Polk County police shot and killed a man who said he was swimming in a crocodile lake – and apparently bitten.
Polk Sheriff Grady Judd said his department received a call early Monday about a man acting irregularly at a gas station on State Route 37 in Lakeland. A few hours later, they received another call indicating that the man was swimming in a lake known to have alligators in the nearby gated community.
One witness told police they tried to give the man the best of his life, but he “gruffed” at them and refused, Judd said. When deputies arrived at the cul-de-dead near Westlake Clark Court, they discovered they were about to break into the truck on the set of Highers in the garden he found outside the house, Judd said.
The sheriff said deputies tried to conquer the man, but he charged them with their running car and jumped inside to access the gun. At that point, deputies fired and fired him, Judd said.
“At that point, all warnings had to be stopped and the action had to be started,” Judd said.
Judd identified the man as 42-year-old Timothy Schultz and said he has a history of drug arrests, including those released from prison last week. It appeared that the crocodile bit his right arm while swimming in the neighborhood.
“The fact that he was bitten by a crocodile is shocking, and it’s a massive and shocking thing he’s going on,” Judd said. “But if you’re taking enough meth, the person you see is not the one attacking you.”
Judd said the agents who fired Schultz (supervisor and trainee) will both be on administrative leave during the investigation.
