Man Bitten By Alligator, Killed By Deputies After Charging Them With Garden Shears: Police

LAKELAND, FL — A man was killed Monday by Polk County sheriff’s deputies after he swam across an alligator-infested lake to access a gated Lakeland community and charged at authorities with garden shears, according to police.

The man was identified as 42-year-old Timothy Patrick Schulz by Sheriff Grady Judd at a press conference Monday livestreamed on Facebook.

“Quite frankly, his conduct was outrageous,” Judd said. “It was bizarre.”

The first call to authorities about Schulz came just before 6 a.m. from a RaceTrac on Highway 37, where Schulz was reportedly shaking, asking to call his son and acting strangely, according to Judd, who said deputies responded but couldn’t find him. They received a second call around 7:45 a.m. that Schulz was in a lake with alligators and had refused a life preserver from one person and growled at another, Judd said, adding Schulz later appeared to have been bitten by an alligator in the arm.

Deputies arrived to find Schulz with a set of garden shears, trying to break into a truck, according to Judd, who said Schulz immediately charged the deputies and did not respond to a Taser. Schulz then climbed into the passenger side of a running patrol car and tried to take a gun, at which point both deputies fired, Judd said.

“You’re not going to assault, feloniously, our deputies,” he said. “You’re just not going to do that. And if you do, we’re going to shoot you. Just enough so that you don’t want to ever do that again, or can’t do that ever again.”

Schulz has a long criminal history, specifically in connection with methamphetamine, according to Judd, who said he was released from county jail less than a week ago after being arrested in April and charged with methamphetamine possession.

"I don't know if this is a suicide by cop or a suicide by being absolutely out of your mind on methamphetamine, but he showed no fear of two deputies, he showed no interest in complying,” Judd said.

A multi-agency task force will investigate the shooting, the results of which will be turned over to State Attorney Brian Haas, Judd said, adding the deputies — one of whom was still in training — will be on administrative leave through the initial phases of the investigation.

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