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The Polk County Sheriff’s Office has released additional information about Alex Michael Greene, 21, who was killed by a Lakeland Police captain following a chase through Eagle Lake and Winter Haven, a car-jacking, and an attempt to run over the LPD captain.
Greene was under investigation by the Lakeland Police Department for his possible involvement in the mass shooting on Jan. 30 in midtown Lakeland that left 11 people wounded.
Monday afternoon’s chase ended when Capt. Eric Harper shot Greene in the car Greene had stolen moments earlier, which he then crashed into a business along busy Havendale Boulevard.
PCSO detectives obtained a search warrant after the crash Monday for the truck Greene had been driving before the carjacking. In it, they found:
- 28 grams of cocaine
- 4,178.9 grams of marijuana
- a Glock .357 handgun and a Glock .45 handgun
- $2,813.00 in cash.
Greene also had $5,833 cash on him.
Photographs of the marijuana show that it was bagged up and ready for sale.
A PCSO spokesman said Greene had an outstanding PCSO warrant for felony residential burglary, felony conspiracy to commit burglary, and misdemeanor trespassing with larceny following a January 2023 incident in Lake Alfred. Lakeland Police said they were hoping to take him into custody so they could question him about the shooting.
Agents from the federal Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and Lakeland Police Department were watching Greene at a house near Eagle Lake. When he walked out of the house, an FDLE agent and ATF agents turned on their emergency lights and sirens on their undercover vehicles and attempted to stop Greene. Instead of complying, Greene got into a white Chevy Silverado and fled, followed by Harper in his LPD vehicle. FDLE and ATF did not pursue. After traveling north through Eagle Lake and Winter Haven, Harper successfully executed a pit maneuver on the truck Greene was driving on busy Havendale Boulevard.
A pit maneuver involves a law enforcement officer purposely running his or her cruiser into the back side bumper of a vehicle to cause it to spin and stop. The Silverado came to a stop in front of Prime Care Chiropractic Center at 1400 Havendale Blvd.
Greene ran out into traffic on Havendale Boulevard and then to the parking lot of Andrea’s Family Restaurant. A 64-year-old woman was visiting with friends in the parking lot, her passenger and driver’s side doors open as they exchanged a potted plant. Greene spotted the open car, circled the building and ran back to the woman’s Toyota Camry. The woman, who had witnessed the crash and saw Greene running, slammed her passenger door shut and ran to the driver’s door, but Greene beat her to it, shoved her out of the way and got into her Camry. She tried twice to open the door, but he began driving off.
PCSO officials said “Harper placed himself to the left of the driver’s side area of the vehicle and drew his agency issued firearm yelling commands to the suspect to ‘stop’ and ‘show me your hands.’ Captain Harper was also loudly identifying himself as a police officer. The suspect refused to comply with the verbal commands.”
Greene then placed the silver Toyota Camry in drive and quickly accelerated as PCSO officials said he attempted to run over Harper.
“Harper was able to successfully move himself out of the path of the oncoming vehicle,” officials said. “Captain Harper discharged his firearm six times into the driver’s side area of the vehicle … The vehicle being operated by the suspect then struck a parked vehicle in the Andrea’s parking lot, narrowly missing Captain Harper.”
Greene drove the Camry westbound on Havendale Boulevard, crossed a landscaped median and then crashed into an unoccupied business.
Harper and other LPD officers arrived moments later and began performing CPR on Greene. An ambulance rushed him to Winter Haven Hospital, where he died.
PCSO officials said that in addition to the outstanding burglary warrant Greene would have been charged with multiple felonies, including fleeing to elude, attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, possession of a weapon by a convicted felon, robbery and carjacking, resisting arrest, and possession of drugs with intent to sell.
Greene’s criminal history spans back to 2013 when he was 12 years old. He has been arrested and charged with:
- Battery in November 2013, January 2014 and December 2016
- Marijuana distribution and possession in January 2015
- Fighting and disorderly conduct in March 2015
- Hit and run and resisting a law enforcement officer in March 2016
- Possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia in April 2016 and July 2018
- Robbery, larceny, battery, criminal mischief, and disorderly conduct in May 2016
- Weapon possession in January 2017
- Assault and fleeing to elude in August 2022
- Numerous violations of probation and failures to appear in court.
Greene has a violent felony history and this is not the first time deputies say he has attempted to hit a law enforcement officer with a car.
In August 2020, a deputy sheriff arrived at a home on 38th Street NW in Winter Haven after receiving a call for service. He activated his marked patrol car’s lights and saw an unknown male run from the house and get into the driver’s seat of a black Mitsubishi Outlander, later determined to be Greene’s mother’s car. The deputy parked his cruiser in front of the SUV to try to prevent the car from leaving and stepped out of his cruiser, but the driver drove through the yard and then aimed the Mitsubishi at the deputy, who had to get back into his cruiser to avoid being hit. While in pursuit, law enforcement received a tip that the Mitsubishi’s driver was Greene. They say he led deputies on a short chase, but they disengaged because of the high rate of speed through residential streets that Greene was traveling.
That happened as Greene was awaiting trial for slamming a 16-year-old boy into the ground and beating him in Winter Haven. Greene was charged with felony battery with great bodily harm. Records show he pleaded guilty, but Judge Jalal Harb withheld adjudication last year. The 2020 battery on a law enforcement officer case was dropped because “no officer or witness can identify the defendant as the driver of the suspect vehicle in this case. As such, the charges cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Later in 2020 he was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted delinquent. An officer described finding two handguns, with magazines loaded and a round in the chamber of one gun. His mother, Dianne Greene, at first lied and told officers they were her guns. Then she said that “Alex was scared because of the virus and wanted a way to protect himself in case of looters.”
Greene’s Facebook page contains multiple photographs of him displaying stacks of cash and a Jan. 12 picture of two Glock handguns in which he states: “Got mine already.” There are also photographs of him with at least two toddlers. In a January post, he referred to “both my” baby mamas and in December, he wrote about “3 kids”. His friends posted tributes to him, saying he was generous and kind.
The State’s Attorney’s Office is investigating Monday’s fatal shooting. There is video of it, but PCSO spokesman Scott Wilder said the department could not release it while the investigation was ongoing. Wilder also said the white Chevy Silverado is not registered to Greene and they are working to determine why Greene was driving that truck.
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