LAKE COUNTY, Fla. – Julie Sulpizio, accused of setting up an ambush in Lake County that resulted in one deputy’s death and injuries to two others last year, has been placed in the care of the Department of Children and Families after being deemed mentally unfit to continue with legal proceedings.
An order filed on Wednesday identifies Sulpizio as having schizophrenia and posing a significant threat to herself or others, as well as neglecting her own self-care. This condition makes her incapable of participating in the trial, sentencing, plea entries, or any probation-related processes.
No alternative treatment options, such as community residential facilities or other community-based care, are deemed appropriate or available to potentially enhance her condition.
THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE FIFTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT, IN AND FOR LAKE COUNTY, FLORIDA | “ORDER ADJUDGING DEFENDANT INCOMPETENT TO PROCEED AND COMMITMENT TO DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES” (Page 3)
In February, when Sulpizio was first found incompetent to proceed, the order similarly referenced psychosis and schizophrenia. Sulpizio was found competent to proceed about two months later.
Master Deputy Bradley Link was fatally shot late Aug. 2, 2024, while responding to a disturbance call in rural Eustis. Sulpizio directed the arriving deputies to a home on Brookside Drive, where her family members were waiting with a stockpile of weapons, according to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
After putting Sulpizio in handcuffs, deputies reportedly went to the home to perform a well-being check on her husband, Michael Sulpizio, and their adult daughters, Cheyenne and Sylvana. As the deputies entered the house, they were shot at; Link was shot several times and was trapped in the house as the other deputies retreated, according to the sheriff’s office. Michael Sulpizio and the two daughters later died from self-inflicted gunshot wounds, deputies said.
The other deputies who were shot that night — Harold Howell and Stefano Gargano — were treated for their injuries and survived, according to the sheriff’s office.
[WATCH: Body-camera video released in Lake County ambush that left 1 deputy dead, 2 wounded]
The state later announced it would seek the death penalty against Sulpizio in the event she was found guilty of first-degree murder in the deadly ambush.
She first pleaded not guilty on Aug. 7, 2024, to the charges recommended by arresting officers and was indicted on Aug. 19 by a grand jury on the following nine charges: principal to first-degree murder of a law enforcement officer, conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree, four counts of battery — one of them on a law enforcement officer — and three counts of principal to attempted first-degree murder of a law enforcement officer.
At the celebration of Link’s life, held in the Clermont church he attended, Lake County Sheriff Peyton Grinnell said that Link’s wife Brittany had called Link’s cellphone while the fallen deputy was still inside the home.
“One of the assailants in the home removed Brad’s phone from his person and answered that phone call. The assailant asked Brittany, ‘Who is this?’ Brittany stated, ‘I am Brad’s wife. Who are you?’ To which the assailant responded, ‘So you say that you are supposedly the dead man’s wife?’ That will forever be the worst phone call of Brittany’s life,” Grinnell said.
Wednesday’s ruling directsGrinnell to transport Sulpizio to a treatment facility designated by the DCF upon notification of an available bed space.
[WATCH BELOW: Deputy killed in Lake County ambush honored alongside surviving colleagues]
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