Police Look for Man Who Shot 2 Deputies

By PHIL DAVIS

LAKELAND, Fla. – Police were searching for a man who shot two Polk County sheriff’s deputies and a police dog following a traffic stop Thursday, authorities said.

The Polk County deputies were taken to a hospital after the noontime shooting in north Lakeland, Sheriff Grady Judd said.

He wouldn’t release their names or discuss their conditions because relatives had not been notified. A hospital spokeswoman referred questions about the deputies to the sheriff’s office.

The shooter was first approached in a traffic stop, but he then fled into a wooded area, Judd said. Shots were fired, and the two deputies and a police dog were hit, he said.

The shooting occurred near Kathleen High School, which was locked down, Wood said. A woman at the school who would identify herself only as Mrs. Platt said students were locked in their classrooms and were safe.

Television video footage showed armed police with shields searching a wooded area with traffic backed up on nearby Interstate 4, which runs through the city about 35 miles east of Tampa. A law enforcement helicopter flew over the area, and armed officers were seen surrounding a ramshackle building.