Miami, FL
Brave Florida teen fights off NY creep who tried to abduct her: ‘I started punching’
A brave 16-year-old unleashed a barrage of punches and kicks to fight off a creep from New York who tried to abduct her early Thursday morning in South Miami.
The teen was walking with her friends in a suburban neighborhood just after midnight when Brian Gamboa, 32, pulled up to her in his vehicle and tried to force her into his car, according to reports.
“A guy came out of the car, he approached me and started attacking me by my shoulders and the back of my head,” the teen told CBS News Miami. “I fought back – I threw my phone at him, I started kicking him, I started screaming, I started punching him.”
Gamboa allegedly tried to overpower the girl and pushed her to the ground, but she fought back.
“I dragged him down with me,” she added. “Then I kicked him in the crotch and the head and ran off. I screamed for help at a neighbor’s door.”
The teen, identified as a 16-year-old named Valerie, said that Gamboa appeared “drunk” and was “really wobbly,” according to WSVN.
The teen escaped and called the police immediately but Gamboa wasn’t spotted until a few hours later after he was involved in a hit-and-run crash outside of a South Miami restaurant.
Miami-Dade police arrested Gamboa Tuesday on charges of attempted kidnapping and battery of a child. Gamboa’s bond was set at $30,000 and was placed under house arrest.
Gamboa appeared in his mugshot with fresh scratches on his face and a major gash on his forehead after the teen’s fierce fight.
Police said that Gamboa, who was originally from New York but living in Miami, had prior offenses including possession of marijuana and driving with a suspended license, CBS reported.
Gamboa had a warrant out for leaving the scene of an accident with property damage, police records show.
First-degree kidnapping in Florida carries a prison sentence of up to 30 years and a $10,000 fine.
“It was really scary. I’m OK, except the fact that my knee is messed up,” Valerie told WSNV. “Like, I’m OK. I got pretty lucky; like, it could have been way worse for me. I didn’t want to have a story like that. I didn’t want to have his impact on my life like that, so I was just fighting.”
The Cleveland Browns traded for an extended right tackle, former Houston Texan Tytus Howard, at the start of free agency as they began their rebuild of the offensive line that was awful in 2025. But Howard has played every position on the offensive line except for center, so if it’s all about getting your best five on the field, which it should be, there’s a chance Howard doesn’t play at right tackle in 2026.
While doing a mock draft on Peter Schrager’s podcast, former Tennessee Titans general manager Ran Carthon had the Browns drafting Miami (FL) right tackle sixth overall. He talked about the issue with Howard, but said Mauigoa could either take over the tackle spot or be a really good guard.
Carthon said he knows that Mauigoa would be one of their best five, whether it is at guard or tackle. Some will say that a guy who may be best at guard isn’t worth the sixth overall pick, and I have to disagree. You should draft the best football players, and Francis Mauigoa is my highest-rated offensive lineman and seventh overall. It might be at guard, but I have a good feeling that Mauigoa will find a home in the NFL as a high-quality offensive lineman.
Inventory of homes and condos across the coastal Miami mainland and Miami Beach and the barrier island markets fell in the first quarter, marking the first big inventory drops since 2023.
The Corcoran Group’s first quarter reports don’t cover all of Miami-Dade County, but they offer insight into how the coastal markets, which have a higher share of luxury properties, are performing.
In Miami Beach, Sunny Isles Beach, Bal Harbour, Bay Harbor Islands, Surfside, Miami Beach, Fisher Island and Key Biscayne, single-family home inventory dropped 15 percent annually to 398 listings, and condo inventory was down 13 percent to 3,919 listings.
On Miami’s coastal mainland markets, which include Aventura, Miami Shores, Upper East Side, Edgewater, downtown Miami, Brickell, Coral Gables and Coconut Grove, inventory slipped 4 percent to 4,584 condo listings and 555 single-family listings, down 6 percent year-over-year.
Here’s a closer look at the market:
Miami Beach and the barrier islands
Single-family sales rose 13 percent year-over-year to 85 closings, the first time they have increased since the second quarter of 2024. Condo closings rose 15 percent to 693 closings, the first increase since the last quarter of 2024.
Pricing dropped, with the median price of single-family homes down 4 percent to $3.5 million and the median condo price down 9 percent to $640,000. The average price per square foot was nearly flat at $1,119.
Still, buyers set records with their purchases. Billionaire Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg paid $170 million for the waterfront mansion at 7 Indian Creek Island Road, and Starbucks billionaire Howard Schultz paid $44 million, or $7,949 per square foot, for a penthouse at the Four Seasons Residences at The Surf Club.
Coastal mainland
Sales of single-family homes on the coastal mainland rose 16 percent to 220 closings. While markets like Coral Gables experienced declines in condo and single-family home sales, Coconut Grove home sales surged — up over 100 percent for single-family homes to 47 closings and up 55 percent to 87 condo closings. Condo sales rose 13 percent to 759 closings.
The median price of single-family homes across the coastal mainland rose 11 percent to just over $2 million. The median price of condos increased slightly, up 1 percent, to $602,000.
The priciest deals in the first quarter were the $32 million trade of 12 Tahiti Beach Island Road in Coral Gables, and the $19.8 million sale of a penthouse at Vita at Grove Isle.
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