A man from Florida who was apparently bitten as he was swimming in infested alligator waters on Monday morning was fatally slaughtered, he said officials, he left the lake and accused deputies of the sheriff of garden shears.
Two deputies, including a trainee, opened fire on Timothy Schulz, 42, after having deployed a paralyzing pistol who seemed to have no effect and after Schulz tried to remove a firearm from their patrol cruise, said the Sheriff of Polk County, Grady Judd.
“The fact that he was bitten by an alligator and has always continued his unleashing is shocking,” said Judd.
The authorities responded for the first time to a call involving Schulz at 5:56 am, when he appeared in a Hippodrome trembling and asked to call his son, said Judd. The deputies who responded to the region could not find it, said sheriff.
Almost two hours later, a witness spotted Schulz in Lakeland, south of Orlando, and reported that the man was in a lake with “many” alligators, Judd said.
“A witness actually took a lifestyle and tried to give it to him,” he said. “He wouldn’t take it.”
Another witness told authorities that Schulz had groaned when the person was trying to speak to him.
The witnesses reported that Schulz was walking in the water and that they could only see his head. At one point, an alligator seemed to bite his right arm, said Judd.
After emerging from the lake, Schulz was seen walking between the houses in a residential area, carrying a pair of garden shears. At one point, he threw a brick on a truck, said Judd.
As the deputies arrived, said Judd, they saw Schulz trying to enter a vehicle and quickly left their cruiser.
When Schulz accused them of the shear, said Judd, they ordered him to drop the tool, then deployed the paralyzing pistol when he did not do it.
Schulz went up in the passenger side of the deputies’ patrol vehicle and seemed to try to remove a rifle or a hunting rifle, Judd said.
“At that time, our deputies fired several times,” said Judd. “As a result, Timothy died.”
He said that the deputies will remain on administrative leave while the state prosecutor’s office examines the shooting, in accordance with the department.
Judd said Schulz faced several accusations of methamphetamine and was released from the most recently county prison on May 20. An affidavit in this case says that a deputy has found a glass hose in a backpack that Schulz transported which was tested positive for the medication.
