Charlotte County grapples with 2 fatal deputy-involved shootings

Reporter: Sommer Senne
Published: Updated:

The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office is starting a new week with at least four deputies on administrative leave after back-to-back deadly shootings.

They happened on Thursday and Friday night and were not connected.

On Thursday, Deputies shot and killed a man who pointed a gun at them on Eager Road in Charlotte County.

That’s just outside the Punta Gorda city limits, between Burnt Store Road, and U.S. 41.

A little more than 24 hours later and 29 miles away, deputies shot and killed a man with a machete on Lincoln Drive in Englewood.

The sheriff said his deputies try to joke around with one another, but it’s tough right now.

The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office has been through a lot within the last few months between losing one of their own, and now these back-to-back deputy-involved shootings.

On Thursday night, The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office got multiple calls saying Michael Lewis Schwartz was walking up and down the road waving and firing a handgun and yelling for the cops.

When deputies arrived, they found Schwartz sitting on his porch.

Schwartz stood up and aimed his gun at deputies but two deputies shot and killed him.

Just over twenty-four hours later, a scene developed on Lincoln Drive in Englewood.

A neighbor called 911 saying Sean Austin Ravert had been acting erratically, hadn’t slept for seven days and was possibly on drugs.

When deputies went to the scene, they found Ravert carrying a machete and moving aggressively toward them.

Sheriff Bill Prummell said deputies told Ravert multiple times to put down the weapon, but he ignored them and continued being aggressive.

Two deputies then shot and killed him.

WINK News spoke with Prummell over the weekend and asked him how the sheriff’s office stays strong after these moments.

“I always say that we’re like a family … We stick very close together,” said Prummell. “If somebody is hurting, we can tell, and we make sure that we take care of that person.”

The sheriff also said that these moments weigh on him heavily, but it helps that the community supports the sheriff’s office.

WINK News expects to learn more information about both of these shootings in the coming days, and we’ll bring you the latest updates as soon as we have them.

Copyright ©2025 Fort Myers Broadcasting. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent.