Florida man in deadly meth-fuelled alligator rampage, attacks officers with garden shears

It takes something really crazy for an incident in Florida to be dubbed “exceptionally chaotic”. But, on Monday, Florida man Timothy Schultz, 42, went on a rampage so extreme it’s made international news.

Officers have confirmed that Schultz, who had been released from jail only last Tuesday for possession of meth, was acting oddly at a convenience store at 5.56 am. A worker contacted cops, saying there was a man “acting bizarrely”, but cops found no trace of him at the scene. Soon afterward multiple reports were called in of a man swimming in an alligator-infested lake in a gated community in Lakeland, near Tampa.

Sheriff Judd is giving details about a deputy-involved shooting that occurred this morning (May 26) in Lakeland. We are live on Facebook @polkcountysheriff pic.twitter.com/k7QhGBoixT

— Polk County Sheriff 🚔 Grady Judd (@PolkCoSheriff) May 26, 2025

Naturally concerned for his safety, one tossed him a life preserver and another attempted to convince him to leave the lake. As per Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, all they received in response was a “growl”. Predictably, Schultz was then attacked by an alligator, which gave him a brutal bite to his left arm.

Not even once

This didn’t slow Schultz down, and he emerged from the water dripping and bloody, grabbed a set of unattended garden shears, and tried to break into a nearby vehicle. Deputies soon arrived, and the shears-wielding Schultz charged at them. Two taser shots later, and Schultz still didn’t go down. He then sprinted to their patrol vehicle to try and grab a rifle or shotgun. The deputies then used lethal force, riddling their own car with bullets and killing Schultz.

More b-roll from the scene pic.twitter.com/3dSiYiYM4C

— Polk County Sheriff 🚔 Grady Judd (@PolkCoSheriff) May 26, 2025

In something of an understatement, Sheriff Judd described these events as “shocking”, telling the press: “The fact that he was bitten by an alligator, significantly, and still continued his rampage is shocking. But if you’re on enough meth, then the person you see is not the person that’s attacking.”

The responding officers are now on routine administrative leave as the incident is investigated. Judd has underlined that the officers did everything they could to take Schultz “peacefully into custody”, but were left with no choice to open fire when it became clear he was attempting to grab a shotgun. We can only express sympathy for Schultz’s family, though at least on the facts we’ve been given, it certainly sounds like he was a lethal danger to others, and officers made a sad but necessary decision.