{"id":23525,"date":"2013-08-15T15:50:57","date_gmt":"2013-08-15T19:50:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/?p=23525"},"modified":"2013-08-15T15:51:25","modified_gmt":"2013-08-15T19:51:25","slug":"help-needed-to-bury-toddler-found-in-hillsborough-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/?p=23525","title":{"rendered":"Help Needed To Bury Toddler Found In River"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY IRIS B. HOLTON<\/strong>
\nSentinel City Editor<\/strong><\/p>\n

The body of a two-year-old was recovered from the Hillsborough River early Wednesday. The child had wandered off from his mother Tuesday evening while at a Tampa Park.<\/p>\n

The Tampa Police Department received a 9-1-1 call about a missing child shortly after 8:30 p.m., Tuesday. The child, along with his mother, Ms. Alicia Sanders,<\/strong> his 6-year-old brother and 4-year-old sister, had been at the Temple Crest Park, 8116 37th Street, North for football practice.<\/p>\n

Tampa Police Chief Jane Castor<\/strong> said police employed all of their resources as they searched for Armani Pierce<\/strong> throughout the night. Early Wednesday morning, blood hounds picked up the child\u2019s scent on a portion of the river bank. Divers located the child\u2019s body in about 6 feet of water.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnytime we have a missing child, we use all of our resources. We had our Marine Unit, the Hillsborough County Sheriff\u2019s Office sent divers and their boat, Tampa Fire Rescue responded, the FDLE sent 6 agents and their CART team, and the National Missing and Exploited Children Agency responded,\u201d Chief Castor<\/strong> said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a very tragic situation, a very tragic accident. It is every parent\u2019s nightmare. We used all of our resources when a child is reported missing,\u201d she said. Police also contacted all of the known sex offenders in the area.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Family Thanks Community For Support<\/strong><\/p>\n

As the news of the missing two-year-old spread Tuesday evening, members of the community began searching for the missing child. Many of them remained at the park throughout the night until Armani\u2019s<\/strong> body was found early Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n

A Tampa native, Armani\u2019s<\/strong> maternal grandparents are Ms. Jackie Sanders<\/strong>, and Ralph Bellamy<\/strong>. His paternal grandparents are Ms. Theresa Preston<\/strong>, Carlos Pierce, Sr.<\/strong>, and Thomas Simmons<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Ms. Sanders<\/strong> said, \u201cWe just want to thank every for supporting our family. We really appreciate everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simmons<\/strong> described Armani a<\/strong>s a typical 2-year-old. He was a sweet child. He loved football, playing with his toys, and he thought he was a big fellow. This is just a sad situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Fundraisers Planned<\/strong><\/p>\n

The family is currently in need of assistance to handle funeral expenses. Pastor Cornelius Hamilton<\/strong>, owner of Big Bru\u2019s Barbecue, 8619 N. 40th Street, and Outreach Pastor at The Walk Church, will host a carwash on Friday.<\/p>\n

Pastor Ala Nelson-Vickers<\/strong>, of Holy Outreach For Christ Church, and Pastor Ricky Narravo<\/strong>, Senior Pastor of The Walk Church, corner of N. 40th Street and E. Yukon, will host a \u201cBaby Benefit Concert,\u201d Saturday and Sunday evenings, beginning at 7:30 p.m., in the parking lot. Other churches, choirs and praise teams are invited to participate.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Candlelight Vigil Held<\/strong><\/p>\n

Armani<\/strong> and his family were attending the football practice of the Mighty Tampa Bay Ravens Youth Football and Cheer organization.<\/p>\n

The Ravens held a Candlelight Vigil at the park Wednesday night. During the Vigil, they presented Armani\u2019s<\/strong> family with a jersey bearing the #2, his age.<\/p>\n

Jay Tillman<\/strong>, spokesman for the organization said, \u201cWe made Armani<\/strong> an honorary Raven. He will never be forgotten.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are asking everyone to keep this family in their prayers. We have about 200 children in this program and our volunteer coaches and staff try to keep them as safe as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis tragedy struck home and our hearts go out to this family. All of our people were out searching for this child.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tillman<\/strong> further said that when the Ravens play the Fair Oaks Rattlers on Saturday morning at 9 a.m., there will be a moment of prayer before the game. It will be held at the Jackson Heights NFL YET Center, corner of N. 34th Street and E. Lake Avenue. The Ravens will also be accepting love offerings for the family.<\/p>\n

Anyone wishing to make contributions can reach Ms. Sanders<\/strong>, (813) 247-6137; Simmons<\/strong>, (813) 474-8361; Pastor Nelson-Vickers<\/strong>, (813) 655-9792; or Tillman<\/strong> at (813) 965-5719.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor The body of a two-year-old was recovered from the Hillsborough River early Wednesday. The child had wandered off from his mother Tuesday evening while at a Tampa Park. The Tampa Police Department received a 9-1-1 call about a missing child shortly after 8:30 p.m., Tuesday. The child, along […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":210,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/210"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23525\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}