Moments before the Legislature passed the controversial TRUMP Act, Rep. Lawrence McClure disclosed a dramatic incident that unfolded at his rural Hillsborough County home. 

His wife, Courtney McClure, was turning on the front porch lights for the evening when she saw a strange man running on the driveway, Rep. McClure said last month on the House floor before the third passage of the bill.

The intruder had jumped the locked gate to their home while Courtney McClure was alone with their two young children and the representative was on the road almost all the way to Tallahassee.

“When he got to our front door, he grabbed that door and tried to break it down,” Rep. McClure said.

Public records obtained by Florida Politics revealed more details of what happened Dec. 1.

When the intruder refused to leave, Courtney McClure went into their home and pulled out a gun, according to a report from Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office that Florida Politics obtained from a public records request. 

Rep. McClure did not mention his wife had the gun in his public remarks.

“My wife called me. She had a tone and a panic that I had never heard since the day I met her,” Rep. McClure said on the House floor. “I could hear my 5-year-old screaming, terrified, and my 1-year-old daughter equally as scared.”

Rep. McClure said the incident was captured on his home video surveillance system.

“I’ve gotten to play it back,” Rep. McClure said. “It was the closest thing I’ve seen to pure proof that you don’t get between the babies and the mamas.”

The man ran off and jumped over a barbed-wire fence into a pasture, climbed another fence and then broke into a screened-in back patio of a neighboring home, the sheriff’s report said.

It just so happened that neighbor happened to be Rep. McClure’s cousin, the lawmaker said on the House floor.

And the cousin was also armed –  just like the lawmaker’s wife,  the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s indicated.

Esvin Guzman Morales, 31, of Dover, was arrested and has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor trespass charges. 

The public defender’s office, which is representing Guzman Morales, did not return a message for comment. A phone number listed for Guzman Morales was not in service Thursday.

Some of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s arrest report is redacted and the 911 call was not released because of the ongoing criminal investigation, according to the sheriff’s office.

Rep. McClure described Guzman Morales as “someone here illegally” in his telling of the story.

The arrest report does not detail his immigration status although it says that Guzman Morales has having a Guatemalan Identification Card.

Rep. McClure said Guzman Morales had an outstanding warrant for his arrest from a previous incident in Collier County.

A Collier County Sheriff’s Report detailed a woman reported a man had returned home from work and had been drinking in September 2023.

“He began to question her by saying, ‘What you did today? What are you doing?’” the sheriff’s incident report said. “He was being belligerent to her.”

The man punched and broke their flat screen TV and threw a water bottle at the woman. The woman went to lie down on her bed, and the man hit her leg and then grabbed her left hand and twisted her arm around her back, the report said.

The situation happened while a 2-year-old was home.

The man left the bedroom, and the woman locked the door behind him. He tried to get back in, but the woman told him to leave. 

By the time the Collier County Sheriff’s Office arrived, the man was gone.

The man’s name was redacted in the report but the sheriff’s department released the report when Florida Politics asked for any records associated with Guzman Morales.

Rep. McClure did not respond to a Florida Politics’ inquiry for this story as he framed the Dec. 1 situation as influencing his views when he spoke to his fellow lawmakers.

“We have to take action,” said Rep. McClure, the sponsor of the House version of the TRUMP Act, as he urged his colleagues to pass the bill despite Gov. Ron DeSantis’ criticism that it wasn’t strong enough legislation.

Rep. McClure also reflected on the emotions lingering from what happened at his home.

Rep. McClure said his 5-year-old “asks you every single day, ‘What was that bad man doing trying to get in the house?’ And if you want to feel even worse, ‘Why weren’t you here to help mommy?’”

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On the heels of a record-breaking year of hosting more travelers than ever, Jacksonville International Airport (JIA) is adding more flights to its schedule.

JIA announced Thursday the airline hub will add more Southwest Airlines flights to Austin, Texas, this year. Officials with the airport also are adding flights to St. Louis, Mo., aboard Allegiant Airlines.

Both destinations will involve direct, nonstop flights. The St. Louis flights will take travelers to MidAmerica St. Louis Airport. The St. Louis route isn’t so much a new one. Rather, it’s a return of the service on Allegiant. It begins again in March.

The Austin route will exchange travelers with Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. Those flights won’t begin until October, though. The service on Southwest Airlines will depart from JIA at 11:58 a.m. and arrive in Austin about 12:35 p.m. Then the flights from Austin will depart about 12:50 p.m. and arrive in Jacksonville about 4:15 p.m. That flight schedule will be offered every day except for Saturdays when Southwest begins the service in the fall.

“Southwest is a beloved airline with strong brand loyalty,” Jacksonville Aviation Authority (JAA) CEO Mark VanLoh said. “We have no doubt that their service to Austin will be successful.”

It’s the latest addition of First Coast flight service being offered involving JIA and Southwest. The carrier already offers nonstop travel to Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Nashville and St. Louis. That’s on top of another addition beginning later this year as Southwest will begin Saturday-only service from JIA to Kansas City on June 7.

The new routes and flights come as JIA just marked a record-setting year for travelers in 2024.

JIA officials announced in January the airport broke records again as more than 7.6 million travelers passed through the facility in 2024. That’s up from the 7.45 million passengers who used the airport in 2023. Passenger travel in 2024 was up 2.4% over 2023, smashing the record that had already been set in 2023.

Jacksonville International Airport officials had noted expanded service and new flights were a significant part of the reason for record-breaking use of the facility.

“Our passenger volume continues to increase as Northeast Florida and the local economy grow,” Jacksonville Aviation Authority (JAA) CEO Mark VanLoh said. “Airlines have taken note, adding frequencies, cities and larger aircraft at JAX.”

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