The Polk County Sheriff's Office is currently investigating a deputy-involved shooting that left one dead.
The shooting occurred at a residence on Del Rose Drive North in Lakeland around 6:00 p.m., according to officials.
Two deputies were involved and they are not injured. The suspect is dead.
A 75-year-old mother called 911 saying she wanted to get her adult son out of the house and a dispatcher told her to walk outside and wait for deputies to arrive.
When deputies arrived on scene, they found the mother in the front yard. She told deputies that she had asked her son, John Pacuicrk, to help push her car into the backyard. She said that he got angry but did say he would help. He struggled to get the car to move and became very angry and went inside. The mother followed her son into the home and went to his bedroom but the door was locked. She told him that she wanted him to leave, she then called Polk County Sheriff's Office since he was refusing to talk to her and since he was so angry.
The mother told deputies that Pacuicrk had a gun in his room. Deputies went inside of the house to find and talk to Pacruicrk. While in the house, they heard gunshots in the front yard. Deputies found John and his 51-year-old brother Theodore rolling around on the ground, fighting. Deputies saw one of the men had a gun in his hand and they told him to drop the weapon. Theodore, who was not armed, jumped up and John jumped up and pointed the gun at the responding Deputy. Both Deputies, Deputy Lee Smith and Deputy Bernardo Del Valle, shot John and he was struck several times.
EMS responded to the scene as deputies were performing life-saving measures on John. He was pronounced dead on the scene.
Deputies found the mother in a car in the front yard with two gunshot wounds, one in each lower leg. She was transported to the hospital where she remains in stable condition.
Deputies interviewed the brother, Theodore, who told police John was walking around the front yard with a gun in each hand saying "I'm going to kill her." Theodore tried to stop John by grabbing him and holding him in a bear hug position. At the same time, John shot their mother multiple times. That's when the scuffle started and they ended up on the ground, fighting.
The Polk County Sheriff's Office says John had a previous DUI arrest in South Carolina in 1986 and his Florida driver's license was revoked based on that arrest.
The deputies involved were both hired in January of 2015 and are both assigned to Southwest district patrol. Both deputies have been placed on paid administrative leave.
There are four independent investigations ongoing at this time; a death investigation, a PCSO administrative investigation, an investigation by the State Attorney's office and a medical examiner's office examination.
