morning who are still shaken by what happened in brussels. and relieved to know steps are safe. >> i understand there are meshers that have to be taken to give yourself a better chance of preventing that kind of stuff. if it means a little longer over the line that i have to go through i'm good with that. >> it makes us feel more safe. it's

abc action news reporter rodney dunigan is live at tampa international and rodry, travel thrers definitely seeing a -- travelers definitely seeing a difference. >> reporter: that's right. they will notice three things off the bat. something we notice when we walked in this morning. travelers will also notice they will see more tsa agents at the gates and even more police k-9s walking around the property. this is in an effort not only to keep passengers safe but also to keep their minds at ease. as you know after yesterday's attack airline travelers have no doubt been on edge and for good reason. so far no flight at tampa international have been affected by this. the airport doesn't have direct flights to brussels. however, airport officials say daily announcements warn airline passengers to be aware of anything suspicious and report it. that includes bags or items left unattended. back here live this morning, of course with extra emphasis on security airline officials also warning folks to get here early, about an hour and-a-half to two hours before that flight to make sure they get throug

reporter rodney dunigan will bring a live report from tia coming up at 5:30. >>> people around the world are paying tribute to the victims of the attacks in belgium. people gathered around a memorial near the -- near the palace there. paris, new york, washington, dc, many other cities around the world have been showing their support by lighting up major monuments in the colors of the belgian flag. >>> 5:04. breaking news overnight -- democracy 2016 -- the results are in for the latest states to pick the president nominees. bernie sanders winning two of the three states against hillary clinton. >> the vermont senator gained delegates in utah and idaho but clinton's delegate lead. chin was victorious in arizona. the biggest prize of the night was 75 delegates. she'll get most of those to add to her pledged delegate lead. on the republican side ted cruz won the caucuses in utah. earlier we found the gop frontrunner donald trump won the arizona primary taking all the state's delegates to the republican national convention. trump defeated texas senator ted cruz who toured the u.s./mexico bord

pete, rodney dunigan, abc action news. >>> 5:36. we're just learning the name of the latest service member killed by enemy fire in northern iraq. the department of defense saying staff sergeant lewis f. cardin was a marine from southern california. and say he died two days ago from injuries when his rocket was hit by rocket fire. the last killing of a service member in iraq was in october of 2015. >>> the lone surviving terrorist of the paris attacks is talking to investigators and admitting he was planning more attacks. salah abdelslam was arrested this weekend. according to the belgian foreign minister, with him a large number of weapons were saleh abdelslam is now fighting extradition to france and his lawyers say they will take legal action against the paris prosecutor for revealing details about the interrogation. he's scheduled to make his first court appearance on wednesday. >>> time now 5:37. in democracy 2016 -- presidential hopeful donald trump is addressing some white house business this morning. the gop frontrunner says

rodney dunigan will have more at 5:00. >>> minutes ago dale mabry highway reopened after being closed for hours due to a deadly accident. tampa police say a motorcyclist and pickup collided at the intersection of cypress street and dale mabry after 1:00 this morning. sadly the motorcyclist died.

rodney dunigan, abc action news. >>> we've been much cooler the last couple of days. in the morning. higher humidity makes it feel nice. warm breezy later today and temperatures once again go into the 70s. by 9:00 we should be hitting that mark and well into the 70s. look at that, 80 by 1:00. then low 80s as we head into the afternoon and evening commute which once again like yesterday dry. and the wind won't be too much of an issue. a little breezy but no real problems on the skyway. >>> pretty good on the roads unless you're on i-4 where we have a crash that we've been following for a little while now. it's blocking the outside lane around 50th street. you can see the flashing lights. we have a car that looks like it ran off the road near this wall over there. so cars are slowing down to take a look. let's check drive times to see if it's causing any significant delays. we're still in the green on i-4 heading westbound, 23 minutes from county line road to downtown. 15 minutes from county line road to 75. and just eight minutes from 75 to 275. i have been checking th

i am rodney dunigan. the time is just about 6:30. >>> the nellis park police are investigating possible dog abuse caught on camera. demanding this video tells officers that he was trading the dog for a protective dog sport at the doghouse. detectives think this video is a bit too extreme. the state attorney is also investigating the owner of the doghouse as she let the man borrow her yard and said her staff never would've allowed the man to train that dog like that.>>> several undocumented immigrants are being forced out of government housing in dade city. some are accused of using fraudulent social security cards to pass for us citizens. official say they discovered more than 20 cases so far. the tenets all have until yesterday to leave the apartments. the deputies have not evicted anyone just yet as their investigation continues. >> spacex successfully put a satellite into orbit but failed yet again to land the rocket at sea. it was the missions fifth unfortunately, that attempt to land on a drone ship

i'm rodney dunigan. >>> here is what we're watching. police are investigating possible.bbs caught on camera. the man in this video tells officers he was training the dog. at the dog house llc. detectives think this video looks too extreme. the state attorney is investigating. the owner of the doghouse said she let the man borrow her yard and said her staff would have never allowed the man to train a dog like this. >>> donald trump will be in orlando today but so will his campaign said 20,000 are expected at the university of central florida. he will be speaking there at 2 pm. across the street, thousands of anti-trump demonstrators are also expected. university police tell us they are working with all sides to make sure that the event stays peaceful. >>> space x successfully put a satellite into orbit but failed again to land a rocket at sea. it was the missions fifth launch attempt. unfortunately, the attempt to land the booster rocket on a drone ship failed again. elon musk tweeted out, the booster just came back to earth too fast but

abc action news reporter rodney dunigan joins us live with florida's impact on this race. rodney -- >> reporter: a number of these candidates have actually started to open up campaign offices here in the state of florida. in fact hillary clinton has a grand opening for a new office here in tampa set for 6:00 tonight. the mayor will also be at that event. you'll also be seeing a lot more of these candidatesaged their faces on local political ads as we get to this primary two weeks from now. political experts believe the state of florida is a true test market for campaigns' ability to win across the nation. early polling indicates that hillary clinton will win big on the democratic side. however vermont senator bernie sanders still holding out hope trump is ahead here in florida with marco rubio in second place. at his rally just last night in miami. rubio remained confident. >> we are so excited by what lies ahead for our campaign. you see, just five days ago we began to unmask the true nature of the frontrunner so far in this race. five days ago we began to explain to the a

. >> abc action news reporter rodney dunigan is tracking the numbers this morning. predicting a bit of a landslide for both clinton and trump today. >> that's right. despite that, however, all the candidates vowed to stay in the race no matter what today's outcome is. with so many delegates at stake everybody is starting from ground zero until it's all said and done at least on our big wall. here's a look at the 12 states involved in today's super tuesday. there are a total of 595 delegates at stake for republicans and about 865 delegates for democrats. voters were out bright and early casting ballots including vermont senator bernie sanders who is expected to win in his home state. polling numbers indicate that hillary clinton will win at least nine states today, but the state of colorado could be a wildcard. recent polls show bernie sanders is closing that gap in that state. on the republican side the experts say that donald trump will dominate today. that prediction is the texas the lone star state. then florida senator marco rubio, if he makes no noise this super tuesday, political

abc action news reporter rodney dunigan joins us live from the cuban club in ybor city with florida's impact on this race. candidates have already hit the >> reporter: that's right. in fact a number of the candidates have started to open campaign offices right here in the state of florida. in fact hillary clinton will be opening one at the cuban club later today. supporters have a major campaign and party set for this evening at 6:00 this evening. in fact the mayor of tampla will be here to help kick things off. this is a start of a busy two weeks as the candidates crisscross the state looking for votes. many of the candidates are quietly ramping up their efforts in florida. with campaign offices opening and field operations picking up. political experts believe that the state is a true test market of a campaign's ability to win across the nation. on the democratic side early polling indicates that florida favors hillary clinton, the former secretary of state making a major push here, already with six campaign offices and more coming. celebrating her super tuesday numbers with support

agreed to have sex with the wife of his then best friend tampa radio host "bubba the love sponge." rodney dunigan was at the more. >> it was like a low point in my life that -- when bubba says hey, man, come to the house, let's talk. i was so -- so desperate i went there. one thing led to another, i just let my guard down. >> reporter: in day one of testimony wrestling superstar hulk hogan described how he was in a dark place in his life. going through a breakup with his wife and he believed that bubba and his wife heather were some of his only friends at the time. >> i felt like those people cared about me. >> reporter: at the urging of his friend he agreed to sleep with heather at the couple's home. what he claims he didn't know, the encounter in 2006 was being to the web site gawker. they posted it and here we are today, millions of internet views later. >> bubba made me feel like he was my best friend. me. as weird as it felt, as crazy as it sounds at that time it just -- was the only thing i had. >> reporter: hogan says he was completely humiliated when he learned of the release. nick depart

. >> abc action news reporter rodney dunigan keeping us up to date on the numbers killed and injured in the attack. rodney, the information continues to come in and the numbers have been changing throughout the morning. >> reporter: that's right.

rodney dunigan headed to the courthouse now and will bring you updates as soon as we get them. >>> breaking news from seattle, washington. officials are on the scene of a massive gas explosion. >> nine seattle firefighters are in the hospital now. people are evacuated after a natural gas leak caused that building to explode early this morning. the blast happened in the city's greenwood neighborhood. officials say about 40 minutes after firefighters arrived to check on that gas leak the