Florida man attacked by alligator is fatally shot by cops in chaotic scene

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Deputies in Florida shot and killed a man believed to be on drugs and wielding a pair of garden shears after he was bitten by an alligator.

Timothy Schulz, 42, had climbed into a patrol vehicle to try to get the weapons inside when deputies opened fire, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd told reporters following Monday morning’s shooting.

The deadly confrontation occurred when people reported seeing a man — later identified as Schulz — swimming in an alligator-infested lake in a gated community in Lakeland, Florida, according to CBS News.

One witness tried to give him a life preserver while another tried to speak with him but the man only growled in response, the sheriff said.

Schulz ended up taking a bite to his right arm from a gator.

“The fact that he was bitten by an alligator, significantly, and still continued his rampage is shocking,” Judd said.

“But if you’re on enough meth, then the person you see is not the person that’s attacking.”

Schulz managed to get out of the water, picked up a set of garden shears from a home, then tried to break into a vehicle with a brick, the sheriff said.

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The suspect charged at deputies, who tried to use a Taser on him twice.

“They were still trying to take him peacefully into custody,” Judd explained, when Schulz ran to a patrol vehicle to try to grab a weapon.

Schulz was shot multiple times, as a result.

“This is just crazy stuff, OK?” Judd said. “You know that it’s got to be true, you can’t make it up.”

The sheriff’s office shared video and photos to X of damaged police vehicles and what appeared to be multiple bullet holes through the windshield and windows.

The sheriff detailed Schulz’s lengthy history of drug-related arrests, adding that the dead man had been released from jail on May 20 after he was busted for possession of meth.

The deputies involved in the shooting have been placed on administrative leave as the incident is investigated.