POLK COUNTY, Fla. — A deadly deputy-involved shooting is under investigation in Polk County.
Sheriff Grady Judd gave preliminary information to the media Monday afternoon, detailing how the man who died allegedly tried to attack his deputies - after an alligator may have attacked him.
Judd said the first call about the man, who he identified as Timothy Patrick Schulz, 42, came from the RaceTrac on Highway 37 in south Lakeland. He said the caller reported that Schulz was “acting bizarre.”
He was gone when deputies arrived. But they got another call about him swimming in a nearby lake.
Judd said there were a lot of alligators in the lake with him, and that one witness said they took a life vest out to him but he wouldn’t take it. He also allegedly growled at another person who tried to help, the sheriff said.
Judd said deputies arrived and found him walking around the houses with a set of garden shears, and he allegedly tried to break a car window with a brick.
According to the sheriff, Schulz charged at the deputies, who tried to stop him with a stun gun twice.
He said Schulz then got into the passenger side of the patrol car and tried to get one of the firearms. That’s when the deputies shot him.
Judd also said the deputies noticed what appeared to be a bite mark on his arm, which they believe came from an alligator in the lake.
“He swam across the lake from Highway 37. That’s amazing in and of itself. It’s a long swim. And he was gator-bitten along the way,” said Judd. “This is just crazy stuff, OK? You know that’s got to be true. You can’t make it up.”
The shooting is now under investigation, with the results going to the state attorney for review.
“Let me make this abundantly clear. You’re not going to shoot at our deputies, You’re not going to point guns at our deputies. You’re not going to point garden shears at our deputies. You’re not going to break into the car and try to get their rifles. You’re not going to assault feloniously our deputies,” he said. “You’re just not going to do that. And of you do, we’re going to shoot you just enough so that you don’t ever want to do that again or can’t do that ever again.”
Judd also commented that Schulz has a lengthy history of methamphetamine arrests, including on in April for which he was just released last week.
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