POLK COUNTY, Fla. — Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd held a news conference Friday afternoon to confirm one of his deputies shot and killed a man a short time earlier.
Before giving details, Grady explained that this was preliminary information, as the investigation is ongoing.
The sheriff said his office got a call shortly before 1 p.m. about a suspicious man in a stranger’s garage. The homeowner told deputies the man asked him for a gun and said he wanted to be killed, Grady said.
Grady said the homeowner got the stranger to leave, but he then went into a nearby woman’s home and said the same things: asking for a gun and saying he wanted to be killed.
A deputy soon arrived, at which point Grady said the man advanced toward her on Masterpiece Road with a knife, threatening her and telling her to kill him.
Grady said the man ignored the deputy’s orders to drop the knife.
He said a backup deputy arrived, at which point the man allegedly went toward him with the knife, again ignoring commands to drop it.
The sheriff said the deputy shot him multiple times, killing him.
The man’s name is not being released, pending family notification.
Grady said the matter will be investigated by the 10th Judicial Circuit, with the findings sent to state attorney Brian Haas.
Grady defended his deputy’s actions, saying, “I can tell you this. This man is dangerous. He presented himself as dangerous. He asked to be shot. He demanded to be shot. And then he forced us to shoot him, so we obliged him. He asked for it, and he got it. Our deputies were in a position of grave danger an risk, and they protected themselves.”
He said the unnamed man had also gone into someone’s home the night before, but his office was not called.
He also said the man had a history of methamphetamine arrests.
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