LAKE COUNTY, Fla. — The family of a man killed by a Lake County Deputy met with the Sheriff’s Office after staging a rally for hours on Wednesday.
The rally was designed to draw attention and get answers about what happened to Timotheus Reed.
”They gave us some answers,” said Pastor Clay Reed, father of Timotheus. “They’re limited because they can only follow up after FDLE does their investigation.”
Reed was shot and killed after deputies responded to a call reporting a stabbing at a house on Montclair Road in Leesburg. The caller told dispatch someone was stabbed in the neck.
When the deputies arrived, an eyewitness pointed him toward an area where Reed had reportedly fled. That’s when the deputy shot Reed, who was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
The deputy’s body camera was not on. Video footage released to the media showed deputies rendering first aid to Reed moments after he was shot.
“By the time his camera came on, my son was already shot in handcuffs, and multiple officers were there,” said Pastor Reed.
The Sheriff’s Office released a statement acknowledging the deputy “did not activate his blue lights, which would have in turn activated his body camera.”
Eyewitness News requested several records related to this case, including the deputy’s name and history and the number of times they’ve been called to that neighborhood.
The Sheriff’s Office withheld the name of the deputy, citing a state statute that prohibits the office from releasing it. The office acknowledged that the deputy in question has been with that agency since 2023, and that his only disciplinary action was for an at-fault traffic crash.
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