. >> tonight, abc action news reporter sarah rosario is taking action to find out why it too so long. sarah. >> reporter: so 911 is the three numbers we all know to call to get immediate help. right? that didn't work for one woman who saw someone else driving towards her on this on-ramp to 75, forcing her to call for help three times. >> if this was a life or death call, i would have died. >> reporter: nicole elliot can't believe her eyes after a semi-truck barely missing another driver going the wrong way on this on-ramp in wesley chapel. >> i didn't know if he had come off of 75. how long he had been driving the wrong way. it floored me. i don't understand how this happens so often here. >> reporter: she immediately calls 911. >> it rang about 50 times and cut me off. she tries two more times and finally gets through. give the operator the tag, make and model but is told there is nothing that they can do. intoxicated and he said unfortunately there is nothing that we can do about it. >> reporter: elliot takes to facebook, getting more than 70 comments in less than 24 hours. situatio

reporting live in highlands county, sarah rosario, abc >>> sarah, thank you. >>> a federal judge has agreed a teacher on bond. he tells us what federal agents say this man was doing. >> reporter: a shock to students and musicians. a mug shot of this university of tampa professor along with court documents linking him to child prostitution. nathan mattson a music professor and director of the community orchestra. >> i have always had a great respect for him. >> reporter: rick alvarez used to play in the orchestra with mattson. he has two daughters of his own. >> i'm extremely disappointed. i think he served as a mentor to many students. i had a lot of respect for him. >> reporter: on march 3rd, undercover agents posted an ad on a website acting as a man trying to pimp out a 14-year- old girl. mattson responded. he was talking to an undercover he wanted to engage in quote back door water sports with the girl, always using protection. agents say when he showed up he was nervous and brought condoms. now people like rick hopes something good comes out of this arrest. >> my girls mean the

. >> sarah rosario live with how they're doing tonight. sarah. >> reporter: well, wendy and jamison, that three-year-old little girl is still recovering here in the hospital after being shot in the stomach. the good news is that she and the 23-year-old who was shot with her are expected to recover. but now with a gunman still out on these streets, neighbors tell me they won't be able to sleep tonight. >> pop, pop, pop. >> reporter: the sound of gunshots ringing out just before 2:00 p.m., neighbors rushing outside to find 23-year- old terrell holloman who they say was shot trying to protect a three-year-old girl. >> he was screaming, everybody was screaming, the guy that got shot was screaming, and i felt helpless. >> reporter: that neighbor calling 911, sending police searching for the getaway car, possibly a white dodge challenger. you can see just how big the response. st. pete's police chief and mayor outraged a three-year-old is caught in the crossfire. >> to the person what did this, what is a coward and would shoot a child, we're goin

. >> i'm sarah rosario, dan shaffer has the morning off. that in a moment but first the police shootout overnight in chicago. in the end result of that gun battle. one man dead, three police officers wounded. the good news, all the officers are expected to survive. police say the three officers were investigating drug activity on the city's west side when they saw a man and woman acting suspiciously. their presence they say the man ran into an alleyway and opened fire hitting the officers. at least one officer returned fire killing the man. detectives say the woman was take noon custody for questioning. >>> a man who led pasco deputies on a high speed pursuit will be in court this afternoon. the sheriff telling us this violent chase began when deputies tried to stop a man weaving down a trinity road in a landscaping truck. deputies tried to get 46-year- old christopher kunte to pull over but he refused. instead they say he kept swerving and leaving them on a chase. and gwen he got to trinity boulevard and eastlake road he ran into two patro

sarah rosario is live there right now. sarah. >> reporter: laura, this is still a very active investigation. if you take a look behind me, you can see where police have marked off the perimeter of this house. this is where police say the 23- year-old and the toddler were sitting on this porch when someone drove by, starting firing shots here, hitting both of them. both of the people immediately rushed to the hospital. and police are now looking for the suspects responsible. as we go to video, you can see the window of this house. a grandmother was inside the house at the time. thankfully she was not hurt. this happened just before 2:00 p.m. this is the area that police are looking for shell casings. they are looking for evidence that could lead them to a suspect. they are looking for a four- door white car, possibly a dodge challenger is what they are telling us. they don't know how many people were inside the car or if more than one person fired the shots. the 3-year-old and the 23-year- old were the only person on this po

reporting in highland county, sarah rosario, abc action news. >>> now the most accurate weather team in florida, abc action weather. >> good evening, everybody. another sunny and dry day. this is not rain. this was a pretty decent brush fire that was burning around the san antonio area. about 30 acres. this was the source. for a period of time, it was burning pretty good. then all of a sudden everything seems to be under control. no longer an issue. and the rest of the area is quiet and warm with temperatures in the low 80s. tomorrow and thursday we go even warmer. satellite picture looks good. a little cloud cover out there now. by the weekend, we will see cloud cover. nice evening tomorrow. we wake up in the 60s. we will pinpoint the timing and location of the best chance for rain this weekend coming up. >>> thank you, denis. the hulk hogan sex tape trial. he was back on the stand today for his lawsuit against gawker. >> attorneys are grilling hulk hogan on his actions. saying that the tape is not what damaged his reputation. carson chambers is live outside of the courthouse. >> re

reporting in spring hill, sarah rosario, abc action news. >>> turning now to democracy 2016. with super tuesday in the rear view mirror, the next round of voting comes this weekend. >> many experts say the march 15th primaries, including the one in florida could help mashek is in the studio to break it down. >> no surprise we have been talking about this for several weeks now. the two front runners unchanged. we have donald trump on the top of the leader board on the republican side and it's democratic side. here is the challenge as we move forward in this race. when you look at the numbers, 300. and the magic number that he has to get to is over 1200 delegates. he is only about a fourth of the way right now. there two of his challengers of course marco rubio and john kasich their home states are coming up in the next vote. 66 delegates up for grabs in ohio. 99 here in florida. both of those states are winner take all. when you think about the 160- plus delegates, it could stop donald trump in his tracks when it comes to reaching that magical number. of course that means that

sarah rosario is showing us the new report the family is ignite the search for his killer. good morning, sarah. >> good morning. david neel's family is still upset. he never made it to the strawberry festival that fateful night of march, 2005. now they are hoping that this video will bring in new information that leads to an arrest and also bringing them one step closer to closure. this sunday marks 11 years since detectives say neel was driving on i-75 in zephyr hills when the bullet went through the door of his truck killing him. the person who filed that shot is still out there. now neel's family who is still participating in the strawberry festival is offering a $25,000 reward to find that killer. even though it's been more than ten years, neel's daughter is still trying to come to grips of what happened. now she's holding on to the memories of her father while investigators continue to search for new leads. >> he was just a funny guy, you anything. he loved being a grandfather. >> reporter: crimestoppers of tampa bay is offering an additional award negotiation what the

. >> plus, sarah rosario at the strawberry festival, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, dan. i'm here with royalty happen hear ye, hear ye, we have the queen and her court talking about the live entertainment in >>> it's 6:10, and we're getting reports of a report of several short-range projectiles under the seas and the u.n. security council passed it in decades. this is concerning because the move could aggravate north korea's neighbors. we're working to find out whether they fired missiles, rockets, or something else. >>> the envelope's drawn out fight to suspend tom brady over the deflate gate scandal heads back to court today. it tossed out brady's four-game suspension for improperly inflated footballs. a federal judge would decide whether it is for legal reasons. if the appeals court agrees be suspended this fall. >>> all right. i have a fast for the big strawberry festival and i think you will like it here. we'll time that out for you and check your forecast coming pupp >>> an unwelcomed visitor makes himself right at home in a bay area family's home. we'll show you th

sarah rosario is getting her green on in downtown tampa. the green fest is less than two hours away. always a great event with lots of food, music and beer and a green river. >> reporter: that's right. everyone to do. if you look behind me, this is where it will take place. you can see the tents are set up. the soundstage and the musicians are on stage getting ready. this is all for a good time. we are tracking some rain. again, plenty of family fun things for you to do and enjoy. we will have a bunch of food, beer vendors, local restaurants, children's activities along with irish tunes and games. the best part about it is it's free. it starts at 11 am and ends at 4 pm. this is what it boils down to. the dying of the hillsborough river. this is the fifth year that tampa has done this celebration. that will start after 11 am. the mayor will do the honors. if you are worried about the green water, the good news is it is non-toxic. and biodegradable. it will not hurt anything here. if you are planning to head here, give yourself time. we did n

reporting live in highlands county, sarah rosario, abc

>> reporter: coming up at 5:30, abc action news reporter sarah rosario is finding out how much money agencies and neel's family are pulling together to get a tip that leds to an arrest. >>> a car backed into a day care in zephyr hills. last evening when the car apparently backed into it. we're told children were standing nearby at the time but no one was seriously hurt. >>> a tampa bay first grader nearly servers a finger in school and now his teacher is on administrative leave opinion he was holding a door last thursday when the door was slammed on his fingers, nearly serverring two of them. wounds. the family has hired an attorney claiming there's no doubt his teacher did it, but they are not sure if it was intentional. >> his father showed up at school and there was blood all over the floor and the child screaming. so we node to find out what in the -- we need to find out what in the world is happening at this school. >> we need to make sure this does not happen to my child or anyone else's child again. investigations. >>> a trial date has now been set for the bradenton mother cha

abc action news reporter sarah rosario will join us live with a preview of this year's festival. >>> now all we need is the weather to cooperate. >> my goodness. look at this, 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. and we have josh turner playing the stage at 7:30. temperatures, yeah, holding in the 70s. we have a front coming in tomorrow. we'll talk about that and the weekend forecast ahead. >>> forgetting burglaries. coming up at 5:00, an arizona breaking into at least two >>> welcome back. 4:44. a youth football league is celebrating despite encountering tough obstacles recently. thieves repeatedly broke into the concession stand and stole thousands worth of equipment. >> the community stepped up to help out. cameron polom shows us how. >> reporter: when people steal truss, they are stealing from the kids. there's no other way to put it. >> reporter: joe rodriguez is upset, and he should be. just last week, vandals broke into the home field of the rams' youth football league. >> this section of fence right here. >> reporter: slicing their way through this chain link fence, busting out a window

sarah rosario, abc action news. >>> officers want to reassure neighbors that this was not a random act of violence. the mayor says he's working with police and city council to address the gun violence in the southern part of the city. >>> an orlando man faces charges after he was caught on camera shooting video up a young girl's skirt. he was caught in the act on two separate occasions last month. the victims are a 5-year-old and 13-year-old. police use video footage to identify irwin, who was positively identified. police say this is a great example of if you see something, say something money >>> florida lawmakers are set to conclude the legislature's 60-day session. one of the last things they have to do is pass the state's $80 billion budget. yesterday, legislators helped college will cost them. this passes a notice before a vote to raise tuition and fees. it requires schools to post online a list of books required for any class at least 45 days before a semester begins. >>> a new warning right now about the drug spice. tampa says they've seen a recent spike for the synthetic marij

. >> i'm sarah rosario. >> and breaking news from ruskin. three people shot overnight. sale. detectives say it was not drug related but at some point things turned bad, gunshots hospital. it's unclear how many people anyone in custody. a crew is on the scene now and we'll bring you new information as we get updates from them. >>> here's ivan cabrera with florida's most accurate 7-day forecast. another cold start. >> it's cold out there. temperatures now, in tampa at least, 52, clearwater and st. pete, 57. that is the warm spot as we wind the view, we can see we have indeed much colder conditions. cold enough the national weather service issued the frost advisory last night. mid-30s with patchy frost through 9:00 a.m. incredible, on this first week pattern we're in. we'll break it quickly the next several days. upper 30s now. we'll drop a few more degrees, 40s across the interior and there's the milder spot along the coast as we plan the day with the forecast, temperatures climbing into the mid-60s. then mid-70s, not as cold tonight. talking about 80-degree weather coming back

. >> tonight, abc action news reporter sarah rosario is taking action to find out why it too so long. sarah. >> reporter: so 911 is the three numbers we all know to call to get immediate help. right? that didn't work for one woman who saw someone else driving towards her on this on-ramp to 75, forcing her to call for help three times. >> if this was a life or death call, i would have died. >> reporter: nicole elliot can't believe her eyes after a semi-truck barely missing another driver going the wrong way on this on-ramp in wesley chapel. >> i didn't know if he had come off of 75. how long he had been driving the wrong way. it floored me. i don't understand how this happens so often here. >> reporter: she immediately calls 911. >> it rang about 50 times and cut me off. she tries two more times and finally gets through.

sarah rosario, abc action newsp. >>> polk county is reporting the first sexually transmitted zika virus case. zika is mainly transmitted sexual transmission is more common than previously thought. florida has confirmed now 52 cases of the zika virus. >>> good morning. upper 60s right now. we are traching rain getting here by the weekend. it doesn't sound great but we'll time it out for you and see it's not all that bad out here. here's the rainfall here that has been falling over the same area we call this training. just like trains travel on tracks and doesn't deviate, this doesn't, either. you sometimes see this some spring, but it's unusual to get such a strong high to our east and blocks the rain. that's why it's been so terrible and we'll show you the pictures throughout the morning. here's the high eventually breaking down. it's just taking the entire week to do so. once it does, the rain begins to move east. that is good for them, not so break down. we're watching futurecast. there it is friday. still on saturday. to our west, great news for saturday activities. i think we'll be

. >> sarah rosario joins us live with more on what we can expect. good morning, sarah. >> reporter: good morning, deiah and dan. what isn't out there. we're here in front of the rides which is what a lot of people come out here for, also. as you mention, they come out for the big entertainment. a lot of country music artists and lots more. i want to introduce you right now to a man who's helped pup this all together. lots of work has gone in to this. he is the president of the strawberry festival. how are you doing? >> i'm doing well. for the 11-day event we're getting ready to have, we've got over 2500 volunteers working hard for months to put all of this together. it's all about the strawberry, but it's about so much more. it's about the food and big named entertainment. we've got new foods this year. i think we have the red neck ham. we've got the -- we've got the red neck hamburger. we have the strawberry fritter which is new. and the amish frite. >> and the sweetheart. >> my wife tried it and said it's absolutely wonderful. >> reporter: let's ta

. >> i'm sarah rosario. deiah riley has the morning off. this morning president obama will be waking up in havana, cuba, the first sitting president to visit the island nation in fearly 90 years. >> president raul castro didn't meet obama at the airport yesterday but planning to talk to him today. the family spent much of the day touring old historic sites in havana. >> and laura harris is following the president's visit and explains the tampa bay connection to the president's historic trip. >> it's pretty hard trying to keep up with the president of the united states. that with -- bus behind me, a lot of rays fans got off. the doors there are the doors they will be walking in any minute now. yes, the tampa bay rays. we caught the motorcade after leaving the airport. interesting to watch the cuban people lining the streets to see a u.s. president. many no doubt understanding the significance of the visit. even our taxi driver took it in quietly. even saw secretary of state john kerry arriving with the first family taking a tour of old havan

sarah rosario is live where families are facing eviction. >> reporter: yes, the city says that this motel is danger us and a nuisance. but the motel says that they serve a lot of local families and should be able to stay open. now the pinellas county school district is working fast to give the families options before it's too late. people who live at the mosley motel wonder if today will be the last day they will be allowed to stay. ginger has seen kids grow up as she lived here. dealing with a lawsuit and the city of st. pete trying to stay open. but it could close at any time. that will low the lives of kids into chaos. >> think about it this way, what if it was one of your kids living here. >> reporter: pinellas school board member flowers says the kids are already facing the toughest of challenges. poverty, hungry and more. >> it's hard to study when you have two adults and four kids size beds. >> reporter: the school board is putting parents through job referral programs and finding them transitional housing that they can afford. >> it's putting many pieces of the puzzle together. we

sarah rosario, abc action news. >>> in democracy 2016, it is up to the presidential candidates to make a name for themselves when it comes to winning over florida. >> the governor says he won't make any endorsements before the primary. he writes that he trusts voters to pick the candidate they want. donald trump is reportedly buying tv ad time hoping to take the final blow at marco rubio's campaign to take him down. as you probably noticed, attack ads targeting trump are also trump does not seem worried about it. >> trump entrusted convicts to help him run his company. >> we're doing really well in florida. >> reporter: the an tie trump movement is spending monstrous amounts of money. trump's business partners say all of his business connections in florida maim him just as much a florida guy as he is a new york guy. of course, it was heated when trump joined his rivals on stage at last night's debate in michigan. >> we teamed one politi-fact. he talked about 9/11 hijackers and families. >> the wife knew exactly what was happening. they left two days early with respect to the world trad

sarah rosario, abc action news. >> thank you, say. >>> a violent criminal off the child. we just got our hands on his arrest report. >> allegations that he abused three children. one victim saying the abuse went on for years. tonight. >> reporter: over the past 14 days, david dean has gone from a family man to a fugitive on the run and now an inmate being held on more than a million dollars bond because he is suspected of raping three children that he knew. hear it. >> reporter: the 41-year-old lived here in spring hill, a place that neighbors always recall seeing children. >> i feel so bad. >> reporter: hernando county deputies are calling dean's crimes violent and giving very little detail. deputies say dean strangled his most recent victim while raping them, leaving them gasping for year. a second female victim was between the ages of 12 and 18. for answers but got none. finding answers in at least one of these cases will have investigators going back 13 years. deputies say when dean was 28, he started molesting a girl under the age of 12. that woman coming forward jus

i'm sarah rosario. >> i'm deiah riley. janelle and of course ivan both here to look at traffic and weather together. we have a little rain overnight. it was kind of heavy. >> it feels muggy out there. a kind of a summer preview. as we get into mid-march temperatures will continue in the 80s the next few days. by the way, drink extra coffee. get yourself bright and awake because you know what happens. we lost an hour of sleep and this time of year you get into a lot more traffic accidents if you don't pay attention. the sun angles are going to be different. so keep that in mind throughout the day today. temperatures now in the low 70s. we have some showers, they continue to stream in out of the south and west. in fact i'll put this in motion and see exactly what is happening. they are not going to amount to much. but just enough where it will make things a little iffy on the roadways. getting you a little wet. zoom in closer and you can see the stream that comes. in it's a kinds of a pipeline into st. pete. i think pinellas

i'm sarah rosario. >> good morning, i'm deiah riley. if you plan on voting today before going to work, we check with janelle and ivan for aing check of traffic and weather together. >> just some fog this morning, down to a quarter mile in sarasota. so janelle will be along to prove to us that we indeed have that reporting station correctly reporting the visibility, which is now at dangerously low levels. sarasota and manatee counties. we check in with the temperatures, warm and muggy, low 70s, a lot of areas here including sarasota, the dew points are also in the low 70s. fog. all the temperatures feel warmer because of the humidity. the fog lifts at 10:00, back in the upper 70s by lunchtime. it will feel like 80s because of the humidity and low 80s for the actual high by the time we get to 4:00. our weather computer is feeding the traffic computer. fog? >>> first we're going to head to corey dierdorff who is driving on the veterans expressway. checking out some construction. it's happening overnight northbound and southbound closed bet

. >> i'm sarah rosario, dan shaffer has the morning off. that in a moment but first the police shootout overnight in chicago. in the end result of that gun battle. one man dead, three police officers wounded. the good news, all the officers are expected to survive. police say the three officers were investigating drug activity on the city's west side when they saw a man and woman acting suspiciously.

i'm sarah rosario. >> i'm deiah riley. janelle and of course ivan both here to look at traffic and weather together. we have a little rain overnight. it was kind of heavy. >> it feels muggy out there. a kind of a summer preview. as we get into mid-march temperatures will continue in

sarah rosario is on the scene with the latest on that search. >> reporter: we're told that toddler and the 23-year-old porch when shots raping out, bullets hitting both of them. thankfully police tell us they are expected to be okay. officers are working to find answers to several questions, who was responsible and why. is this targeted? taking a look at video as investigators look for anything that may lead them to a suspect. they're looking for a white four-door car, possibly a dodge challenger. neighbors heard several gunshots but police are not saying how many. one of those bullets leaving its mark here in the glass that you see of the front porch window. police tell us that 23-year-old victim is a neighbor who we're told was just hanging out at the house. the child's grandmother inside the house at the time was not hurt. we spoke to a neighbor who didn't want to show her face. she heard the gunshots, ran outside, watched in terror moments after the shooting. the grandmother with her 3-year- old in her arms. >> she was screaming.

good morning, thank you for joining us, i'm sarah rosario go. good morning, i'm deiah riley. we'll get to the full democracy 2016 coverage in a minute. first news we need to tell but. the sunshine skyway is closed now because of heavy fog in that area. you can see it there. janelle has been monitoring this throughout the morning. this could create quite a mess for commuters. good way around the sunshine skyway. they closed the bridge around 5:00 this morning due to fog and you can see is there when heading south on 275 right at 54th avenue south, that is where you'll start to see the cones, they are turning cars around and you'll have to head back north on 275. so again there's no easy way around this detour if you're in st. pete you're going to have the longest way around there because you're going to have to go through one of the other bridges. we can take a look at the bridges for you now. either the gandy bridge or the howard frankland, the good news, both those moving pretty good right now, up to speed. you're going to have to take those all the way to i-75 because that

. >> i'm sarah rosario. deiah riley has the morning off. this morning president obama will be waking up in havana, cuba, the first sitting president to visit the island nation in fearly 90 years. >> president raul castro didn't meet obama at the airport yesterday but planning to talk to him today. the family spent much of the day touring old historic sites in havana. >> and laura harris is following the president's visit and explains the tampa bay connection to the president's historic trip. >> it's pretty hard trying to keep up with the president of the united states.

. >> i'm sarah rosario.

i am sarah rosario. >>> we will get to the days news in a moment. florida's most accurate forecast first. people are excited about last night's win. >> we think about tampa bay is that you can go to the hockey game one night and go to the beach the next. not a bad day. we are starting off chilly. it is crisp there right now. that is riverwalk in downtown tampa. if you haven't been down there that really is a lovely place to see a lot of really pretty sites. the urban center of tampa bay. look for temperatures to bump up into the upper 70s by later on. especially further inland. starting off with temperatures in the 50s. we will see warm into the workweek. a complete look at the forecast coming up. stick with us and we will have those details. >>> faa investigating an emergency plan lending on the st. petersburg golf course. an 18-year-old pilot and his dad took off from the lakeland area with a group of planes. they were headed to manatee county. the taylor craft plane lost power over south st. petersburg pilot was hoping to get to but instead he la

sarah rosario, abc action news. >>> happening now, authorities are redoubling their efforts to find an accused killer on the run for nearly three months. we first showed you robert brew are's mug shot after deputies tell us brewer is still believed in be in the bay area and u.s. marshals are offering a $2,000 reward on top of the >>> it's shaping up to be a beautiful weekend. ivan cabrera joins us now with florida's most accurate forecast. >> we're talking about changes. it's operating quietly right now. nice calm wind and temperatures across the crest of the tampa bay area climbing into the low 70s right at 75, though, by the afternoon. we have the dry conditions continuing here. there's your hour by hour forecast. take a lunch outside if you can. look at the temperatures cooling off by 7:00 and 8:00 and heading into the weekend, cooler in the morning. we'll talk about that and the big warm-up that's going to be headed this way heading into next week. really didn't have much in the way of shower activity. >> and all that talk about the at this camera at the sunshine sky way bridge. lo

. >> i'm sarah rosario. dan shaffer has the entire off. the entire country is watching primary election and all the candidates expressed our state's importance. >> reporter ashley yore live with what you need to know before you head out to vote today. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. state. and your vote counts. i just checked in and about more than 10,000 of you have hillsborough county. we want to make sure you have everything that you need when you go out and vote today. like your id, make sure you're bringing a photo id with you, driver's license is easy but nine different types of id are accepted. you also want to know your polling place ahead of time. your ballot is going to be waiting for you when you get there, if you still need to know where to go you can head to votehillsborough.org, click on the precinct finder or call the supervisor of elections. ballot and it's not already well on its way it needs to be at the supervisor of elections office by 7:00 tonight. you can drop them off at any of the four offices today that yo

. >> i'm sarah rosario. dan shaffer has the entire off. the entire country is watching