POLK COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — A knife-wielding Davenport man is dead after a deputy shot him in self-defense Tuesday night, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.
The sheriff’s office said partrol deputy Gregory Streeter, 27, was responding to a domestic incident at around 10:30 p.m. between Gilberto Martinez-Nava, 37, and his ex-wife, in which Martinez-Nava was choking her during an argument and grabbed a knife when family members managed to separate the two.
According to dispatch, Martinez-Nava was agitated and described as both suicidal and a danger to his family.
The sheriff’s office said Streeter arrived at the home at 10:35 p.m. and was greeted at the door by an older woman, but Martinez-Nava, who was behind her, began charging at the deputy with the knife when he saw him.
The deputy yelled at Martinez-Nava twice to drop the knife, but the assailant continued to approach. It was at this point that the deputy shot Martinez-Nava.
“The deputy didn’t choose to shoot Mr. Martinez-Nava … Mr. Martinez-Nava chose to make the deputy shoot him,” Sheriff Grady Judd said. “Our deputy arrived to keep the family safe, which is ultimately what happened … just not the way we wanted.”
Streeter radioed for rescue personnel, who took Martinez-Nava to a hospital where he died an hour later.
The shooting is now under four independent investigations by the PCSO Homicide Unit, Administrative Investigations, the State Attorney’s Office, and the 10th District Medical Examiner office.
