Man shot and killed by deputies

The Highlands County Sheriff's Office's Special Response Team (SRT) fired around 20 to 22 rounds of ammunition during Friday's fatal shooting of a Lake Placid man, said Sheriff Susan Benton.

The medical examiner's office and crime scene investigators are still working to determine the exact number of bullets that struck and killed 60-year-old Rocky Allen Watson. Benton said at least seven SRT members opened fire.

Watson was shot and killed Friday night in the woods behind Sunflower Avenue in Sun 'n Lakes after he allegedly hit a deputy in the head with a sword while they were searching for him in connection with an earlier shooting, according to the HCSO.

Watson was armed with several swords and a firearm, the HCSO said.

Authorities starting searching for Watson after a family member called dispatch saying he had just shot someone.

At 6 p.m. Friday, the initial call came in that a shooting had just taken place in Lake Placid. The victim, Henry Bullard, 45, was sitting in his driveway, using his cellphone when he was shot across the chest, the HCSO said. He was taken to Florida Hospital Lake Placid's emergency room for treatment.

Lisa Burley, chief of staff for the sheriff's office, said Bullard's injury was not fatal.

Benton said Monday they did not have a motive for the attack.

"There's really no relationship between the two, other than they lived in the same neighborhood," she said.

A helicopter was called from Charlotte County to assist in the search. When he was found in the woods, Watson reportedly refused to put down his weapons. Deputies tried to subdue him with a Taser, but that was when he is said to have thrown one of the swords.

Special Response Team members then shot and killed Watson, the HCSO said. An assault rifle and at least one other sword were recovered.

Benton said the SRT member was wearing a Kevlar helmet and not injured when the sword hit him. Watson was dead on the scene.

The case remains under investigation and the SRT members, as well as other patrol staff involved in the shooting, have been put on administrative leave with pay according to the sheriff's office general orders, a press release stated.

Detectives are working with the State Attorney's Office to coordinate the case and, together, will determine when the deputies can return to full duty.

Benton addressed reports made by some and said Watson had not been Baker acted prior to the shooting.

Investigators have learned that Watson apparently suffered from a long-term mental illness, and family members had an appointment scheduled with a mental health professional but Watson allegedly refused to go, Benton said.

The victim's son, Rocky Watson Jr., said Monday his father had been in a current state of mental decline after going through a divorce, losing his job and taking Vicodin for three months following surgery to repair a herniated disc in his neck.

He had been on a different medication for about two weeks to counteract the effects of the Vicodin, Watson Jr. added.

The son said his father told him, in person, that he had shot someone before heading off into the woods.

Watson Jr. did not know why his father would have fired at someone, but said he had gotten a call earlier in the day from his dad saying that someone was driving by and possibly casing the house.

"There's only three houses on the street," Watson Jr. said.

The son doesn't agree with investigators' claims that his father had a gun on him.

"He never said what he did with the gun," Watson Jr. said. "Basically, I think that he did have the sword on him, and it was actually mine. It was a katana."

Watson Jr. added he has a few swords hanging on display in his room.

A search of the sheriff's office's records show that Watson was arrested Jan. 5 on charges of cruelty toward a child without great harm and battery.

The arrest report said that, on Jan. 1, Watson allegedly shook an 11-year-old boy forcefully and hit the child's jaw with his fists before throwing him into a couch.