SANFORD, Fla. (AP) – A man who beat a maintenance worker to death with a shovel Thursday morning at a mosque in central Florida was later shot and wounded by deputies in a different county, officials said.
Seminole County deputies responded to the Husseini Islamic Center in unincorporated Sanford, Florida, where they found a 59-year-old man dead, according to a sheriff’s office news release. The center is located about 25 miles (40 kilometers) northeast of Orlando.
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According to detectives, Ahmed Raslan, 38, had been making irrational statements online and apparently believed the mosque was his home. It wasn’t clear why Raslan went to the mosque that morning and attacked the worker, but Seminole County Sheriff Dennis Lemma said during a news conference that the maintenance worker likely saved many others by confronting Raslan.
After the deadly fight, Raslan fled in the victim’s minivan, officials said. He was spotted later in a parking lot by Indian River County deputies, who shot Raslan multiple times, officials said. Raslan was taken to a hospital, but his condition wasn’t immediately known.
Officials didn’t immediately release additional details about the shooting of Raslan.