By Olivia Lloyd
The Charlotte Observer
LAKELAND, Fla. — A man appeared to have survived an alligator attack while swimming across a lake, then he charged deputies with a pair of shears and was shot dead, a Florida sheriff said.
The man has been identified as 42-year-old Timothy Schulz.
Someone at a gas station called 911 in the early morning of Memorial Day on May 26 to report a man was acting unusual and asking to call his son, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd in a news conference streamed on Facebook.
Within a couple hours, the sheriff’s office got another call about a man swimming in a lake behind a residential area in Lakeland, and the caller spotted one gator close to the man, according to the sheriff.
The caller suspected the swimmer was under the influence, and one bystander tried to throw him a life preserver, but Schulz refused to take it, Judd said.
During Schulz’s swim across the lake, “it appears that his right arm is bitten by an alligator,” Judd said.
Witnesses said the man got out of the lake and grabbed a pair of garden shears, then he tried to break into a vehicle by throwing a brick, according to the sheriff.
B-roll from the scene pic.twitter.com/67AwDKXxWZ
— Polk County Sheriff 🚔 Grady Judd (@PolkCoSheriff) May 26, 2025
When deputies arrived, they said they jumped out of their vehicles and saw Schulz walking between homes with a set of shears, then he was accused of charging at the deputies.
Judd said they tried to de-escalate and used a Taser on him twice, but he continued to be aggressive toward them.
Then Schulz jumped into the passenger seat of a running patrol vehicle and tried to grab a firearm inside, at which point two deputies fired their weapons, killing Schulz, the sheriff said.
According to Judd, the man has a history of meth-related arrests and had been released from jail less than a week before the shooting. He suspected Schulz was on drugs at the time.
The sheriff defended his deputies’ actions, saying Schulz acted violently despite their attempts to take him into custody peacefully.
“He showed no fear of two deputies, he showed no interest in complying,” Judd said.
He added his deputies “are going home safe tonight.”
Lakeland is about 35-mile drive east from Tampa.
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