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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Richard Luscombe in Miami

Florida man bitten by alligator then fatally shot by deputies after ‘rampage’, sheriff says

a man speaking at a podium
Grady Judd, the sheriff, shares details of the incident on 26 May 2025 in Lakeland, Florida. Photograph: Polk county sheriff's office via X

A Florida man was shot and killed by sheriff’s deputies after he was bitten by an alligator during an early morning dip in a lake, then threatened the officers with garden shears as he attempted to enter their patrol vehicle, the sheriff said.

Photos posted to social media by deputies in Polk county showed the aftermath of Monday’s fatal, exceptionally chaotic events in Lakeland that ended with Timothy Schulz, 42, dead in what Grady Judd, the sheriff, called a “rampage”.

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