POLK COUNTY, Fla. — The Polk County Sheriff's Office is investigating a deadly shooting Saturday morning.
Sheriff Grady Judd said the incident happened just before 6:40 a.m. on Ellie Road in unincorporated Auburndale.
Sheriff Judd said two couples went out for the evening Friday night and all came to a home around 4 a.m. A heated argument then happened between one couple.
The boyfriend left the home with the other man and went to his car, while the girlfriend and the other woman stayed inside the home.
Sheriff Judd said the boyfriend left in his car, and when he got to the end of the road, he told the other man he was going back for his girlfriend.
The other man tried to tell the boyfriend to just go home and leave, however, the boyfriend insisted on going back to the home.
When the boyfriend got back to the home, he kicked the door demanding the girlfriend to go with him. However, no one answered the door.
The boyfriend then went back to his car and picked up a tire iron and headed toward a window, Sheriff Judd said.
Sheriff Judd said the boyfriend screamed that if he was not let in, he would break in through the window. Again, no one answered.
He then proceeded to break the screen and the glass window trying to enter the home, Sheriff Judd said.
The homeowner, the other woman, shot and killed him. The boyfriend died instantly.
He was later identified as Joshua Mathieu of Lakeland.
"Had our suspect in the home invasion listened to his friend, and gotten back into the vehicle and left, he would be alive to continue his domestic conversation with his girlfriend," said Sheriff Judd.
The two women were the only ones inside the home at the time of the shooting.
"You have the right to protect yourself in your home and be free from home invaders and armed burglars. He was armed with a tire iron and made an attempt to come into the window," Sheriff Judd said.
This is an ongoing investigation.
