Sheriff’s investigators have learned what drew murder suspect Bryan Riley to a quiet north Lakeland neighborhood where his delusions of a sex-trafficking operation led to a rampage that killed four people and wounded another, Sheriff Grady Judd said this morning. More
Forty-year-old Justice Gleason, one of the four people murdered in two north Lakeland homes on Sunday, was “an amazing father” whose “smile could light up a room,” the mother of his 4-year-old daughter tells 10 Tampa Bay. Now Miranda Watson is grappling with how to one day tell her daughter about what happened to her dad. | ALSO: News Channel 8 – Neighbors grapple with fate More
Brian Riley will remain jailed after being denied bail this morning when he went to court for the first time after being charged with four counts of first-degree murder and other felonies in the shooting deaths of four people, including in infant, in two North Lakeland homes and wounding an 11-year-old girl multiple times. More
5:30 P.M. UPDATE: A gunman in military armor who said he was high on methamphetamines shot and killed four people, including an infant, in two houses off North Socrum Road early this morning, then exchanged gunfire with deputies and police before surrendering, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said. More
New federal documents reveal details about four Lakeland residents and a Plant City associate charged with violent acts in connection with the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol. According to USA Today: Olivia Pollock, 30; Joshua Doolin, 22 and Joseph Hutchinson III, 25, all of Lakeland, Florida were arrested on June 30 along with Michael Perkins, 37, of Plant City. Pollock’s brother, Jonathan Pollock, 21, remains at large. There were 19 charges in all; Doolin is the only one not charged with assaulting officers.
MORE: CBS News | News Channel 8 | Fox 13 News | The Ledger | Affidavit | Justice Department news release
Lakeland police are trying to learn the identities of two men who shot and killed a 34-year-old man at a Mobil gas station at 1615 W. Memorial Blvd. shortly after midnight Sunday. More
A third Lakeland resident faces federal charges related to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, The Ledger reports. Olivia Pollock, shown as living in north Lakeland, was charged Wednesday with assaulting, resisting or impeding officers or employees; presence in a restricted area of the building or grounds; and violent entry and disorderly conduct on the Capitol grounds.
The mother of a 2-year-old Lakeland boy who was beaten to death has been arrested and charged with neglect and accessory to a capital felony, News Channel 8 reports. A man she was dating has been indicted on a first-degree murder charge in the case. The case prompted the Florida Department of Children and Families to open an investigation that in the agency’s words will “examine prior interactions with the family and address potential systemic issues within the local system of care,” the station reported.
Police are responding to complaints about illegal pop-up car-racing events held on weekends in empty industrial parking lots around Central Florida, Fox 13 News reports. On Sunday, 53 people were charged with illegal street racing when Lakeland police, Polk deputies and FHP troopers raided an event at a warehouse off State Road 33 just south of Interstate 4. | ALSO: Ledger coverage More
A 22-year-old Lakeland man has been indicted on murder charges in two cases that were initially thought to be unrelated. Ladevon Cottingham is charged in the deaths of Takeria Adderly, 22, Ricky Kimball, 65. Both were reported missing on June 30 last year, about two weeks after Cottingham was released from prison, ABC Action News reports. Their bodies were found 27 days apart. | Keep scrolling for video of today’s LPD news conference: More
