LAKELAND, Fla. (WFLA) — Four people are dead, including an infant, after an armored man shot them before attacking Polk County deputies Sunday morning, Sheriff Grady Judd said in a live press conference.
Judd said around 7:30 p.m. Saturday, deputies were called to a home about a suspicious person on North Socrum Loop Road. When they arrived, a woman told them that a man said God sent him to her house to speak with one of her daughters.
For the next 20 minutes, deputies scoured the area but could not find the man or his vehicle, Judd said, but around 4:30 a.m. Sunday, a lieutenant with the Polk County Sheriff's Office heard "two volleys of automatic gunfire" in the area, about two miles east of his position.
"It was the same exact house that (the gunman) showed up nine hours earlier," Judd said.
"It was like bam, bam, bam bam bam, and I heard that more than once, and I thought that sounds like gunfire," neighbor Ron Forrer said.
Lakeland police and deputies responded to the situation. The sheriff said when they arrived, they found a truck on fire and breakable lights lining the path to the house and heard a popping noise in the front yard.
"At that moment in time as we approached, we saw an individual totally outfitted in body armor and looked as if he was ready to engage us all in active shooter situation, but we didn't see a firearm," Judd said.
According to Judd, the armored assailant ran back inside the house, at which point deputies heard gunfire along with a woman's screams and a baby's whimpers.
The sheriff said the lieutenant tried to enter the house from the front, but it was barricaded, prompting deputies to enter from the back.
The gunman then fired at the lieutenant who returned fire and backed out of the house, Judd said, and deputies provided fire support to allow another three to get out of the way after getting pinned by gunfire from the front of the home.
According to the sheriff, there were dozens of shots fired in the exchange.
After a period of silence, Judd said the shooter, who got hit by a gunshot, surrendered to officers, who rushed him to the staging area before getting taken to Lakeland Regional.
Once in the ER, the suspect tried to grab a Lakeland police officer's gun and fought with first responders until they subdued him, the sheriff said.
Back at the scene, deputies found an 11-year-old girl inside the home that was shot multiple times, according to Judd.
"She looks our deputies in the eye and says, 'there's three more dead people in the house,'" he said.
Judd said the child was airlifted to Tampa General Hospital for surgery. Meanwhile, the sheriff's office had to use robots to check the home for booby traps before deputies could enter the home.
According to Judd, there were three homes on the property, with deputies finding a man, a woman, and an infant all shot dead in the main house. Judd said the infant's body was still in their dead mother's arms when they were found.
Another woman was found dead in the house directly behind the main one, the sheriff said.
"This man killed four people this morning, tried to kill our deputies, and then gave up," he said.
The sheriff said there was another child from the family that was found safe at another location.
"If (the shooter) had given us the opportunity, we would have shot him up a lot, but he didn't because he was a coward," Judd said. "You see, it's easy to shoot innocent children and babies and people in the middle of the night when you've got the gun, and they don't. But he was not much of a man."
Judd said the gunman, a self-described survivalist, said he was on methamphetamine at the time, but it is not known why or how he ended up at the home twice.
The shooter has been identified, but the sheriff's office will not release the information until a later press conference. Judd did say the gunman is not from Polk County.
For now, agencies say they are now committed to supporting the victims while searching for justice.
"This is a horrific incident," State Attorney Brian Haas said. "Our community and many families are hurting this moment."
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