WAHNETA, Fla. — The Polk County Sheriff's Office says one of its sergeants shot and killed a woman who came toward him with a shovel.
It happened around 3:45 p.m. Thursday in Wahneta.
Deputies say they were originally dispatched to the unincorporated part of the county after a call about a suspicious woman who was walking in-and-out of moving traffic on Rifle Range Road near Noles Lane.
The sheriff's office said Sgt. Sean Speakman, 46, showed up around 3:26 p.m. and spotted the woman, later identified as 24-year-old Jessiram Rivera, just south of Redemption Baptist Church on the west side of Rifle Range Road.
"She was in an obvious state of agitation and she was holding a shovel," the sheriff's office wrote in an email. "As the Sergeant was speaking with the woman on a private dirt driveway, she raised the shovel, pointing it towards the Sergeant and began advancing towards the Sergeant."
The sheriff's office said Sgt. Speakman told Rivera to stop and put the shovel down "multiple times" and "began backing away."
"She did not put the shovel down, and continued to advance towards the Sergeant, threatening him with the shovel," the agency said. "The Sergeant fired four shots, striking the woman."
The sheriff's office said Sgt. Speakman began CPR, which EMS later continued. Rivera was taken to the hospital, authorities said, but she did not survive.
The sheriff's office says Rivera had an "extensive" criminal history, including aggravated assault, aggravated battery, drug possession and battery on a law enforcement officer.
Speakman was first hired by the sheriff's office in 1998 to work in the IT department. He later entered the training academy and became a deputy in 2005. He was promoted to patrol sergeant in 2018.
"Standard protocol for all deputy-involved shootings include four independent
investigations: the PCSO Homicide Unit is conducting a death investigation, PCSO Administrative Investigations is conducting an administrative inquiry, the State Attorney's Office responded to the scene and will conduct a separate
investigation, and the 10th District Medical Examiner's Office will conduct an
investigation to determine the cause and manner of death," the sheriff's office wrote in a statement.
Speakman has been placed on paid administrative leave, which is protocol during the initial phase of the investigation.