POLK COUNTY, Fla. – A shootout with a gunman ended with his death and two law enforcement officers being injured, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.
During a news conference on Friday evening, Sheriff Grady Judd identified the man behind the shootout as 34-year-old Wayne Volz, who had a fight with his parents around 11:30 a.m.
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“He lived with his mom and dad. And this morning, he had a conflict or an argument with them. And he pistol-whipped his mom,” Judd said.
Per Judd, when Volz’s father tried to intervene, Volz reportedly knocked him down, put a gun between his eyes, and asked him, “Do you want to die today? ... If you don’t want to die, and if you want to live, you better beg for your life.”
Volz then held his parents there at gunpoint “all day long,” Judd said.
“He took their cell phones. He said that he was Jesus and God,” the sheriff continued. “His dad said, ‘We are people of faith. You’re not Jesus. You’re not God.’”
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Eventually, Volz’s father stated he had to go to his workplace at a Lowe’s store in Bartow.
“Wayne said, ‘Well, I need to stop (at) some places anyway,’” Judd explained. “So his dad first took him to Bartow, where he bought some pills from a Black male. That’s still under investigation.”
However, Judd announced that Volz had decided he was going to go to Bartow and “kill a lot of people anyway,” so he rode to the Lowe’s store with his father.
“He made this statement on the way to Bartow: ‘You’re God. I’m Jesus. And mom’s the Devil,’” Judd proclaimed. “He’s talking out of his head.”
But when the pair arrived at the store, Volz’s father went inside, told his coworkers what was happening, and they managed to hide him before Volz came into the store, Judd said.
“By the grace of God, he didn’t shoot in the Lowe’s store,” Sheriff Judd added.
Meanwhile, Volz’s father called 911, causing Bartow police and Polk County deputies to respond.
During a search for his whereabouts, one of the law enforcement agents — identified as Deputy Alexander — spotted Volz near a local Publix around 4:30 p.m.
Alexander notified his colleagues, but Volz went around the building and ran past a PCSO drone operator.
“She didn’t see a gun,” Sheriff Judd noted. “So she told him, ‘Stop, or I’ll Tase you!’”
This prompted Volz to run back around the building before firing upon Deputy Alexander, striking the deputy’s patrol car “a lot” of times and shooting his forearm, Judd said.
A gun battle ensued between Volz and other law enforcement agents at the scene, the sheriff reported. Both a Bartow police officer and Volz himself were struck by gunfire.
“We shot him enough. We shot him a lot. We stopped the threat,” Judd stated.
On Saturday, the sheriff’s office announced that Alexander and Sills were both released from the hospital Friday night and are expected to recover.
Meanwhile, Volz was also taken to the hospital, where he ultimately died, Judd said.
Judd also said that investigators are working to determine whether Volz had any drugs in his system at the time of the shootout.
When asked how many shots had been fired during the gun battle, Judd had this to say:
“We don’t know exactly how many shots were fired. I can tell you, there were a lot of shots fired. It was a gunfight. It was clearly a gunfight.
And we shot him — a lot.
And he won’t ever shoot anyone else. He’s dead. He asked to be shot and killed, and we obliged him."
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd
No additional information about the shooting has been provided at this time.