AUBURNDALE, Fla. — The Polk County Sheriff’s Office is investigating after a man was shot and killed by deputies around 8:45 p.m. Thursday night at 301 Congress Street.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said the man's mother called for help, saying he was schizophrenic and in a rage. She said her son told her he would shoot himself if she called police, according to Judd.
In a news conference Friday afternoon, Sheriff Judd said when deputies got to the home, the mother led them to her son's bedroom and told him he had company.
The sheriff says 35-year-old Juan Rosa came to the door with a .32 caliber snub-nosed revolver in his hands. Judd says she didn't know her son had a weapon.
According to Judd, the deputies gave commands to drop the gun, but Rosa pointed it at them – so the deputies shot him.
Judd said the deputies feared for their lives, and it is standard protocol for deputies to assume that any gun pointed at them is both real and loaded.
Rosa was taken to the hospital, where he later died.
Judd called it a "classic suicide by cop."
The deputies have been identified as 44-year-old sergeant Heather Mundell – a 21-year PCSO veteran – and 37-year-old Gabriel Reveron, who has been with the sheriff's office for nine years. Both deputies were placed on paid administrative leave, per agency protocol.
The shooting will be investigated by PCSO and the State Attorney's Office.
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