‘We killed him graveyard dead’: Polk County deputies hurt, suspect killed in shootout

LAKELAND, Fla. (WFLA) — Two deputies were hospitalized after they were shot by a lone gunman early Saturday morning, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.

JD Bath woke up to the sound of gunfire Saturday morning.

“The fire fight started; it woke me up,” he explained. “Then, it really got started.”

That’s when Bath said, he took cover.

“I rolled off of the bed and onto the floor because I didn’t know where it was coming from or where it was going,” he said.

Sheriff Grady Judd said the incident began at about 12:22 a.m. when a deputy assigned to Hunt Fountain Park spotted a car parked in the area after it closed.

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The deputy approached the vehicle, and the driver rolled down his window by “a small amount,” Judd said.

The female deputy asked him why he was in the park, and he refused to cooperate. When the deputy asked the suspect to leave the vehicle, he refused her commands.

“She retreats to her vehicle and she asks for additional backup because he is resisting her,” the sheriff said.

Deputies Chad Anderson and Craig Smith responded to their colleague’s call. According to Judd, a total of four deputies and two trainees were present at the scene.

The deputies once again tried to tell the driver to leave the vehicle, but he refused.

“Little did they realize at that moment in time that this was a sovereign citizen,” Judd said. “He was Moorish and Moorish Sovereign citizens are known to believe that federal law state law local law does not apply to them they are known to resist law enforcement and there is a history where they shoot police officers.”

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Moorish sovereign citizens are followers of a sovereign citizen movement that first began in the 1900s, although their exact origin is not exactly known. The SPLC considers Moorish sovereign citizens as an extremist group.

Judd said the deputies tried to remove the suspect from the vehicle, but he began shooting at them.

“Lieutenant Chad Anderson was shot once in the arm, and it went through and into his chest,” the sheriff said. “Our Deputy Craig Smith has four gunshot wounds. They went down immediately. Lieutenant Anderson got some rounds off.”

After the suspect opened fire, the backup deputies began firing back, killing the suspect.

“We killed him graveyard dead,” Judd said.

Both deputies were taken to a hospital for treatment. According to Judd, Smith and Anderson were both in the intensive care unit as of Saturday morning.

As of this report, the shooter’s identity has not been released until his next-of-kin have been notified. However, it is believed he was living out of his car and is not from Polk County, according to the sheriff.

Judd said it did not have to be this way and that the shooter would have only been let off with a a warning or a citation if he just cooperated.

“He chose that outcome, and we obliged him,” Judd said.

Bath commended the sheriff’s office saying, “We’re pretty safe in this part of Polk County’

“We’ve got a great sheriff; you know Grady Judd?,” he laughed.

“When they work a place, you might as well surrender because you can’t get away,” he concluded. “He’ll get you.”

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