A Florida man was killed on Monday when he approached police officers with garden shears.
Two Polk County deputies shot Timothy Patrick Schulz, 42, in response to a report of a man behaving erratically at a RaceTrac in Lakeland. Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd mentioned that they looked for Schulz for 40 minutes without success. Eventually, they received another call about a man in a lake filled with alligators, as reported by the Lakeland Ledger.
A witness said they tried to throw a life preserver to Schulz, “but he growled at me, so I ran in the house and locked the door.”
As documented by the Lakeland Ledger, Schulz came out of the lake and picked up a pair of garden shears. Allegedly, he threw a rock at a truck and then proceeded to charge at the police officers while wielding the garden shears.
Despite being tased twice by the officers, Schulz persisted in advancing towards them, disregarding their orders to halt. After entering a running police car and attempting to access a rifle or shotgun from its holder, Schulz was shot by the officers, according to Judd.
Judd noted that Schulz — who had a history of methamphetamine-related arrests — had a fresh bite mark on his arm that likely came from an alligator.
“I don’t know if this is a suicide by cop or suicide by being absolutely out of your mind on methamphetamine. But he showed no fear of two deputies, he showed no interest in complying. Even after he was tased, he still ran,” he said, per the Lakeland Ledger.
WKMG reported from Schulz was released from jail on May 20, days before his shooting death. No officers were injured in Monday’s incident.
[Feature Photo: Polk County police]
