LAKE COUNTY, FL (352today.com) – The Lake County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) has identified the deputy who was killed Friday while responding to a disturbance call.
In a Facebook post, the sheriff’s office says “Master Deputy Sheriff Bradley Michael Link died in the line of duty heroically serving his community.” He was 28.
The sheriff called Friday’s shooting an ambush that also wounded two other deputies. It happened at a home on Brookside Drive in rural Eustis, in the northeast part of Lake County.
Link and another deputy went to one home before being directed to another home where they found a door that appeared to have been kicked in, Sheriff Peyton Grinnell told reporters early Saturday morning.
“When the deputies entered the home, there was a lot of gunfire,” Grinnell said.
Link was shot and trapped inside the home while the other deputy was able to retreat, he said.
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More officers then arrived and attempted to rescue Link but were met with “a hail of gunfire” that struck a third deputy, Grinnell added.
Grinnell said SWAT team members used equipment that “tore the home apart to get in there” to get Link out.
Two people were found dead when SWAT entered the home and a third was taken to a hospital, Grinnell said. It’s not clear at this time if the two died by law enforcement gunfire.
Officials later found multiple firearms, ranging from long guns to handguns, the sheriff said.
There was no history of violent crime there and nothing to indicate danger before the deputies arrived.
The two deputies who were wounded were in the hospital as of Saturday morning. One had a shoulder wound while bullets hit the third in the armpit, groin and stomach area multiple times.
Death of Deputy Link is a “tremendous loss”
The sheriff’s office says Link became part of the agency as a young Explorer.
He graduated Lake Minneola High School, served in the Army Reserves and then started his law enforcement career as a deputy with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office in 2017.
He joined the Lake County sheriff’s office as a deputy in October 2019.
Grinnell said “Brad,” as he was known in the office, “quickly became part of our family and faithfully served our citizens with courage and zeal” and “touched the lives of all who were blessed enough to work with.”
Link’s contributions “and the impact of this loss will not soon be forgotten,” he said.
Link is survived by his wife, Brittany, and his parents, Christi and Daniel.
The sheriff asked for prayer for his family, as well as for our agency and the community he served.