WAFC Local News – May 14, 2026, 8:32 AM
Transcript
I’m Charles Murphy reporting. A Belgrade man was sent to prison for five years and five years probation for a shooting and attempted murder in 2024. 29-year-old Hardwick Denard pled guilty to attempted first-degree murder with a firearm, shooting into an occupied vehicle, discharging a firearm from a vehicle, and a felon in possession of a firearm. He’ll also serve 100 hours of community service. The state dropped three charges of attempted murder in the first degree. Denard allegedly followed a Belgrade woman onto State Road 715 October 26, 2024, looking for an unknown black male. He opened fire near Northwest Avenue F. The victim immediately drove to the sheriff’s substation on Highway 80 and there were nobody injured. Four shell casings were recovered at the corner of 715 and Northwest Avenue F. One projectile was found in the back of the steering wheel in the victim’s car. Ben Olson continues to complain about the Seminole-Everglades Western Housing Project. He’s waiting for a response from the Seminole Tribe attorney. He’s concerned over an eighth-month land transfer deal. McDaniel’s Ranch Reservation has the potential to not only impact work, but the feeder canal basin water quality program. As the Seminole Forestry request in that report shows, the tribe is monitoring the changes that, quote, the Everglades Restoration Project will have to produce a product for consumption, unquote. He says he is not against the tribe, but against non-tribal staffers and their position. He also questioned a timber deal going on in the Everglades. And again, as stated a few weeks ago, the sovereign transfer of McDaniel’s Ranch was the fastest non-adjacent tribal land transfer in U.S. history. About 15 months, whereas other Seminole land transfers took more than eight years. A Belgrade man is charged with discharging a firearm in public and running away from deputies. Raul Matias allegedly was seen by a deputy firing off a handgun in the area of Amelia Circle on New Year’s night. When police identified themselves, he ran off and fled the scene. Deputies were able to investigate and find out it was Matias that had fired the shots. A Lehigh Acres man, Clebson Phils, won’t face felony charges after a run-in with troopers. He was pulled over for speeding on 27 going 86 in a 65. The trooper assigned said he would not comply and became belligerent, leading to a struggle along the highway. Phils says he was targeted because he was black. The state attorney dropped the charge from a third-degree felony to a misdemeanor resisting arrest. Glades County deputies assisted in the traffic stop. The trooper administered one blow from a baton and was able to handcuff the suspect. The driver was also ticketed for speeding, driving without a seatbelt, and having an open container of alcohol. An inmate at Moorhaven Correctional was charged with aggravated battery on an inmate. Damian Johnson allegedly injured fellow inmate Christopher Whipple in a cell at the prison last July. He apparently had put together an improvised weapon that was used in the attack. Guards described it as a blue canteen bag with a weighted object and repeatedly struck the other inmate, then stomped and kicked him. I’m Charles Murphy, WAFC News.
Recorded from the WAFC daily newscast (Glades Media).