WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — An undercover surveillance mission outside Winter Haven — involving officers from multiple departments — led to a car chase, carjacking, and an officer-involved shooting Monday afternoon, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said.
According to Sheriff Grady Judd, detectives from the Lakeland Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) were surveilling a home off Cooley Road in Eagle Lake on Monday and located a man they believed was involved in a mass shooting near downtown Lakeland on Jan. 30.
Judd said the man, who they identified as Alex Greene, 21, eventually jumped into a white Chevrolet Silverado and drove off. A longtime captain with Lakeland Police chased Greene.
The car chase lasted around 10-15 minutes before the Lakeland officer, Captain Eric Harper, used his squad car to perform a pit maneuver on Greene's truck and successfully stopped it on Havendale Blvd.
Judd said at that point, Greene got out of the truck and eventually ran toward a nearby restaurant, Andrea's.
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According to Judd, Greene carjacked a woman in the restaurant's parking lot and drove toward Harper, who fired six shots at the car.
The Polk County Sheriff said the car continued down the road for a short distance before it hopped a median and plowed into the first floor of a nearby business, the Hamilton Company.
Judd said Polk County deputies pulled Greene from the car and began life-saving work efforts. Greene was taken to Winter Haven Hospital, where he died.
Lakeland Police Chief Sammy Taylor said officers were monitoring the 21-year-old because they believe he had something to do with the drive-by shooting in Lakeland last Monday that injured 11 people.
For days, officers had been searching for the four gunmen who opened fire on a crowd of people sitting and standing along N. Iowa Ave. According to Taylor, the full extent of Greene's involvement is still unknown, but evidence led them to the 21-year-old.
“I’m not going to be able to go into a lot of detail as to how we got up on him and how we feel like he was involved. I will tell you that we are very confident that he is involved," Taylor said.
The chase happened through a busy area of Winter Haven. According to eyewitnesses, at least one person's car was damaged as Greene attempted to evade law enforcement. Two businesses also suffered damage, including the Hamilton Company, the business where the chase ended after Greene crashed. That business is located next to a daycare center.
Despite the chase, both Taylor and Judd believe Harper, the Lakeland officer who initiated the chase and shot Greene, did what he had to do.
“You don’t get to not stop for the police. That’s not the way this works, you know. Had he just stopped, none of us would be here today," said Taylor.
“Had he simply not run from us — not fled — then none of this would have happened," Judd added. “We don’t choose to chase. People choose for us to chase them. We don’t choose to shoot. People choose for us to shoot them."
Judd said Greene had a lengthy record of felonies and had multiple warrants out for his arrest before Monday.
Lakeland Chief Taylor said the department hoped to arrest Greene on an outstanding burglary charge to interview him about that crime and the mass shooting.
Taylor said his department is working on some "very promising leads" as it attempts to locate other people connected to the Jan. 30 shooting.
