Gunfight at park leaves suspect dead, 2 deputies seriously hurt, Florida sheriff says

Two Florida sheriff’s deputies were seriously hurt when they confronted a gunman linked to an anti-government faction known as the Moorish Sovereign Citizens, investigators say.

The 26-year-old suspect died in the resulting firefight, according to Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd. He was identified as Kmac El Bey of California, officials said.

Polk County Deputy Craig Smith is listed in stable condition with two gunshot wounds to his right arm, and Lt. Chad Anderson is in critical but stable condition with a bullet lodged between his heart and his spinal column, officials said.

The gunfight occurred around 12:20 a.m. Saturday, April 27, in the 63-acre Hunt Fountain Park near Lakeland, about a 35-mile drive northwest of Tampa.

A deputy spotted a suspicious Mercedes-Benz in the parking lot more than two hours after the park closed and tried to question a man “dressed all in white” in the driver’s seat, officials said.

“He rolled the window down a small amount and she was trying to talk to him and ask him why he was in the park and he wouldn’t cooperate. She asked him to get out of the car and he wouldn’t get out of the car,” Judd said at the press conference.

“Lt. Chad Anderson arrives and Deputy Sheriff Craig Smith. ... So they started trying to take our suspect out of the vehicle when he produced a gun and started shooting. Lt. Chad Anderson was shot once in the (left) arm and it went through and into his chest. Our deputy Craig Smith has (two) gunshot wounds. They went down immediately.”

The suspect’s vehicle was moving at the time, and he fired at least five times, Judd said.

Anderson “got two shots off” and more than 35 hots were fired by backup deputies. The suspect was hit eight times, officials said.

“We killed the suspect. We killed him graveyard dead,” Judd said.

Investigators have learned the suspect was a Moorish sovereign citizen, a movement that maintains “individual citizens hold sovereignty over, and are independent of, the authority of federal and state governments,” according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Three firearms were found in the suspect’s vehicle, officials said.

The suspect was believed to be living out of his car and had a suspended driver’s license, officials said.

Lt. Anderson has been through two surgeries, while Deputy Smith had been treated for four wounds, two of which are believed to be bullet exit wounds, officials said.

This story was originally published April 29, 2024 at 9:04 AM with the headline "Gunfight at park leaves suspect dead, 2 deputies seriously hurt, Florida sheriff says."