INTERLACHEN, Fla. – Two men were arrested last week after threatening a detective at an Interlachen-area home, where deputies also found drugs and guns, according to the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office.
On Friday, the Sheriff’s Office said, a detective went to a home on Dove Street to find a person whose court-ordered ankle monitor was showing a critical battery alarm. The Sheriff’s Office said the person with the ankle monitor refused to come out of the home, but two other people, David Schultz and Joel Lynch, did.
Schultz, who was holding a handgun, and Lynch “yelled racial slurs and threats to kill the detective," who had a Sheriff’s Office badge on his clothing and had identified himself numerous times as a law enforcement officer, the Sheriff’s Office said. The detective aimed his firearm at Schultz while repeatedly giving commands to drop the weapon but both men "initially ignored the commands and continued to advance” on the detective, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Schultz eventually dropped the gun and additional deputies arrived on scene to help the detective take Schultz and Lynch into custody, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
News4Jax crime and safety expert Ken Jefferson said the detective could have legally used deadly force.
“Had he pulled the trigger and used deadly force, he would have been justified. The person didn’t have to make a threat with the gun. All he has to do is produce the gun -- that’s the threat right there," Jefferson said.
While at the home, deputies said they noticed narcotics and firearms. The Sheriff’s Office said its Drug and Vice Unit obtained a search warrant, and the search yielded a large amount of drugs including cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana. Investigators said they also recovered numerous items used in the manufacturing and packaging of narcotics, four firearms, a large quantity of ammunition and more than $4,000 in cash.
Schultz, 31, is charged with aggravated assault with a firearm on a law enforcement officer, possession of a Schedule II controlled substance with intent to deliver and possession of a controlled substance.
Lynch, 29, is charged with assault on a law enforcement officer, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver, possession of a Schedule I controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Schultz and Lynch were booked into the Putnam County jail. They have since bonded out, and Lynch told News4Jax on Monday a different version of events, saying the detective did not identify himself as law enforcement.
“I asked him what he needed and why he was banging on the wall. He didn’t respond, and the next thing I know, he was pulling out his pistol,” Lynch said.
He said the detective yelled “drop the gun,” but he was not armed.
“The second time I looked back and saw my brother behind me. He had his pistol with him,” said Lynch, who added that the pistol was pointed at the ground.
Lynch said he was renting the home to the man with the ankle monitor, who was not charged in the incident, and two other people, but denied knowing that there were drugs and guns in the house. He also denied any threats toward the detective, despite the detective writing in an arrest report that he felt his life was in imminent danger.
Friday was not the first time that the Sheriff’s Office responded to the home. Deputies said they have responded to the residence nine times in the last 12 months, including when deputies were called to an apparent drug-related shooting in October.