Florida faced a reckoning after the mass shooting in Parkland in 2018 that claimed the lives of seventeen people. Local law enforcement officials came under intense scrutiny by the national media and the general public.
The public relations disaster was not unlike what is happening currently in the wake of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
Families of Parkland shooting victims received millions of dollars this year after a settlement with the US government due to the FBI’s failure to stop the shooting, despite the perpetrator being on their radar.
After the Parkland tragedy that many thought avoidable and the recent shooting in Uvalde, sheriff’s deputies in Polk County, Florida did not mince words about how they dealt with an active shooter last Friday.
“We shot him a lot,” said Sheriff Grady Judd. “And that was the end of the gun fight.”
The active shooter, 56-year-old Michael Alan Loman, refused to drop his rifle after shooting inside and outside his home.
His wife called local police after he had threatened to kill her and was discharging his firearm in their trailer park.
Sheriff’s deputies arrived eleven minutes after his wife’s 911 call and directed her away from the home.
Mr. Loman exited his home as police arrived on the scene. The deputies told him to drop his weapon, and shot him after refusing.
The Uvalde Police Department and the Uvalde Independent School District police force are currently facing an investigation by the Texas Department of Public Safety after they took more than 90 minutes to respond to the active shooter at Robb Elementary School.
After a Colonel with the Texas DPS criticized the delayed response by the law enforcement officers last week, they have decided not to cooperate with the investigation.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd is well-known in Florida for his colorful and controversial statements.
When the murder rate began to soar in Polk County in the last half of 2021, Judd told people to just ‘chill out.’
Despite Judd’s harsh wording when it comes to active shooters, he is known for community policing and trying to make deputies a positive part of the Polk County community.
This week, Judd and his deputies went fishing with over 100 at-risk youths in Winter Haven, Florida.
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