LAKE COUNTY, Fla. – Stefano Gargano, the deputy who was critically injured when he was shot several times during an ambush attack in Lake County, was released Monday from HCA Florida Lake Monroe Hospital, officials confirmed.
Gargano was one of three deputies who was shot on Aug. 2 after responding to a call in the area of County Road 439, near Brookside Drive, north of State Road 44. He was shot in the abdomen area several times and under the arm, officials said.
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Master Deputy Bradley Michael Link, 28, died from his injuries after being shot in the attack.
A third deputy, 41-year-old Master Deputy Sheriff Harold Howell, was struck in the shoulder and was released from the hospital on Aug. 6.
The incident began around 8 p.m. when deputies — while responding to a call off Brookside Drive — were alerted to a problem at a home several doors down. Deputies went to that home and saw a door kicked in, Sheriff Peyton Grinnell.
According to Lake County sheriff’s Lt. John Harrell, once the deputies arrived, the primary aggressor was a woman who lived in the house where the shooting took place.
Officials said the deputies thought a burglary was in progress at the home and ordered the people inside to come out. When they didn’t, the deputies entered and were met with “heavy, heavy gunfire.”
That woman, Julie Sulpizio, was recently indicted by a grand jury for principal to murder in the first-degree of a law enforcement officer, which means the state attorney’s office can pursue the death penalty in the case.
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