LAKELAND, Fla. (WFLA) — A man armed with garden shears was fatally shot by Polk County deputies on Monday, minutes after surviving an apparent alligator attack, according to NewsNation affiliate WFLA.
Polk County Sheriff’s Office deputies began searching for Timothy Schulz, 42, just before 6 a.m. after a convenience store clerk reported he was acting erratically. Deputies searched for around 40 minutes, but couldn’t find him.
Residents of a nearby neighborhood called the sheriff’s office to report a man swimming in an alligator-infested lake. A witness tried to throw him a life preserver and another witness reported Schulz growling at them when they tried to help.
Witnesses told deputies an alligator was spotted close to him as he swam across the lake.
Schulz emerged from the lake with an apparent alligator bite and began walking between houses while holding a pair of garden shears. The sheriff’s office said he was using a brick to attempt to break into a resident’s truck.
A witness told detectives they saw the suspect run at deputies with the shears. He was tased twice, but it appeared not to have an effect on him. Sheriff Grady Judd said he climbed into the passenger side of a PCSO patrol vehicle, trying to get a deputy’s rifle.
That’s when two deputies, identified as a trainee and his trainer, opened fire on the suspect, fatally wounding him.
Judd said Schulz had a lengthy criminal history that included several arrests for methamphetamine.