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Tony Marrero - Morning Editor and Justice Reporter
Tony Marrero

Morning Editor and Justice Reporter

A Baltimore native, I've lived in the Tampa Bay area since 1998 and have been a reporter here for nearly that long. I joined the Times in 2009 and have covered beats ranging from from education to criminal courts. I now cover breaking news and general assignment stories in the Tampa bureau, which means I never know exactly what will come my way on any given day. I like that variety and enjoy digging to tell readers more about the big stories of the day.

  1. Hillsborough deputies arrest man in RV resort shooting
    • Crime
    Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office SUVs are shown parked at the Happy Traveler RV Resort on East Fowler Avenue in Thonotosassa after a fatal shooting there on June 29. Malik Rashad Cook, 19, was arrested Thursday on a second-degree murder charge in connection to the shooting of 23-year-old Talando House, who died early on June 30.
  2. Temple Terrace man arrested on murder charge in mother’s death
    • Crime
    A Temple Terrace man was arrested on a murder charge Saturday after police found his mother fatally stabbed in the apartment they shared in the Park at Velenza complex off Temple Terrace Highway.
  3. Hillsborough deputies arrest man in teen’s fatal shooting in Town ‘N Country
    • Crime
    Countryway Park, in the 11000 block of Country Hollow Drive in the Countryway subdivision in Town 'N Country, is seen in a Google image from November 2025.
  5. Man dies in custody at Pinellas jail
    • Pinellas
    A 56-year-old man died Wednesday while in custody at the Pinellas County Jail, deputies said.
  6. Tampa police review of Ybor chase looks at role of city radios given to FHP
    • Tampa
    A screenshot of video captured by a Tampa police helicopter shows Florida Highway Patrol Trooper A. Carrasco backing off a Toyota Camry and ending a high-speed chase on Seventh Avenue at Nuccio Parkway leading into the Ybor City historic district on Nov. 8. The Camry crashed seconds later, killing four people and injuring 13.
  7. Man charged in fatal Tampa DJ shooting faces battery charge in unrelated case
    • Crime
    Joel Moreno Cobo, 31, attends a pretrial detention hearing at the Hillsborough County Courthouse in Tampa on Monday. During the hearing, Judge Christopher Sabella granted a motion by the Hillsborough State Attorney's Office to hold Cobo in custody until his aggravated battery case is resolved. Cobo is accused of pistol-whipping a man in Ybor City in February. Cobo is also charged with second-degree murder in the unrelated fatal shooting of Dedrick Sykes, known as DJ ShyGuy, on Nov. 14.
  8. Tampa police investigate woman’s fatal stabbing
    • Tampa
    Tampa police are investigating the fatal stabbing of a woman in the West River neighborhood Sunday night.
  9. Body found in burning car near Interstate 75 in Hillsborough
    • Hillsborough
    Hillsborough deputies are investigating after a body was found Friday morning inside a burning vehicle on a dead-end road along Interstate 75 east of Tampa.
  10. ‘The night was real tough’: 4 missing boaters found alive off Clearwater coast
    • Clearwater
    A screenshot from a video released by the U.S. Coast Guard shows four men standing on their overturned power catamaran about 26 miles off the coast of Clearwater on Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025. The four men left Clearwater on a fishing trip Monday morning and their boat started taking on water and then capsized about midday Monday. They spent the next 20 hours or so with their overturned boat before a Coast Guard plane spotted them.
  11. Tampa police arrest man in fatal shooting of popular DJ in Ybor City
    • Crime
    Tampa police have announced an arrest in the case of a fatal shooting in Ybor City.
  12. USF investigating harassment of Muslim students’ prayer on Tampa campus
    • Crime
    In a screenshot taken from a video clip posted on Instagram by the University of South Florida's Muslim Student Association, two unidentified men, left and center, harass Muslim students during their morning prayer on the top floor of the Collins Boulevard parking garage on USF's Tampa campus on Tuesday. USF said in a statement that the university and campus police are investigating.
  13. Tampa 4-wheeler crash kills boy, 14, critically injures second boy
    • Tampa
    A 14-year-old boy was killed and a second teen boy was critically injured Sunday in a four-wheeler crash in Tampa, police said.
  14. Fatal Ybor City crash raises scrutiny of when cops should chase
    • Crime
    A screenshot of video captured by a Tampa police helicopter shows Florida Highway Patrol Trooper A. Carrasco backing off a Toyota Camry and ending a high-speed chase on Seventh Avenue at Nuccio Parkway leading into the Ybor City historic district on Nov. 8. Seconds later, the Camry driver veered onto the sidewalk just past 15th Street, killing four and injuring 13. The decision to pursue has revived a long-running question about when cops should chase.
  15. The 4 lives lost in the Ybor City crash
    • Crime
    Heavyn Harris prays during a vigil Saturday at Ybor City nightclub Bradley's on 7th to pay tribute to the victims of a crash that killed four people and injured 13 early that morning.
  16. Victims killed in Ybor City pursuit crash identified
    • Crime
    A still image from a Tampa police video shows a Florida Highway Patrol trooper, identified in court documents as A. Carrasco, following behind a Toyota Camry during a high-speed pursuit on East Seventh Avenue early Saturday. Carrasco tried what’s known as a Precision Immobilization Technique, or PIT maneuver, striking the Camry from behind to make the driver lose control. It didn't work, and the driver, identified as 22-year-old Silas Sampson, kept heading east on Seventh Avenue and eventually drove onto the sidewalk and lost control, striking several pedestrians and patrons seated outside of Bradley's on 7th, a nightclub near 15th Street, authorities said.
  17. Pickup driver fatally strikes girl, 6, and injures mother and brother in Tampa
    • Breaking News
    Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office vehicles are seen at the intersection of Mohr and Sheldon roads in Tampa on Tuesday after the driver of a vehicle hit a mother and her two children. One of the children, 6, died at the scene.
  18. St. Petersburg man faces murder charge in shooting
    • Crime
    St. Petersburg police on Sunday arrested Corey Deron Battle, 47, on a second-degree murder charge in connection to Thursday's shooting of 44-year-old Jerome Smith at Smith's Bartlett Park home.
  19. 1 person dead in St. Petersburg house fire
    • St. Petersburg
    St. Petersburg Fire Rescue crews work to put out flames that engulfed a two-story wooden home on 17th Street North near 10th Avenue in the Woodlawn Oaks neighborhood on Saturday. One person died in the fire.
  20. Man holding boy, 7, at knifepoint fatally shot by Hillsborough deputy, cops say
    • Crime
    A screenshot from video captured by Hillsborough sheriff's Deputy Antonio Gonzalez's body camera shows Mario Camacho, 27, holding his 7-year-old brother a moment before Gonzalez fatally shot Camacho. Camacho was holding his brother in a chokehold at knifepoint and refused Gonzalez's commands to drop the knife, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.
  21. Hillsborough sheriff’s cheating probe detailed in records, yet questions persist
    • Hillsborough
    Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister's agency released thousands of records this week in an academic cheating scandal that ended the careers of six of his top deputies. As detailed as the records are, they leave questions unanswered. Among them: How did Robert Roush, who is not a law enforcement officer, become acquainted with so many high-level sheriff's deputies? And did any other officers use him?
  22. Hillsborough JROTC instructor arrested in child predator sting
    • Crime
    Robert Eric Hess, a JROTC instructor at Chamberlain High School in Tampa, is seen in a screenshot of body camera video released by the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. The video shows Hess, 57, being arrested Oct. 1 after he tried to meet a 15-year-old girl for sex as part of an undercover sheriff's office operation, deputies said. Hess was fired two days later, a Hillsborough schools spokesperson said.
  23. 2-year-old struck, killed by truck driver in Lealman
    • Pinellas
    A pickup driver struck and killed a 2-year-old child in Lealman on Wednesday, troopers said.
  24. Hillsborough sheriff says staff showed ‘poor judgment’ in academic cheating
    • Hillsborough
    Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister confirmed Monday that all six members of his command staff who recently resigned or were fired had someone else complete academic and work-related assignments for them.