A Florida man who proclaimed he was "Jesus and God" during a domestic incident with his parents was shot and killed in a shootout with police.
Wayne Volz, 34, was shot and killed by police on Friday at about 5:25 p.m. in the parking lot of the Atkins Building on North Broadway in Bartow. Police noted that Volz's criminal history included arrests for battery domestic violence, larceny, burglary, violation of probation and failure to appear.
In a press conference following the shooting, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd also noted that Volz was a long-time drug addict. Judd said the incident began around 11:30 a.m. when Volz "pistol whipped" his mother at their home. When Volz's father attempted to intervene, he was knocked down and asked, "Do you want to die today?" He also demanded that his father beg for his life.
According to Judd, Volz proceeded to hold his parents against their will all day and proclaimed himself to be "Jesus and God," to which his father responded that they were people of faith and that he was not God.
Eventually, Volz's father said he needed to go to work at Lowe's in Bartow, Florida, and Volz went with him. Along the way, Volz stopped and bought some drugs from an unidentified man. He also told his father, according to Judd, that he had to go to Bartow to "kill a bunch of people."
Judd said that when they arrived at Lowe's, Volz's father went inside and told coworkers what had happened. The coworkers hid the man and called police.
Eventually, police were able to track Volz down, Judd said, and when police confronted he opened fire, hitting one deputy's car "seven, eight times." The deputy was also hit in the forearm of his gun hand.
Other officers on the scene then engaged Volz, shooting him. "We shot him enough, we shot him a lot," Judd said. "We stopped the threat."
Originally published on Lawyer Herald
