LAKE COUNTY, Fla. — A processional Monday morning escorted the body of Lake County Sheriff's Deputy Bradley Link from the medical examiner's office in Leesburg down U.S. Highway 27 to Becker Funeral Home on West Minneola Avenue in Clermont.

The unit he was assigned to, the Agriculture and Marine Unit, participated in the processional.

Link was shot and killed while responding to a call Friday night, with two other deputies injured as shots were exchanged.

Link, 28, was shot and killed while responding to a call Friday night, with two other deputies injured as shots were exchanged.

The other two Lake County deputies who were shot are recovering in hospitals.

Deputy Stefano Gargano is expected to undergo a third surgery Monday and remains in critical condition.

Deputy Harold Howell underwent surgery Saturday, and is recovering, according to the sheriff's office.

Julie Ann Sulpizio, 48, has been arrested and charged with premeditated first-degree murder of a law enforcement officer in connection with the case.

According to information from the Lake County Jail, Sulpizio, faces 11 other charges, including seven counts of attempted murder, felony battery (strangulation), two counts of misdemeanor battery and a count of battery on a law enforcement officer.

Community members came together over the weekend for a vigil to remember Link and honor the other two injured deputies.

"Unfortunately, 19 years ago, I lost a childhood friend in a situation very similar to this, Deputy Wayne Custer from Lake County," community organizer Shannon Cook said. "And that was a horrifying ordeal. That just doesn't happen here. And for this to happen again, it's heartbreaking."

The last time a Lake County Sheriff's Office employee was killed in the line of duty was in 2005.

“He had a great personality,” said Lake County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Lieutenant John Herrell said, referring to Link. “He was well-loved, very well-respected and just a good deputy, worked hard and served his community and his fellow deputies very well. So it’s going to be a tremendous loss, and it’s not going to be one that we are going to forget soon.”

Herrell said sheriff's office officials and deputies are praying for a complete and full recovery for the other two deputies.

“That’s really been the focus of the day today (Saturday), is just trying to take care of each other and take care of their family members and make sure that they are appropriately supported.”

The sheriff’s office says the incident began with Link and Howell responding to a disturbance call on Brookside Drive.

Officials say the deputies separated a fight between two parties, and immediately after a woman told them to check on a man making some noise in a house nearby.

“They thought they were going there to do a well-being check. And obviously, that’s not how it played out,” said Herrell.

Officials say the deputies went to the home, saw a door kicked in, heard noise, and thought there was an active burglary happening. Instead, they were met with heavy gunfire.

“It does appear to be an ambush to some extent,” said Herrell. “We don’t know if that’s why she sent our deputies down to the house where she lived.”

Officials say three people at the house, two women and a man, all opened fire against the deputies.

“This dwelling has been described as almost a bunker style dwelling,” said Herrell. “They had stockpiled firearms, ammunition, Emery’s canned goods, nonperishable food items. And what they found as they’ve gone through this house is a lot of literature to suggest that they were very much anti-government leaning people.”

According to authorities, three suspects are dead, and the woman who guided the deputies to the house is being held under the Baker Act.

Gov. Ron DeSantis reacted Sunday to the shooting.

"Please join us in praying for the family, friends, and colleagues of Master Deputy Sheriff Bradley Link, who was killed in the line of duty," DeSantis wrote on X. "This hero made the ultimate sacrifice to help keep his community safe."