Sheriff has 'no regrets' over shooting after telling public to shoot looters 'like grated cheese'

On Tuesday, the Orlando Sentinelreported that the sheriff of Polk County, Florida is unapologetic after he told his constituents to shoot home intruders "like grated cheese" — and then two of his constituents opened fire on an innocent woman.

Sheriff Judd Grady's initial remarks came on Fox News in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, as he was urging people to protect themselves. “I would highly suggest that if a looter breaks into your home, comes into your home while you’re there to steal stuff, that you take your gun and you shoot him," said Grady. "You shoot him so that he looks like grated cheese. Because you know what? That’s one looter that won’t break into anyone else’s home ...”

"The next week, two of Judd’s local constituents did indeed open fire on someone they suspected of being an attempted intruder — except Judd said they targeted an innocent woman who just happened to be in their neighborhood. She was sitting in her car, looking at her phone," reported Scott Maxwell. "Also, their house hadn’t actually been burglarized. The father and son had misunderstood a Ring doorbell alert, Judd said. Fortunately, both shooters missed but were still arrested."

"Judd said Tuesday he had no regrets about urging citizens to instinctively shoot, saying 'society can never stop the one-offs in life,'" said the report. Judd also said he did not believe that Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law would apply as a defense for the shooters, since they left their home to pursue the man they shot.

However, the report noted, Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law is so broad, giving near-total immunity to people who use deadly force if they simply believe a person is an imminent threat of death or serious injury, and if the defendant has a right to be in the place where they feel threatened, that people have successfully applied the law as a defense in several other cases where they left their home before opening fire.

Judd is not the only Florida sheriff to advise citizens to shoot intruders. In August, Sheriff Bob Johnson of Santa Rosa County even stated that shooting home intruders would "save taxpayers money."

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