The encounter came after officers responded to a reported stabbing and searched for a fleeing suspect.
LEESBURG, Fla. — State investigators are reviewing a fatal deputy-involved shooting in Leesburg after a Lake County deputy shot a man suspected in an early Sunday stabbing, authorities said.
The shooting placed the case on two tracks by the end of the day: a violent-crime investigation into the stabbing and an outside review of the deputy’s use of force. Authorities identified the dead man as 38-year-old Timotheus Reed. Officials said a stabbing victim was found with multiple wounds before Reed was located and shot during a later encounter. The deputy who fired was placed on administrative leave, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement took over the shooting investigation.
According to authorities, the first emergency call brought deputies and Leesburg police to the 2400 block of Montclair Road at about 6:19 a.m. The caller reported that someone had been stabbed several times. By the time officers arrived, the alleged suspect had left on foot, and witnesses directed law enforcement toward the path he had taken. That sequence turned the response from a call for help at a home into a search for a suspect in the surrounding area. A deputy later found Reed, and the confrontation ended with gunfire. Reed was transported to Orlando Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
What remains unknown may become as important as the details already released. Authorities have not said whether Reed was armed when the deputy encountered him, whether nonlethal force was considered or used, or whether body camera footage captured the exchange. Officials also have not disclosed the stabbing victim’s condition or whether the victim knew Reed. Those unanswered questions are likely to shape both public reaction and the eventual official findings. In deputy-involved shootings, investigators usually work to build a minute-by-minute account using video, dispatch records, forensic evidence and interviews with officers and civilian witnesses. None of that fuller record had been made public in the initial statements Sunday.
The case also puts attention on the standard safeguards that follow police shootings in Florida. An outside agency typically reviews the facts when an officer kills or seriously injures someone, creating distance between the incident and the employing agency. In this case, FDLE is expected to examine physical evidence, interview witnesses and reconstruct the encounter. The sheriff’s office, meanwhile, still has to support the underlying stabbing case by identifying the victim, documenting the original crime scene and clarifying the sequence that sent officers into the neighborhood. The public knows the event began at a residence on Montclair Road, but not yet how it unfolded there before officers arrived.
Residents near the scene woke to a fast-moving investigation that stretched from a reported stabbing to a medical transport and then to a state-level review. The brief official statements offered little room for emotion or narrative, but the outline itself suggested a morning of confusion and fear in a residential area. For neighbors, the visible facts were likely the patrol cars, the blocked-off space and the sudden presence of multiple agencies. For investigators, the focus now is narrower: what the deputy saw, what Reed did and whether the force used matches the evidence collected afterward.
Where the case stands now is straightforward. Reed is dead, the deputy is off active duty pending review and FDLE is leading the shooting investigation. Authorities have not announced criminal charges tied to the stabbing, likely because the man identified as the suspect died before any prosecution could move forward. The next key developments are expected to be updated medical information on the stabbing victim, a fuller account from investigators and any release of video or records that explain the final encounter.
The investigation was still open Sunday night, and the next milestone will be additional findings from FDLE and local authorities about both the stabbing and the deputy’s use of force.
Author note: Last updated April 12, 2026.