Man Dies in Shootout with Deputies After Claiming He Was 'Jesus'

• A man in Florida, who said he was “Jesus and God” during a domestic dispute with his parents, was shot and killed by police on Friday, April 18
• Wayne Volz, 34, was killed in a shootout with police that began at his parents’ house, when he attacked both of them and said that his mother was “the devil”
• He then drove to a store with his father, where employees called police

A man who said he was “Jesus and God” during a domestic dispute with his parents was shot and killed by police.

According to a press release from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office in Florida, a 34-year-old man was killed on Friday, April 18, just before 5:30 p.m. local time after deputies and local police officers were called to a store in Bartow, located about 45 miles east of Tampa, for reports of a domestic dispute.

In a press conference held on April 18, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd and Bartow Police Chief Steve Walker said that the man, identified as Wayne Volz, had gotten into an argument with his parents at their home in nearby Fort Meade at around 11:30 a.m. that day.

According to the sheriff, Volz “pistol whipped” his mother in the altercation — meaning he struck her with a gun.

When Volz’s father tried to step in and help the woman, Volz “knocked him down” and asked him, “Do you want to die today?” the sheriff said at the press conference.

“If you want to live, you better beg for your life,” Volz allegedly added. Judd said that Volz then held his parents at the house all day against their will, taking their cell phones and ranting to his parents about being “Jesus and God” while calling his mother “the devil.”

Volz’s father allegedly responded: “We are people of faith, you are not God.”

Eventually, Volz’s father told the 34-year-old that he needed to go to work, as he was employed at the Lowe’s in Bartow. Volz decided to come with his father to work, allegedly telling him that he needed to “go to Bartow and kill a lot of people.”

According to the sheriff, when the pair arrived, Volz’s father went inside the home improvement store and told his coworkers what had happened. The employees there then hid him from his son and called 911.

Both Bartow police and the Polk County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene. The Sheriff’s Office brought a drone to help the investigation, but Judd said at the press conference that deputies had little information going in.

“We’re all running blind,” Judd recalled.

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Deputies eventually located Volz walking outside the building. The sheriff said they yelled for him to stop, but he continued running and eventually encountered several more deputies.

Volz allegedly shot at one Sheriff’s Office car seven or eight times, and one bullet struck deputy Edwin Alexander, Judd added. Police officers began shooting back at Volz, and officer Mark Sills was struck in the chest.

Volz was taken to a local hospital and later died from his injuries, according to Judd, who also alleged that he was known to be a “drug addict.”

The injured officer and deputy were also taken to local hospitals for treatment, and both are expected to make a full recovery, Judd said during the press conference.

Per protocol, the local Officer Involved Deadly Incident (OIDI) Task Force and the PCSO Administrative Investigations Unit are set to investigate the shooting. The Polk County Medical Examiner is also in the process of conducting an autopsy.

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.