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An Uber driver shot and killed a man who chased and threatened him in a "classic case of stand your ground," Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said.
Jason Boek, of Winter Haven, was killed in the shooting, which was reported around 2:20 a.m. Tuesday on Dundee Road, just east of Carl Floyd Road and County Road 550 near Cypress Gardens.
According to the Polk County Sheriff's Office, a woman called for an Uber to take her home from the Grove Lounge on U.S. Highway 27 in Dundee because she had been drinking.
Another woman at the lounge walked the patron to her Uber when it arrived, deputies said. The women do not know each other.
The Uber driver, a 38-year-old Lake Wales man, drove the woman west on Dundee Road
Meanwhile, the woman who assisted the Uber passenger began receiving text messages from Boek, her on-again, off-again boyfriend, who thought she got into the Uber, deputies said. Boek told her he was going to pursue the Uber and beat up driver, according to officials.
Judd said it appears Boek thought his girlfriend, not the other bar patron, get into the car.
Boek drove a Ford F-250 pickup truck that was borrowed, and chased down the Uber driver, who was in a Hyundai, officials said. Boek pulled in front of the car, and the Uber driver thought he was trying to run him off the road, deputies said.
Boek stopped the truck and began walking toward the Hyundai, saying, "You know, I got a pistol. You want me to f****** shoot you?"
As Boek kept walking toward the car, the Uber driver, who is a concealed weapon permit holder and a licensed armed security guard who just finished the police academy, reached into the pocket of the driver door and retrieved a handgun, firing one shot at Boek, who was struck in the chest and killed, officials said.