AUBURNDALE, Fla. — Polk County deputies said a Lakeland man has died after he was shot while trying to break into a home Saturday morning.
Deputies said Joshua Mathieu, 34, was involved in a fight around 4 a.m. at a friend’s house on Ellie Road.
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Mathieu left the friend’s home without his girlfriend, and at some point, he went back to the house to get her, deputies said.
Investigators said he kicked the door then went to his car to grab a tire iron to break a window.
That's when the homeowner shot and killed him.
“Had our suspect to the home invasion listened to his friend and gotten back into the vehicle, and left, he would be alive to continue his domestic conversation with his girlfriend,” said Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd.
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Deputies said two women were the only ones inside the home at the time of the shooting.
Investigators said Mathieu has a criminal history dating back to 2010, including several battery arrests, two burglaries and several disorderly conduct arrests.