Polk County deputies killed an apparently drug-addled man who swam through an alligator-infested lake, charged the officers with garden shears and then tried to grab a long gun from a law enforcement vehicle, Sheriff Grady Judd said Monday.
The man, identified as Timothy Patrick Schulz, 42, had a long history of methamphetamine abuse and arrests, most recently being released from custody on May 20, Judd said.
The early morning incident in Lakeland began with a 6 a.m. report of a “bizarre” and “shaking” man at a Racetrac gas station on Highway 37, then a second call nearly two hours later regarding a man swimming in a lake near Lake Clark Court with alligators nearby. A witness said the man “growled at me” when he called out. Judd said Schulz was bit in the right arm during the swim.
Two deputies arrived at the scene as the man was walking away from the lake carrying garden shears. When he charged the deputies holding the shears, they sought to deescalate the situation and Tased him twice, Judd said. But Schulz reached the deputies’ patrol vehicle, entered the passenger side and tried to get a “rifle or shotgun” out of its holder.
“At that point in time, all the warnings had to stop and the action had to begin,” Judd said.
Both deputies then shot Schulz multiple times, killing him. Judd attributed his “outrageous” behavior to methamphetamine use that allowed Schulz to shake off the effect of an alligator bite and the two Tasings. “If you’re on enough meth, then the person you see is not the person who’s attacking,” Judd said.
The deputies who killed Schulz, one of whom was still in training, are on administrative leave pending a preliminary investigation, Judd said. The State Attorney’s office will review the incident following the sheriff’s investigation, according to a department press release.
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