NBC 6 South Florida

A 6-year-old girl was shot by her 13-year-old brother in Oakland Park according to investigators.

A six-year-old Florida girl was in critical condition Sunday after being shot by her 13-year-old brother Saturday night in a city just north of Fort Lauderdale.

Neighbors said the two children were playing a game when the shooting occurred shortly before 7 p.m. Saturday in Oakland Park, a city in Broward Country.

"They were playing hide and go seek. I don't know how it went down but he shot his sister," said neighbor Peter Milano, who saw a frantic woman he thought was the children's aunt running down the block.

"She came up to me 'Is she ok? Is she ok?' At the time I didn't know what she was talking about," Milano said.

It's not clear if authorities will pursue criminal charges in the case. Detectives believe the shooting was accidental but were still trying to determine exactly how the teen got access to the gun. The children were home alone at the time of the incident, said Dani Moschella, a spokeswoman for the Broward Sheriff's Office.

Homicide detectives spent time talking with the 13-year-old. Neighbors said he drew pictures for investigators as he described what happened.

"The kid's probably, well, how could you feel, you just shot your sister?" Milano said.

Though detectives are specially trained to deal with the most sensitive situations, Moschella said the fact that two children are involved made this job that much more difficult.

"It is very difficult when dealing with children, specifically children who've been through a very traumatic situation," she said. "This family will never be the same after tonight, no matter how it ends up."

The 6-year-old is in critical condition at Broward Health Medical Center.

Police say Cedrick Royce Swinson was arrested on Thursday for allegedly robbing a credit union in Florida to pay for a Disney cruise for his girlfriend and her children.

A man is in jail after he robbed a Florida credit union so he could pay for a Disney cruise trip, according to Florida Today.

After driving from Charlotte, N.C., to Satellite Beach, Fla., for the cruise with his girlfriend and her two children, Cedrick Royce Swinson realized he could not come up with the final balance owed for the tickets and felt pressured to take them on the trip, said the report

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The robbery happened at a Navy Federal Credit Union branch in a shopping plaza, according to the newspaper.

There were no injuries. Police released Swinson's girlfriend after determining that she did not know about his plan, the newspaper said.

Swinson is charged with robbery without a firearm or weapon, grand theft and driving on a suspended license, according to Brevard County jail records.

Kevin Koscielniak

A man faces charges for breaking into his employer's business, beating the man's dog to death and then burying it, authorities in southwest Florida said.

Kevin Joseph Koscielniak, 52, faces charges including burglary of a structure, cruelty to animals and breaking or injuring fences. He was being held on $46,000 on Monday. It wasn't immediately known if he had an attorney.

On Sunday morning, the owner of John's Automotive in Sarasota, couldn't find his dog and called the sheriff's office to report the dog stolen, but at that point didn't want an investigation, according to the probable cause affidavit.

Later, the owner viewed video surveillance from his property overnight and saw Koscielniak, whom he has known for three years, climb over the barbed wire fence and beat the dog for several minutes, authorities said.

"The investigation determined that Koscielniak climbed over the barbed wire fence, killed the dog with a tire iron, wrapped the dog in a blanket, cut the fence to Casey's Auto, an adjacent business, dragged the dog onto that property and burried it there," the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office said.

Koscielniak was an employee who was asked to leave the business on Saturday after causing a disturbance, authorities said.

He was caught on video surveillance cleaning the blood, authorities said.

After a search, the dog was found in the shallow grave on the west side of the lot. The leash and collar were still attached, the affidavit said.

The idea behind the Tampa Women's Club charity event was simple. For $20, you could buy a flute of champagne and a chance to win a one-carat, $5,000 diamond.
 
Organizers of the Saturday event placed $10 cubic zirconia stones in the bottom of 399 of the 400 champagne glasses. The prized diamond, donated by Continental Wholesale Diamonds, was placed in the last.

Read the original story on NBCMiami.com

The problem? Eighty-year-old Miriam Tucker accidentally swallowed it.
 
Tucker told local news media that she didn't want to put her finger in the champagne, so she drank a bit. While laughing with women at the table, she realized she swallowed it.
 
Embarrassed, she had to tell jewelers who were frantically searching for the winner.
 
Already scheduled for a colonoscopy on Monday, she had a doctor recover the jewel.

For 14 years, Lt. Bill Schwartz was the face of the Miami Police Department.

As one of the most outspoken public information officers in the country, Schwartz left a lasting impact in South Florida.

Then, after retiring from the force in 2008, his life took a dramatic turn. For the past three years, Schwartz has been starring in a new role – as a nude model.

“After leaving the police department I was in a show where I had a nude scene, and the show and even my performance got mediocre reviews, but my body got raves,” said Schwartz, 60.

Now he travels to art classes around South Florida a few times a week.

“I find this is a real privilege because I’m in a partnership with the artist to create something special, and nothing gives me a bigger thrill than to walk around during a break and see just how beautiful their work is,” Schwartz said.

Jan Johnson, an art professor at Broward College, said Schwartz is a natural at nude modeling.

“He immediately knows what I’m talking about when I say I need a certain type of pose,” she said.

Johnson teaches her students to capture the proportion, scale and energy of the model.

“Bill’s interesting because he’ll strike some interesting poses, I guess,” said Michael Valverde, a student at Broward College.

As a lieutenant, Schwartz was a tough, compassionate and sincere character, but it wasn’t until he started doing his current body of work that he realized how confident he is in his own skin.

“In theatre we always talk about being in the moment on stage. It’s very difficult, because in life being in the moment is very difficult. And I think that this job has helped me learn how to be in the moment,” he said.

It’s a moment some of his former colleagues get a good laugh out of – but also respect him for.

“I’ve always wanted to recreate myself from the time I was young, do different things, never repeat myself much, and I think the police department was great because there was a lot of variety there and I loved it, it was a great career,” Schwartz said. “Acting is great in that way – you play different roles. And this has been great. I guess I can’t wait to see what’s gonna happen next.”

A suspect has been arrested in connection with Thursday's incident in which nine students were hospitalized for a possible overdose after eating laced brownies, officials said.

A large amount of marijuana, as well as cocaine and brownies, were found at the home of the suspect, who is not a student, Miami-Dade County Public Schools spokesman John Schuster said.

Miami-Dade Schools Police arrested Dionisio Lockridge, 22, for possession of marijuana, possession of marijuana with intent to sell, possession of cocaine, and possession of Xanax, according to Schuster. It was not immediately known whether Lockridge has an attorney.

The brownies have been sent to the Miami-Dade crime lab for testing.

The nine students from Miami Coral Park Senior High School were taken to Miami Children's Hospital, South Miami Hospital and Kendall Regional, Schuster said earlier. Another student received treatment but was not transported by fire rescue, he said.

It was unknown what was in the food they ate.

"Miami-Dade Schools Police are investigating the matter to identify the substance that the students ingested as well as the source of the substance," the school district said in an email statement.

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Earlier, aerial footage showed two ambulances parked in front of the school, located at 8865 Southwest 16th Street in Miami, and authorities waiting outside with a stretcher.

"The students were transported as a precautionary measure," the school board said in a statement. "Miami-Dade Schools Police are investigating the matter to identify the substance the students ingested as well as the source of the substance."

A student told NBC 6 that Thursday morning, a number of students were selling brownies to their peers, and then moments later, after ingesting the food, many got violently ill.

"I saw the kids throwing up. There were kids who were very itchy," said student Danivellis Torres.

Another student said she saw kids passing out.

"I'm very nervous. I don't understand what happened here," said parent Cecilia Mantilla.

Anna Pierre's introduction to North Miami politics has included intimidation and voodoo tactics.

On Easter Sunday somebody placed voodoo artifacts outside the door of her campaign office.

"I wish I knew," said Pierre, when asked if she had any idea who did it.

She said thinks one of her opponents may be behind the intimidation.

Pierre, who is not related to current Mayor Andre Pierre, is running for mayor.

She says the tactics against her have also included nasty phone calls and sign stealing.

The voodoo items placed outside her campaign office have included candles, food and dolls with pins stuck in them.

"At first it bothers me," she said. "Not that I am scared, but to see how dirty, how low can people go."

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Voodoo is practiced by people in Haiti, and around the world, including the U.S. Voodoo has a spooky reputation, but it is a bona fide religion.

There is a huge Haitian population in North Miami.

Pierre said she's famous in her birth country of Haiti, recording a hit pop song before coming to America.

Her popularity there, she says, is helping her gain support here as she runs for mayor.

"The voodoo stuff, I don't know who's doing it, but I'm not afraid," she said. "It's just intimidation to ...  slow me down. But you know what? I'm not going to slow down until the finish line."

A 51-year-old Orlando man was arrested on charges that he stole a tractor trailer containing $75,000 worth of soup, authorities said.

Eusebio Diaz Acosta, 51, faces charges of grand theft of cargo worth $50,000 or more and grand theft of a motor vehicle following his arrest early Sunday on the Florida’s Turnpike, according to authorities.

Broward Circuit Judge John Hurley called the facts of the case “very unusual.”

“This is the first time the court’s ever seen $75,000 worth of soup stolen,” Hurley said Monday, as he set Diaz Acosta’s bond at $25,000.

The Florida Highway Patrol said that it received a report of a stolen tractor trailer hauling soup that was being tracked by GPS, and the tractor trailer driven by Diaz Acosta was pulled over at the 63-mile marker of the turnpike in Tamarac.

A passenger – described as a 5-foot-10-inches tall black male wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt – left the trailer, jumped over the concrete barrier wall, and escaped after he jumped over a chain link fence and fled northwest, an arrest report said.

Diaz Acosta told the troopers that he met the passenger, Pepe, a week beforehand, and that Pepe paid him to drive the tractor trailer and he knows nothing else, the report said.

The tractor and trailer, which both had Minnesota tags and are owned by Lessors Inc in Egan, Minnesota, were reported stolen out of Polk County, the report said. The total value of the vehicle and its contents was $350,000, it added.

Diaz Acosta was arrested at about 12:31 a.m., and the tractor trailer was towed away by SIRT Towing, according to the report.

Diaz Acosta has been been convicted of theft twice before, Hurley said.

Diaz Acosta said in court through a translator that he has $1,000 in the bank. A public defender appeared by his side at Monday’s hearing.

He is being held in the Broward County Main Jail, according to online jail records.

The Boca Raton, Fla., prison company that donated $6 million to Florida Atlantic University to change the name of the college's football stadium has withdrawn the gift, the company said Monday.

GEO Group announced that they informed FAU that the gift would be withdrawn and the stadium would no longer be named GEO Group Stadium, calling criticism against the move an "ongoing distraction."

"What was originally intended as a gesture of GEO’s goodwill to financially assist the University’s athletic scholarship program has surprisingly evolved into an ongoing distraction to both of our organizations," GEO Group Chairman and CEO George Zoley said in a statement. "We employ many FAU graduates and Boca Raton community members. We take pride in running a well-respected company and are proud of our long-term support of the University."

Read more at NBCMiami.com

Shortly after the $6 million gift was announced in February, students and activists expressed outrage, saying some facilities operated by the group have come under fire for human rights violations.

FAU's Faculty Senate opposed the name change and the student government was expected to also vote on a similar resolution later this week.

The gift would have been a 12-year commitment with annual payments of $500,000.

"FAU alumnus and Trustee Emeritus George Zoley and his colleagues have been loyal supporters of this University," FAU President Mary Jane Saunders said in the same statement. "We are thankful for all of the companies, organizations and individuals who give to this university to support our mission, our pursuit of academic excellence and valuable contributions to this community."

Passengers aboard a Carnival cruise that returned to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Sunday said they spent hours in long lines waiting to get off the ship.

The Carnival Freedom docked at Port Everglades early Sunday morning, but some passengers said they were still stuck on the ship by the afternoon, according to NBC affiliate WPTV.

A sign posted at the port blamed the long lines on sequester cuts.

"Due to Federal budget cuts, U.S. Customs and Border Protection staffing has been reduced and wait times may be longer than usual," the sign read. "Thank you for your understanding and patience."

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Carnival acknowledged the longer wait times and said they shouldn't affect the itinerary for the ship, which was scheduled to depart later Sunday.

"The Customs and Immigration process for debarking guests has taken quite a bit longer than normal. It is our understanding that more than one cruise line at Port Everglades is experiencing similar circumstances," the company's statement said.

"We do not anticipate any impact to the ship's itinerary for the next voyage which will depart later today. We regret the inconvenience our guests have experienced during today's debark and clearance process."

NBCMiami.com

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