{"id":248967,"date":"2026-04-28T00:46:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T00:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/248967\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T00:46:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T00:46:10","slug":"we-tried-to-warn-police-in-the-past","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/248967\/","title":{"rendered":"We tried to warn police in the past"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">New evidence on suspect&#8217;s search history in apparent murders of South Florida students 02:16<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The brother of Hisham Abugharbieh, the <a data-yga=\"{\" ylinkelement=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/roommate-murder-charges-deaths-university-south-florida-doctoral-students\/?ftag=YHF4eb9d17\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:suspect in the killings of two University of South Florida doctoral students;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">suspect in the killings of two University of South Florida doctoral students<\/a>, tells CBS News his family had warned police in the past about Abugharbieh&#8217;s erratic behavior.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Ahmad Abugharbie, 22, told CBS News his older brother was quick to anger and shouldn&#8217;t have been living in a shared space with roommates. <\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;I didn&#8217;t know he had a roommate,&#8221; Ahmad Abugharbie said. &#8220;He should&#8217;ve lived on his own or been homeless.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Hisham Abugharbieh, 26, is facing two first-degree murder charges in connection with the deaths of his roommate, 27-year-old Zamil Limon, and Nahida Bristy, also 27. Limon&#8217;s body was found Friday and authorities <a data-yga=\"{\" ylinkelement=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/human-remains-found-search-nahida-bristy-university-south-florida\/?ftag=YHF4eb9d17\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:found human remains;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">found human remains<\/a> Sunday while searching for Bristy, although those remains have not yet been identified. Both sets of remains were found on or near the Howard Frankland Bridge, which spans a portion of Tampa Bay, authorities said.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Zamil Limon and Nahida Bristy, both 27, were last seen in the Tampa area on April 16, the University of South Florida Police Department said. \/ Credit: Families of Zamil Limon and Nahida Bristy\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/d1f3b4e36774e6334e711467d77eb7d2.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Zamil Limon and Nahida Bristy, both 27, were last seen in the Tampa area on April 16, the University of South Florida Police Department said. \/ Credit: Families of Zamil Limon and Nahida Bristy<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Ahmad Abugharbie said he was among the members of his family who called police to the family home after the elder Abugharbie suddenly showed up Friday morning.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;He was being very weird, so I called them to get him out,&#8221; Ahmad Abugharbieh said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Hisham Abugharbieh had been estranged from the family since 2023, according to court records.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">According to an arrest report, Hisham Abugharbie&#8217;s younger sister confronted him after she found him in the living room playing video games, wearing only a towel. Then he approached her.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;The defendant was attempting to kiss the victim,&#8221; the report states. &#8220;The victim was able to push away.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Hisham Abugharbieh was taken into custody in dramatic fashion on Friday. He came out with his hands up, still wearing only a towel, and was confronted by Hillsborough County Sheriff&#8217;s Office deputies who took him into custody.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">He is due in court on Tuesday and is being held without bond.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Hisham Abugharbieh with his hands raised prior to being taken into custody. \/ Credit: Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/fd89f6d62d334970bc9ee46ee53cb7c5.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Hisham Abugharbieh with his hands raised prior to being taken into custody. \/ Credit: Hillsborough County Sheriff&#8217;s Office<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Ahmad Abugharbieh had a message for the families of the victims:<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;I just can&#8217;t stop thinking about all of them. &#8230; I&#8217;m just, I just feel so awful,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I&#8217;m really sorry about everything. I feel so, my entire family feels so much shame and guilt.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Ahmad Abugharbieh added, &#8220;We tried to warn police in the past.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The family had filed two protective orders against Hisham Abugharbieh, one in 2023 that was granted and another in 2025, which was denied, according to court records. Protective orders are a civil matter handled by the Clerk of Courts in Hillsborough County.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">A judge denied the 2025 request because the battery criminal charges were not pursued.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The younger Abugharbieh said he declined to move forward with potential battery charges against his brother in 2023 because of financial constraints.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;I dropped them because I thought it was going to cost me a lot of money,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I regretted that choice immediately after.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">In the 2023 protective order, a copy of which was obtained by CBS News, Ahmad Abugharbieh wrote that his brother \u00a0&#8220;&#8230; repeatedly punched me in the head, he ripped my shirt and made me bleed and gave me a few bruises on my face. I went outside to call the cops. He tried to escape by using the family minivan but came back after realizing it wouldn&#8217;t work.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">On another occasion, the younger brother alleges that Hisham Abugharbieh &#8220;tore up the entire living room after a short argument with my mom.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">He also alleged his brother &#8220;would start screaming in the middle of the night about how he is God and we should all bow down to him.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">A spokesperson for the Hillsborough County Public Defender&#8217;s Office, which is representing Hisham Abugharbieh, told CBS News, &#8220;While we understand the attention surrounding the case, our ethical obligations and our client&#8217;s right to a fair trial require that we refrain from public comment. We remain focused on representing our client through the legal process.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Hillsborough County State Attorney&#8217;s Office would not comment specifically on Ahmad Abugharbieh&#8217;s comments.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">In a Facebook post, they wrote that Hisham Abugharbieh &#8220;remains a danger to our community and should be held without bond until trial.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;Our hearts are with both students&#8217; families during this incredibly difficult time, and we are keeping them in our thoughts as they await answers,&#8221; State Attorney Suzy Lopez said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Hillsborough County Sheriff&#8217;s Office did not reply to CBS News&#8217; request for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New evidence on suspect&#8217;s search history in apparent murders of South Florida students 02:16 The brother of Hisham&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":248968,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[109141,109142,71204,109143,108055,807,135,137,136],"class_list":["post-248967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-ahmad-abugharbie","tag-ahmad-abugharbieh","tag-hillsborough-county-sheriff39s-office","tag-hisham-abugharbie","tag-hisham-abugharbieh","tag-south-florida","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}