‘We Didn’t Lose Our Father. He Was Taken From Us.’ 

Steven Alan Glantz 
August 23, 1957-December 18, 2024 

On Dec. 18, Gabriel Glantz, who had been living in his mom Marcia’s homeland of Brazil, was staying at his childhood home in Kingshyre at Cross Creek, awaiting the impending birth of his sister Isabel’s baby. 

Gabe says there was a knock at the door, and since he was making dinner, his father, Steve, went to see who was there. 

Seconds later, Gabe heard multiple gunshots fired and minutes later, ambulance and law enforcement vehicles arrived on the scene and sped Steve away to a hospital. But tragically, Steve passed away shortly after reaching the hospital. 

Not long after his father had been shot, Gabe, 37, heard one additional shot fired, which was apparently the gunman — the Glantzes’ Kingshyre neighbor Timothy Lobianco, 66 — taking his own life. Gabe says that Lobianco apparently walked back to his own house, told his wife “I did something…and don’t follow me,” before walking back outside and shooting himself. 

Although the Glantz family doesn’t fully know why Lobianco killed this beloved husband, father and grandfather, Gabe’s brother Kyle, 34, said that Steve, Lobianco and another long-time Kingshyre neighbor had done quite a bit of motorcycle riding together. But, several years ago, Lobianco suffered a head injury in a serious accident on his bike and his demeanor definitely grew angrier in the years that followed. 

“We don’t know why our dad became the focal point of [Lobianco’s] anger,” Kyle told me a week or so after Steve was laid to rest on Dec. 22 at the Gan Shalom Cemetery on County Line Rd. in Lutz. “All we know is that we didn’t lose our father. He was taken from us.” And, as if the shooting wasn’t tragic enough, Steve was killed the same night Isabel, 28, gave birth to a baby girl. Marcia, Steve’s wife of 40 years, was already at the hospital with their daughter when Steve was shot. 

Although Steve and I never really “hung out” together much, we became close friends during his several-year stint as the volunteer president of what was then called the New Tampa Little League (NTLL), when we both had sons playing ball at what is now called Eber Field on Kinnan St., just north of Cross Creek Blvd. Steve was completely dedicated to not only running the league, but also expertly handling the inevitable squabbles between parents, as well as always making sure the fields were kept perfectly manicured. He loved the field maintenance so much, he kept handling it long after he was no longer running the league. 

Seemingly always smiling, always personable, the one-time All-American high school springboard diver and barefoot waterskier was, “an amazing husband, father and friend,” according to Hazzan Jodi Sered-Lever of Congregation Mekhor Shalom, who presided over Steve’s burial, which was attended by more than 200 people (including yours truly), the vast majority being New Tampa neighbors who came to support and pay their respects to the Glantz family, who buried Steve only four days after he was killed. 

Kyle was the first to speak at the funeral. “From our family to everybody here,” he said, “the amount of support, the outpouring of love and prayers and thoughts …you don’t understand how much it has helped us trying to traverse through these last few days. This crowd is a testament to who our father was and the impact that he left on not only our family but on this entire community, from Little League to running into him at Publix, I just want to say a most sincere ‘thank you.’ It truly means a lot and it’s just fulfilling to know how much my father meant to so many people.” 

To that sentiment, Gabe then added, “I think everyone here will take how [our dad] viewed life with them into the future. He was a wonderful father, but I don’t think we realized just how blessed we really were. He was always there for us, and myself in particular, to where I knew that I could take much larger risks than I should because I knew he was always there, no matter what.” 

He added, “Everyone knows he was a community guy…friends with and always keeping up with everyone. He was involved in the Little League for a long time. Even after Kyle and I stopped playing, he stuck around for 5 or 6 more years just because he liked riding around on that lawn mower. He put our grandfather Arnold up in that hot dog truck, selling burgers and hot dogs at the fields on the weekends, just so they could be closer together. I don’t know which he loved more — meeting up with people at Publix or sitting in Section 116 at the Lightning games.” 

Gabe also noted, “The last time we went to Publix together was after he picked me up at the airport and he took me to a specific line just to show me off to one of my high school friends’ mothers.” 

He then closed by saying, “In light of recent events, just be nice…love thy neighbor…and if you come across anything you find unusual in the community that you think someone needs to know about, don’t hesitate because…you just never know.” 

After Steve’s sons were finished speaking, Hazzan Sered-Lever named all of Steve’s relatives and then turned her attention to his passing. 

“Tragically, we are all here today because of evil. Evil has touched Steven’s family, his friends and this community and all who knew and loved him.” 

She continued, “Why did this destruction and devastation take place? Where was God? Why didn’t God protect Steven? As painful and as heartbreaking as it is to take in, I submit that God can not stop human acts of evil from happening. The prayers in my prayer book describe God as ‘gracious and compassionate.’ If God could have stopped this, God would have, but God couldn’t. So, where is God in this unmitigated tragedy? God is the source of comfort who is with us as we take the necessary steps to continue living in the face of our heartbreak. And, through this heartbreak, we remember, we honor, and we pay tribute to Steven.” 

And finally, Hazzan Shered-Lever said, “Steven was compassionate, dedicated, committed, a hard worker and a planner. He was a people person, which also made him so successful in sales. But, it was never transactional [with him]. It was always [about] relationships. He loved to talk to people and was an extraordinary listener. People would open up to him like magic. He knew everyone’s life story, taking after his dad. He always wanted to help anybody and everybody. His friendship was legendary and he sought to solve any problem someone was experiencing.” (Note-As one of those friends Steve helped back when he was the president of the Little League, I can attest first-hand to the truth of this statement). “He experienced such joy in interacting with people that he was the mayor of wherever he went, including the Little League, and one of the fields was named in his honor.” 

Steven was a consummate family man. His family was more important to him than anything else in the world. 

“To the entire Glantz family, we can not take away your pain, but we are holding each one of you in our hearts. The love you have for Steven and his love for each one of you endures forever.” 

Rest in peace, Steve. You are sorely missed. 

Community Received Crime & City Budget Updates At Second Public Safety Meeting 

(l.-r.) State Rep. Fentrice Driskell, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, City Councilman Luis Viera, TPD Deputy Chief Brett Owen & TPD Maj. Les Richardson were in attendance at the Town Hall meeting in Tampa Palms on July 30. 

Thankfully, the short, but scary violent crime wave that rocked New Tampa in June has calmed down. 

That fact was evidenced by the much-lower attendance at the second New Tampa Public Safety Town Hall meeting held at Compton Park in Tampa Palms on July 30, nearly five weeks after District 7 Tampa City Council member Luis Viera and the Tampa Police Department (TPD) co-hosted the first New Tampa Public Safety Town Hall meeting at the New Tampa Recreation Center on June 24. 

As we reported in our July 23 issue, the first Town Hall was attended by about 200 people, many of whom expressed fear after three separate shooting incidents in four days that left four people dead and one seriously injured in zip code 33647. 

At the July 30 meeting, new TPD Deputy Chief Brett Owen and recently promoted TPD Dist. 2 Major Leslie “Les” Richardson provided an update on one of the three cases, while acknowledging that one case, which was being handled by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) because it took place on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. (a county road), was still not resolved. An arrest had already been made in the third case, as we also reported last issue. 

Just to review: The case that is still open was the first one, on June 17, when 24-year-old Wesley Chapel resident Kyle Prisco was shot and killed in broad daylight on BBD at Regents Park Dr., in front of the Chase Bank. Sadly, just as at the June 24 meeting, no one from HCSO attended the July 30 meeting to answer questions about that case. 

“Unfortunately, the Sheriff’s Office has not yet made an arrest in that case,” Dep. Chief Owen said, “but they are diligently working on it and hopefully in the near future, we’ll be able to give you some positive information on that case.” 

The case where TPD made an arrest was the one we reported last issue, when the body of 35-year-old Andre Dyke was found riddled with bullets on the morning of June 21, near the Metro Self Storage adjacent to the New Tampa Nature Park. The man arrested was 29-year-old Andre Aris, who TPD said dumped Dyke’s body, and was charged with first-degree murder. 

Dep. Chief Owen said that the third case, which happened a little later on June 21, was “solved.” Although he didn’t identify any of the people involved, Dep. Chief Owen said that after a man’s body was found on the ground near the entrance to the Portofino Apartments on New Tampa Blvd. in West Meadows, a suspect got into the back seat of the victim’s vehicle and pointed a gun at the driver. “They met up for a narcotics transaction and the two exchanged gunfire and ultimately the two suspects both succumbed to their injuries.” One suspect was pronounced dead at a crash site on Bearss Ave. near I-275, and the other later died after being transported to a hospital. 

Raquel Thompson (in tank top) asks for a crime update. 

One of the attendees at the July 30 Town Hall, Raquel Thompson, expressed her concern that even though she had scanned the QR code to receive TPD media releases in June, nothing had been reported about the “solved” case, “and I think people in this community have been so on edge about the recent crimes that I would think the police would want to let us know the case was resolved. But, why wasn’t that communicated to us?” Owen agreed and said he would look into why nothing was posted about it, but at our press time, no updated information had been released by TPD about the case. 

Owen did mention that, “we’ve had a lot of good work going on here in the neighborhood recently. Just in the last month, on June 26, we had five young men go into the parking lot at the Mezzo at Tampa Palms apartments. They were trying car door handles, but there was a citizen sitting in his car who blew his horn and scared them off, but not very far. They were at Building 3 when the citizen blew his horn, but they ran to Building 8, where our officers made contact with them responding to that call for service. It just goes to show that if you see something that looks out of place, call us and let us know and we can respond to it quickly and actually make something happen.” 

The new Deputy Chief also mentioned that on July 19, some suspects who came up from south Florida that were involved in a motorcycle theft ring, “stole two motorcycles up here in New Tampa and they were ultimately linked to a case that the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office had and another that Osceola County was working. Osceola had some good information that led to these suspects being arrested and the return of one of the motorcycles stolen from New Tampa.” 

He also mentioned that overall, “Our self-initiated activity is up over 55% year-to-date. Just in the last month alone, it’s up 66%, so that makes almost 7,000 calls year-to-date that were self-initiated, which means officers doing something in the community that weren’t called in by citizens. And, just this last month, we’re talking 1,000 self-initiated calls, so we are visible in the community and we’re working diligently to keep you all safe.” 

Next, Maj. Richardson said he just got promoted when Owen became Deputy Chief and he said, “I’m actually looking forward to working here in District 2. I’ve spent the majority of my career in East Tampa (TPD) District 3, which includes downtown and Ybor, and I’ve only been here about two weeks now. But, after looking at the numbers in District 2, I’m excited to be working here and I look forward to working with each and every one of you.” 

In response to a question from resident Al Fernandez about speeding on BBD, Owen said that, “Our traffic unit is doing an initiative on Bruce B. Downs in New Tampa this month because this is one of our problem areas.” 

Another local resident asked if the west side of Tampa Palms Blvd. could be repaved, now that the repaving on the east side of Tampa Palms Blvd. has been completed. Mayor Castor said she would have to look into it, and that passing the continuation of the half-cent Community Investment Tax would help, while Viera also mentioned that there is $550 million sitting in Tallahassee from the overturned Transportation Sales Tax referendum, “some of which will come back to the city, and zip code 33647 voted overwhelmingly for that tax.” Viera also noted that the city’s road repaving budget is only about $5 million a year, and “just to keep our roads the way they are now is about $16 million. That’s what that penny sales tax was for. But, Tampa Palms Blvd. and New Tampa Blvd. repaving are first in my mind for repaving, so we’ll get there eventually.” 

Mayor Castor added, “It’s important to get these repaving projects done as quickly as possible so you don’t have to tear the entire road up, which will cost three times as much as repaving.” 

About The Budget 

After Viera introduced everyone sitting in front of the 50 or so people (photo above) in attendance at the July 30 meeting, Mayor Castor provided an update on the City of Tampa’s Fiscal Year 2025 (which begins Oct. 1) budget. 

“We recently presented our 2025 budget to City Council, which is about $1.8 billion,” Mayor Castor said. “We very conservatively estimate what we are going to receive in property tax revenue, and that is the majority of our operating budget. But, where we’re at is sort of a status quo budget. We are maintaining our high level of service, we’re taking care of the issues that need to be taken care of, but there aren’t going to be any major projects (funded) that weren’t already on the boards. We’re in great shape financially; we have one of the best credit ratings for a city in the U.S. We have so many ‘As’ and ‘A+s’ on that credit rating that I wish I had those grades in high school.” She added that public hearings on the Mayor’s proposed 2025 budget will be held in September. 

She also mentioned that, based on a Community Values Survey the city conducts every year, “to ensure that we’re doing what you want, I’m very pleased to say that we have over a 90% approval rating on the citizens’ trust in city government.” 

At the end of the meeting, Mayor Castor lauded Councilman Viera for his efforts on New Tampa’s behalf. “This guy really fights for you,” she said. “Your needs in New Tampa are very well represented.”