Florida man survives alligator attack, shot by deputies moments later: ‘This is just crazy stuff’
POLK COUNTY, Fla. (WFTS) – A Florida man was bitten by an alligator before he was shot and killed by deputies on Memorial Day, according to the sheriff’s office.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said it started Monday morning when his agency received a call for a “shaking” man who was asking to call his son.
EN ESPAÑOL: Sobrevive ataque de caimán, pero después muere a manos de la policía
Deputies responded to the area, but the man was gone.
About two hours later, another call came in about a man who was swimming in a lake with alligators in the Christina Hammock neighborhood.
“And he was gator bitten along the way. Now this is just crazy stuff,” Judd said.
Witnesses in the neighborhood said they tried to help the man, but he refused. He reportedly even growled at one neighbor.
When deputies arrived, the man allegedly tried to attack a deputy with garden shears and then used a brick to break into a truck.
Judd said deputies tried to de-escalate the situation before taking lethal action.
“We try to de-escalate,” Judd said. “We tased him twice. We tell him to drop the shears, to no effect. The tasers had no effect on him. He climbed into a vehicle committing another armed burglary where he was trying to get to our rifle and our ... our shotgun, and we shot him.”
The man was later identified as Timothy Schultz.
The sheriff said Schultz had a long criminal history involving meth. He had recently been released from Polk County Jail before this happened.
“His conduct was outrageous. It was bizarre,” Judd said.
Due to standard protocol, the deputies who shot Schultz are on istrative leave until the investigation is complete.
No deputies were injured.
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