EUSTIS, Fla — This story was reported by our news partners at Wesh 2 News
A Lake County woman has pleaded not guilty in a deadly ambush on several Lake County sheriff's deputies.
A newly released affidavit gives a detailed account of what happened on Aug. 2, the night Master Deputy Sheriff Bradley Link was killed and two other deputies were injured after a disturbance call turned into a shootout.
According to the heavily redacted affidavit, residents living on Brookside Drive in Eustis called 911 after their neighbor reportedly walked into their yard, struck multiple people and called them sinners, adding that she knew what she did.
The caller identified the woman as their neighbor, Julie Sulpizio.
When deputies arrived at the home just before 8 p.m., Julie approached officials to tell them her neighbors were "involved in pedophilia" and that "we needed to trick Lucy," which was later learned to be the name she calls "Lucifer," the affidavit reads.
According to the affidavit, Sulpizio continued, saying, "See, we needed to trick the evil to come out."
"It is at this point where Julie Sulpizio includes law enforcement (redacted) into her plan of luring the group to be ambushed by Michael Sulpizio who is awaiting the arrival of 'darks' to kill them, as later learned to be the planned 'mission,'" the affidavit reads.
One of the victims told law enforcement that Julie Sulpizio wanted them to walk in front of her to her house, but added that "they did not trust her." The affidavit says the victim then asked Julie if Michael was OK, to which she responded, "Oh, see, he sent me down here."
According to the affidavit, Julie Sulpizio began to approach a deputy, who warned her to step back, but she didn't listen. When the deputy held his taser up as a warning, Julie said, "That's God's light."
Julie Sulpizio is eventually put into handcuffs, and deputies request medical attention for an altered mental state.
According to the affidavit, Julie Sulpizio had made a comment that "Michael is with God in heaven."
More deputies arrived to the scene to conduct a well-being check on Michael Sulpizio, Julie's husband, and other people in the house. According to the affidavit, deputies made announcements at the door and tried to make contact with any occupants, but the attempt was unsuccessful.
In the yard, deputies said they found two dead dogs, then heard loud banging. Upon further investigation, deputies say they found an open window with the screen kicked out, which led them to question the well-being of Michael Sulpizio and the occupants inside.
After many more attempts to make contact with occupants inside (including calling Julie's phone, which was inside the residence), officials made an attempt to enter the home just after 9 p.m.
The affidavit says deputies entered through a small laundry room. When they crossed into an intersecting hallway, body camera footage captured "several frames of what appears to be a male in a black sleeves shirt or body armor positioned with a rifle on the arm of the couch, waiting to ambush deputies," the affidavit says.
At this point, gunfire rings out, and Link is shot multiple times before falling on his back. According to the affidavit, he was unable to cover or respond to his radio.
The document says Link was shot at several more times by a party within and appeared to be struck by additional rounds. Other law enforcement officials were forced to retreat, but Link could not.
While waiting for more units to respond, deputies say they attempted to negotiate with the suspects for Link's release, but they refused.
At one point, the affidavit says a female yelled from inside the house, saying, "My king will kill all of you." Shots were fired from inside the house toward deputies outside.
Eventually, deputies said they heard the racking and reloading of firearms, followed by two quick gunshots and, shortly after, a third. Less than 10 minutes later, SWAT teams entered the home and found Michael Sulpizio, 22-year-old Cheyenne Sulpizio and 23-year-old Savanah Sulpizio, all with what appeared to be self-inflicted gunshot wounds to the head.
While both women were dead, Michael Sulpizio still had a faint pulse. He was transported to the hospital, where he was later pronounced deceased.
SWAT was able to quickly extract Link from the home and transfer him to an awaiting medical helicopter. He was pronounced deceased at the hospital.
Inside the residence, the affidavit says officials found more than 20 firearms, stockpiles of ammunition, gas masks, ghillie suits, anti-government propaganda and conspiracy theory-related media.
Following the shootout, detectives went to the hospital to interrogate Julie, who, the affidavit says, admitted to helping stage the ambush.
According to the affidavit, Julie Sulpizio admitted to trying to lure those with sin, including responding law enforcement, to her home so Michael Sulpizio could kill them.
Julie Sulpizio added that there was an "additional human body under the residence which Michael had 'trapped' approximately one week ago," the affidavit reads, though officials have not confirmed the validity of this statement.
Julie Sulpizio is facing a number of charges, including premeditated murder on law enforcement. According to court records, Julie has entered a not-guilty plea in each of her cases.
Her first case includes charges of principal murder of a law enforcement officer, seven counts of attempted murder, battery by strangulation, two counts of battery and one count of battery on a law enforcement officer.
In her second case, the woman is facing a single charge of battery on a law enforcement officer.
