Polk deputies shoot, kill armed man who swam through alligators

[Zorro]

Police say he was bitten by an alligator before trying to break into a truck and police car with garden shears.

Police in Polk County shot and killed a man who they say swam through a lake of alligators — and was apparently bitten — before grabbing a pair of garden shears and trying to break into a police car.

Polk Sheriff Grady Judd said that his department received a call early Monday about a man acting erratically at a gas station off State Road 37 in Lakeland. A couple of hours later, they received another call indicating a man was swimming in a lake known to have alligators in a nearby gated community.

One witness told police that they had tried to give the man a life vest, but he “growled” at them and refused, Judd said. When deputies arrived at a nearby cul-de-sac at West Lake Clark Court, they found him trying to break into a truck with a set of garden shears he’d found outside a house, Judd said.

The sheriff said deputies tried to subdue the man, but he charged at their running vehicle, jumped inside and tried to access a gun. At that point, Judd said, deputies opened fire and shot him.

https://www.tampabay.com/news/crime/2025/05/26/polk-deputies-shoot-kill-armed-man-who-swam-through-alligators/

[marble falls]

1. I have a feeling that deputy didn't have more teeth than alligator boy did. Just sayin'. Somebody's still holdin' ...

... that guys beer.