A chaotic end for one man may serve as a warning for others about the dangers of methamphetamine, alligators, and charging police with garden shears.
The unusual incident started around 6 a.m. Monday in Lakeland, Florida, when the Polk County Sheriff’s Office received a call about a man, later identified as 42-year-old Timothy Schulz, acting erratically near a racetrack Monday morning. Deputies responded, but initially could not locate the individual.
Hours later, another caller reported a man swimming in a lake that was packed with alligators.
The Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported that one witness told investigators that he offered a life vest to the man, but was refused. Another witness said Schulz growled at them.
While in the water, things went from bad to worse for Schultz. At some point, it appears he was attacked by one of the lake’s resident reptiles.
Schulz eventually exited the water and made his way into a nearby neighborhood. He is believed to have found a pair of garden shears left in a yard there.
His actions grew increasingly aggressive as he walked the community. At one point, he threw a brick at a truck.
Polk County, FL🐊
⚠️A Florida OIS ⚠️
•Man jumped in a lake & got bitten by an 🐊
•Deputies arrived & he attacked them with gardening shears.
•Man then entered a deputy’s car & tried to remove a rifle.
*Deputies deployed deadly force to stop the gator bitten maniac. pic.twitter.com/NE2vUqqkpw— police.law.news (@policelawnews) May 28, 2025
Is America’s drug problem becoming worse?
PCSO deputies arrived to find Schulz attempting to break into a vehicle, causing them to immediately respond to the situation. Schulz approached the officers and was ordered to drop the garden shears. He refused, and deputies attempted to deploy a stun gun on him.
It failed.
The rampage escalated when Schulz entered the deputies’ patrol vehicle through the passenger side and appeared to try to secure access to a rifle or shotgun kept in the car. It was at this point that the deputies — one trainee and one seasoned officer — opened fire.
Schulz was pronounced dead at the scene.
According to NBC News, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd told reporters that there was evidence of a fresh alligator attack on Schulz’s arm. He expressed surprise at Schulz’s ability to shrug off the attack and launch an assault on officers.
“The fact that he was bitten by an alligator, significantly, and still continued his rampage is shocking,” Judd told reporters, “but if you’re on enough meth, then the person you see is not the person that’s attacking.”
The sobering fact of Judd’s statement rings true.
A mountain of evidence points to Schulz’s actions being influenced by methamphetamine.
Schulz’s criminal history included multiple arrests for possession of the illegal stimulant. He had been released from jail just days before his attack after being arrested in April on drug-related charges.
At the time of that arrest, a glass pipe found in a backpack belonging to Schulz tested positive for methamphetamine.
Sheriff Judd appears to be completely right: The man his deputies shot was not Schultz, but what was left of him after the immediate ravages of the highly addictive drug.
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