After 41 years, vendors and shoppers say goodbye to Flea Market Tallahassee
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) - Roy Blake has been vending for the past four years at Flea Market Tallahassee.
“This is where we got started. I mean our soaps used to look like, I think in Ziploc bags. I don’t even remember what we put them in but this is where we started our business so it’s a very special place in our heart definitely,” he said
But now the market is closing down for good with Sunday being the final day. Blake stated that he felt sad to see it end but also excited for what’s next.
“It’s mixed emotions, I’m just definitely overfilled with like gratitude for the position that I’m in. You know I have a product that I can pretty much take anywhere.”
“I’m gonna miss a lot of people, a lot of the customers that are like regulars here,” Blake said.
The market announced the closure earlier this month on Facebook.
Market staff said after the roof collapsed from the ice and snow in January, they lost electricity in most vendor aisles and it was too costly to repair so closing was the only option.
Blake said he enjoyed every minute he got to spend with the customers but he just isn’t ready to say goodbye.
“Very deep connections like some are almost like family,” he said.
Thankfully for him and many other vendors it’s more of a ‘see you later.’
“I’m trying to figure out how we’re gonna fit the business in while we look for another location cause when the right spot opens up we’ll definitely be in it,” Blake said.
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Man allegedly shot wife's lover in flea market parking lot after 5-year affair
MIAMI-DADE, Fla. (WKRC) - A man allegedly shot his wife's lover in the parking lot of a flea market as the victim was bringing food to a friend, concluding a 5-year-long affair.
According to a probable cause affidavit obtained by local outlet the Miami Herald, deputies were dispatched to a shopping center on July 12 for a report of a shooting. Upon arrival, deputies found a man who had been shot in a car, per the outlet. He was reportedly taken to a hospital and pronounced dead.
Investigators learned that the victim was killed by 69-year-old Omar Rene Aguila, who was motivated by a 5-year-long affair the victim was having with Aguila's wife, per the outlet.
Aguila allegedly first learned about the affair in April of 2024, although it started in 2019, and demanded she end the relationship.
Police reported that the victim went to Aguila's house just two days before the shooting to speak with his wife, but Aguila confronted him instead.
The incident at the flea market occurred when Aguila, his wife, and their son were shopping and the victim arrived to deliver food to a friend, per the report. The victim allegedly decided to try and talk to Aguila's wife again.
Aguila's son reportedly told him the pair was talking, so Aguila drove his mobility scooter over to the victim's car and started arguing with him. Within moments, Aguila allegedly pulled out a gun and shot the victim multiple times.
Aguila was arrested and charged with second-degree murder.
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Vendor charged in Flea Market shooting
A vendor at the Memorial Day Flea Market in Hillsville, Virginia, has been charged with reckless handling of a firearm and malicious wounding following a shooting Friday.
Richard Dale Lee, 49, of Hillsville, was arrested and charged malicious wounding and reckless handling of a firearm, according to the Hillsville Police Department. He is alleged to have fired on two teen-agers, striking one in the back, as they ran from the booth he was attending.
According to Hillsville Police Chief Shannon Goad, the Hillsville Police Department and Carroll County EMS responded to West View Terrace Apartments on May 23 at approximately 12:43 a.m. in reference to a male juvenile with a gunshot wound to the back.
"After a preliminary investigation, it was determined that the incident occurred sometime earlier in the area of 1010 West Stuart Drive in Hillsville. During a brief encounter at a local vendor's tent set up for the Memorial Day Flea Market, the 17-year-old juvenile was shot in the back with a semi-automatic .40 caliber pistol," Goad said.
Chief Goad said Lee was transported to the New River Valley Regional Jail in Dublin, where he is being held with no bond. The juvenile was airlifted to Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem. No word was available on his condition.
"The investigation is ongoing and future charges are pending," Chief Goad added.