A Florida man was bitten by an alligator and fatally shot by deputies after authorities say he tried to steal a rifle from a patrol car, charged at deputies with garden shears and acted erratically near a lake in Lakeland.
On May 26, around 5:56 a.m., RaceTrac employees at Highway 37 called deputies after they saw Timothy Schulz, 42, shaking and asking employees to call his son. When deputies arrived, they searched for Schulz for about 40 minutes but couldn't find him.
Around 7:43 a.m., they received a call about a man in a lake full of alligators. The Polk County Sheriff's Office said that at some point while he was in the lake, Schulz was bitten by an alligator on his arm.
Witnesses told deputies that they tried to give Schulz a life vest, but he refused to take it. Another witness said Schulz growled at him, so the witness returned to their house and locked the door.
When deputies got to the lake, they found Schulz walking from it, in between houses, with garden shears in his hand. PCSO said he then tried to break into a truck by throwing a brick at it.
According to PCSO, Schulz charged at deputies with the shears, and deputies tased him twice and told him to drop the shears. Schulz did not stop, and instead, he climbed into the passenger side of a patrol car, which was still running.
While in the patrol car, Schulz attempted to steal a police rifle out of its holder. Deputies shot him multiple times, killing Schulz at the scene. No deputies were injured.
Judd said Schulz had been arrested for meth several times before, and was on meth at the time of the incident.
"His conduct was outrageous. It was bizarre. And his conduct in order to get him into custody was necessary by our deputies because of his conduct," Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said.
This story was originally published by Annette Gutierrez with the <i>Scripps News Group in Tampa, Florida.</i>
