LAKELAND, Fla. — Two deputies from the Polk County Sheriff's Office were shot after midnight on Saturday.
Deputies were patrolling Hunt Fountain Park after closing hours when there was a "suspicious" man sitting in his car. When deputies tried to ask him why he was there and get him out of the car, he started shooting.
Deputy Craig Smith has four gunshot wounds and Lieutenant Chad Anderson was shot in the arm, and the bullet went into his chest, Sheriff Grady Judd said at a press conference Saturday morning. Anderson is in critical but stable condition and the other is stable and in the intensive care unit, he said.
Deputies ended up shooting and killing the man.
"We killed him graveyard dead," Judd said.
A total of four deputies and two trainees were at the park and tried to get him out of the vehicle. The man in the car was a Moorish sovereign citizen and they have the reputation of resisting government, Judd claimed.
"They believe they can do what they want when they want," he said. "They are known to be violent and shoot police officers."
Judd said they had extra patrol in the North Lakeland area because there has been an increase in burglaries.