Car theft victim became suspect in police shooting

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Gregory Black, 27, said Wednesday he saw his life flash in front of his eyes.

"I had a gun stuck to my head," said Black, "a gun pointed to my face."

The White Crown Victoria used in Wednesday's police involved shooting belongs to Black. According to a police report, it was stolen last week.

"May 9th, I discovered my car was gone and I reported it," said Black. 

Wednesday, the surgical tech was on his way to work at the hospital when he saw the stolen car near the Monaco Arms apartments and called police.

"I had no idea what was going on all I know is I saw my car and the condition it was in and I wanted to let authorities know," said Black. 

Black said while he was verifying information to one police officer on the phone, he was confronted by another officer.

Community Sponsors

Professional Services Done Right!
Professional Service with Compassion

Local woman witnesses deadly storms in Texas

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A Jacksonville woman is shaken, but not hurt after deadly storms in Texas overnight Thursday.

Aliera Peterson is the Director of Social Media for Jacksonville's Dalton Agency.

She was flying to Texas as the storms were slamming into the Dallas/Ft. Worth area.

In fact, Peterson's flight was diverted and grounded in San Antonio for a few hours.

Eventually, she told First Coast News over the phone, she was able to take off for Dallas.

The issue, she said, was another wave of storms with lightning and thunder that made landing difficult.

Peterson said the captain was communicating the entire time and made a successful landing.

But she said the entire experience was "bone chilling."

Once at the airport, Peterson said she ran into another problem.

Attorney in wheelchair said city lacks access

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Local attorney Bob Davis has been in a wheelchair since 1999.

Condition of Arlington grave site upsets family

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Eight years ago, a fallen firefighter was buried in Arlington Park Cemetery.

Now, his family members are upset by the condition of his grave site.

"We've come out here and cleaned this place on multiple occasions," said Matt Kramer.

Kramer's brother Klif, a firefighter who died in the line of duty, is buried in what's called the "Estate Garden".

"I want to come here and talk," said Kramer. "For me to do that in these kind of conditions is upsetting."

The grave sites looks like it was recently mowed, but there's hardly any grass in the area.

"There's more dirt than grass, a lot of it is dead," he said.

And it is not just the Kramer family's grave sites left unkempt according to Kramer. 

"This was a fallen solider killed in Iraq and outside of his headstone it all dead grass," said Kramer. 

Community Sponsors

Is Sony Ultra HD the next level in high definition TV?

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Just when you thought there was no more room for improvement with HDTV, Sony is rolling out its ULTRA HDTV. The national roll out is Sunday, May 19.

"It is four times the resolution of the current HDTV," said Eric Whitford.

Whitford said for every one pixel, you will be getting four in each area. If it sounds too technical it simply means better resolution and better contrast in your picture.

"You're able to sit closer to the TV without having to have a large living room, said Whitford.

At the Best Buy at the Avenues, he demonstrated the Ultra HD set and the image was sharp, crisp and impressive.

Hollywood is now producing 4k movies and this summer, Sony will stream limited movies to ULTRA HD owners.

But Whitford said the set will upload current movies/video to the 4k standard.

Missing grave marker makes mourning difficult

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Each May 14th is an emotional day for Christine Little. This year, 2013, marks 29 years since she buried her then seven-month-old daughter.

"Today is her birthday so we came out to tell her happy birthday," said Little.

Little's daughter was buried in Restlawn Memorial park.

"It is right up in here," she said, "right up in here somewhere."

She knows the general area of the grave, but not the exact location and that's the problem.

"I cry, I just feel bad," said Little, "it is crazy!"

The problem is the marker or headstone, with a special design, is missing. She described it. 

"It was made of a heart shape with the wings sticking out of the heart and it was flat," said Little. "It had her name engraved on it the day she was born and the day she died."

Disaster training becoming big business

PERRY, Ga. -- After nearly three decades of working with Bell South, Geoff Burkart was ready to do his own thing.

But instead of starting the typical "small" business, he decided to open something a bit different.

"The idea for Guardian Centers was spawned by [Hurricane] Katrina," he said. "How did we as a country muck up the Katrina response effort?" 

And answered with his own theory: that there was no coordination between all the entities, both government and private, coming in to help.

That's where he's found the need for his venture, an 830-acre disaster training facility in Perry, Georgia.

"There is nowhere like this where you can bring all agencies together and train in a real cityscape," he said.

The massive center is essentially its own town, with a Main Street, stores, parking garages and infrastructure.

"We've got our own power, gas and water," Burkart said.