Early on Memorial Day, a Florida man was bitten by an alligator as he swam across a lake. Bleeding from a bite to his right arm but undeterred, he climbed out, grabbed a pair of garden shears and walked into a gated neighborhood, alarming residents, according to local authorities.
Within minutes, the man, Timothy Schulz, 42, of Mulberry, Fla., was dead — shot by sheriff’s deputies after, they say, he charged at them with the shears, failed to be subdued by a stun gun and tried to grab either a shotgun or rifle from their cruiser.
“The fact that he was bitten by an alligator significantly and continued on his rampage was shocking,” the Polk County sheriff, Grady Judd, said at a news conference on Monday. “This is just crazy stuff. You know it’s got to be true. You can’t make it up.”
In fact, Mr. Schulz had started acting strangely at least two hours before the fatal encounter in Lakeland, Fla., according to the sheriff’s office, which pieced together the events leading up to his death using 911 calls and witness statements from residents of the neighborhood who tried to help Mr. Schulz in his final moments. Sheriff Judd also said that Mr. Schulz had a lengthy criminal history, which he described as “meth arrest, meth arrest, meth arrest, meth arrest, meth arrest.”
The events on Monday began before 6 a.m., when an employee at RaceTrac gas station off Highway 37 called the sheriff’s office to report a man inside who was acting bizarre — shaking and asking to call his son, Sheriff Judd said.
Deputies arrived within three minutes and searched the premises until about 6:39 a.m., but the man, later identified as Mr. Schulz, had vanished, the sheriff said.
At 7:43 a.m., a resident in a Polk County neighborhood called the sheriff’s office to say that a man was in a lake known to have alligators in it, and that the man was treading water near one of the broad-snouted reptiles. The man, later identified as Mr. Schulz, had entered the lake near the gas station and begun swimming toward Lakeland Court, a gated community, authorities say.
“It’s a long swim,” Sheriff Judd said. “And he was gator-bitten along the way.”
Several people saw Mr. Schulz treading water, and one tried to throw Mr. Schulz a life vest but he refused to use it, the sheriff said.
Another person who tried to help said that Mr. Schulz growled at him.
Then Mr. Schulz, bloodied, emerged from the lake, crossing between houses, Sheriff Judd said. Witnesses told deputies he was trying to break into a vehicle and carrying a pair of garden shears. One person said that Mr. Schulz immediately charged at deputies with the shears when they arrived, Sheriff Judd said.
Deputies commanded Mr. Schulz to drop the shears. They twice tried to subdue him by discharging a Taser but, according to Sheriff Judd, it had no effect.
Then came the final escalation.
Mr. Schulz climbed into the passenger seat of a sheriff’s office cruiser and tried to remove either a rifle or a shotgun from its holder, the authorities said. At that moment, the two deputies, including a trainee, opened fire, killing Mr. Schulz.
“He was bizarre,” Sheriff Judd said. “Our deputies, by the way, are going home safe tonight.”
Mr. Schulz had previously been arrested on a charge of possession of methamphetamine on April 16, the authorities said. He was released on May 20.
The investigation into what happened on Memorial Day is continuing, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, which said that it was awaiting the results of an autopsy and toxicology reports.
Mark Walker is an investigative reporter focused on transportation. He is based in Washington.
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