Man throwing gym weights as weapons is shot and killed by cops, Florida sheriff says

A 6-foot, 5-inch man tossing gym weights as weapons was shot and killed when deputies discovered a taser had no effect on him, according to investigators in Florida.

The shooting happened around 9:45 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 1, at the Hogar R.E.S.A. group home in Avon Park, the Highlands County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. The home is for people in treatment for drug and alcohol addictions.

“Deputies were called ... due to a man creating a disturbance and threatening others with a knife. When deputies arrived, they encountered 28-year-old Alberto Rodriguez, who had been told he had to leave the location and was refusing to do so,” the sheriff’s office reports.

“He resisted (arrest) and a taser was deployed. The taser had no effect. ... Rodriguez then armed himself with a weight from a nearby weight bench and threw a large plate weight at a deputy. Rodriguez grabbed a second weight and that was when one of the three deputies on scene shot Rodriguez.”

He died after being taken to a hospital, officials said.

The deputy who fired the shots was placed on administrative leave (a standard practice) while the case is investigated by the 10th Judicial Circuit’s Officer Involved Deadly Incident Task Force, officials said.

Investigators say deputies “used other less lethal weapons” before the shots were fired, but they also failed to work.

Investigators didn’t say what led to the incident or if Rodriguez was a resident of the Hogar R.E.S.A. home or was visiting.

Residents of the home live a coordinated lifestyle as part of a 16-month treatment program, according to its website.

Avon Park is about an 85-mile drive southeast from Tampa.

This story was originally published October 2, 2024 at 9:37 AM with the headline "Man throwing gym weights as weapons is shot and killed by cops, Florida sheriff says."