Two Polk County Sheriff’s Office deputies were hospitalized after being shot by a suspect early Saturday morning.
Lt. Chad Anderson was shot once in the arm, which went into his chest. He went in for emergency surgery and is currently in critical, but stable condition.
Deputy Craig Smith was shot four times. He is in stable condition and in intensive care.
During a media briefing, Sheriff Grady Judd explained that there had been some burglaries of concession stands at Hunt Fountain Park in North Lakeland recently, so the Sheriff’s Office has increased its presence in the area.
The park closes at 10 p.m. and one deputy in the area noticed a vehicle at the location at about 12:22 a.m. Saturday morning.
When the deputy approached the man in the vehicle, he wouldn’t cooperate with the deputy nor would he get out of the car, Judd said. Therefore, the deputy called for backup.
Anderson and Smith arrived, making it a total of four deputies and two trainees at the scene.
The suspect, who was a sovereign citizen, was instructed again to get out of the vehicle. “He (suspect) was Moorish and Moorish sovereign citizens are known to believe that federal law, state law, local law does not apply to them,” Judd said. “They are known to resist law enforcement.”
When the deputies started to take the suspect out of the vehicle, he began shooting. Anderson and backup deputies returned fire.
“We shot and killed him,” Judd said. “He chose that outcome and we obliged him.”
The suspect is not being named because next of kin has not been notified, Judd noted. It appeared he was living out of his vehicle.
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Source: abcactionnews
