POLK COUNTY, FL – A series of chaotic events early Wednesday morning led to the fatal shooting of a man by law enforcement officials, who say he attacked them after an unexpected encounter with an alligator in a Polk County lake. The bizarre incident began at a RaceTrac gas station on State Road 37, where around 6 a.m., a clerk reported a disoriented man asking to call his son, according to Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd.
When deputies arrived at the gas station, they were unable to locate the man. However, nearly two hours later, a report came in describing a man swimming in a nearby lake known for its alligator population. Witnesses tried to assist the swimmer, offering a life preserver, but he refused their help.
A witness who attempted to communicate with the man recounted that the interaction took a frightening turn. “He growled at me, so I ran in the house and locked the door,” the witness told authorities.
Responding to the lake, deputies found the man emerging from the water with what appeared to be an alligator bite on his arm. The situation escalated when the man, later identified as 42-year-old Timothy Schulz, attempted to break into a car with a brick. He then allegedly charged at deputies with garden shears in hand.
Officers’ attempts to defuse the tense situation with Tasers proved ineffective, Sheriff Judd explained. The encounter further intensified when Schulz reportedly tried to access a deputy’s patrol vehicle, attempting to retrieve a shotgun from inside.
Sheriff Judd stated that these actions necessitated further intervention. “At that moment in time, all the warnings had to stop and the action had to begin,” Judd said, describing how deputies resorted to the use of lethal force to neutralize the immediate threat.
Schulz, who had a history of arrests related to methamphetamines and had recently been released from incarceration, was later pronounced dead following the incident. The Sheriff’s office has since initiated an investigation into the shooting.
The shooting is being reviewed by the sheriff’s task force, which will present its findings to the state attorney’s office to determine whether the deputies’ actions were justified under the circumstances.