Polk County Sheriff warns criminals about looting in Florida

A Florida sheriff gave advice to homeowners on how to deal with looters in the state: “Shoot him to make him look like grated cheese.”

Hurricane Ian devastated the west coast of Florida last week. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis warned criminals in no uncertain terms after the devastation of Hurricane Ian: “Don’t even think about looting.”

“The other thing we’re concerned about, especially in the really hard-hit areas, is that we want to make sure we’re maintaining law and order,” DeSantis said. “Don’t even think about looting. Don’t even think about taking advantage of people in this vulnerable situation.”

“Let me tell you, in the state of Florida, you never know what’s lurking behind someone’s house,” DeSantis warned. “I wouldn’t want to risk that if I were you since we’re a Second Amendment state.”

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd Grady issued an even more powerful warning to criminals contemplating looting. During an appearance on Fox & Friends, Grady commented on the cases of criminals being arrested for looting in areas devastated by the Category 4 hurricane.

“People have a right to be safe in their homes. They have a right to their property, to be safe even if part of their home could be ripped away,” Judd said Friday. “And these looters, that’s unacceptable. Absolutely unacceptable.”

Grady advised Florida homeowners, “I would strongly suggest that if a looter breaks into your home, come into your home while you’re there to steal stuff, that you take your gun and shoot them. They shoot him to make him look like grated cheese you know what? This is a scavenger that doesn’t break into other people’s homes and prey on them when they are most vulnerable and weak.

Grady said that law enforcement and the community will “all come together” during disasters like hurricanes.

“The community will come together and if there are looters who think they care about these people, they could break it, but they should be executed in a pine box because that’s unacceptable, it’s against all law and against all reality he exclaimed. “You have a right, and your property has a right, to be safe and secure in your home, what’s left of it.”

This isn’t the first time the outspoken sheriff has issued a stark warning to looters.

During the summer of 2020 race riots sparked by the death of George Floyd, Sheriff Grady issued a strong warning to criminals against looting in the county east of Tampa.

“Don’t get me wrong, if you come here to riot, loot, hurt people, we’ll put you in the county jail,” Judd said in June 2020. “We will hunt you down and imprison you if you engage in criminal activity.”

“I would tell them that if you care about your life, you probably shouldn’t in Polk County. Because the people of Polk County like guns, they have guns, I encourage them to own guns, and they’ll be in their homes tonight with loaded guns, and if you try to break into their homes to steal them, go down Fires, I strongly recommend they blow you out of the house with their guns. So leave the community alone,” the sheriff said.

In December 2021, Grady praised a Florida resident for defending his home from a home invasion.

“The homeowner did exactly what they should have done,” Judd noted of the Lakeland resident. “He had a gun, he knew how to use it, it was loaded and he shot him a lot. He gave him an early Christmas present. Only Santa Claus is allowed in your house – and Santa Claus is invited.”