A former $60 million Florida lottery winner who was shot by sheriff's deputies as they searched for a car thief on his property was apparently trying to protect his fleet of sports cars at the time of the shooting, according to Local 6 News.

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Investigators said the incident began early Thursday morning when deputies arrested a man who was allegedly breaking into cars at the Barrington at Mirror Lake apartments in Seminole County.

Officers believed there may have been another suspect on the loose and began to canvass some nearby woods.

During the search, deputies confronted Swofford on his own property. Swofford was holding a handgun, according to officers.

"(They said) 'Drop the gun, drop the gun,' and there were several commands to drop the gun," Seminole County sheriff's Lt. Dennis Lemma said. "The person refused to drop the weapon and actually moved the weapon in a threatening manner toward deputies that were on scene."

Deputies opened fire on Swofford, striking him at least three times, Local 6 News reported.

"It now appears that the lotto winner was trying to protect some of his fleet of sports cars, when in a twist of bad luck, he was confronted by sheriff's deputies," Mike DeForest said.

Swofford's friend Don Buchholz said he frequently chases off people who wander up to his house to check out his cars, the report said.

"The reason he went out there was because an alarm went off in the house saying there was movement out there," Buchholz said.

"No citizen should arm themselves with a firearm and confront anybody in the middle of a field," Lemma said. "This is a tragic situation. It is a situation that probably could have been avoided if everybody was doing what they should have been doing."

Swafford, who is a former military Special Forces member, said he was paranoid about his personal safety but enjoyed being a multi-millionaire, in an earlier interview with Local 6 News.

"I've become a born-again Christian and God has given me a stewardship of his money," Swafford said in an earlier interview.

The two deputies involved in the shooting have been placed on administrative leave.

Before winning the lottery, Swofford impregnated two co-workers and married one of them. The women were sisters.

"After he won the lottery, he basically paid off one of the sisters to divorce him and she got a $5 million settlement to basically go away," DeForest said.

Later, the other sister sued and a judge declared she was not entitled to any of the lottery money, but she did collect child support, according to the report.

Swofford is in stable condition at Orlando Regional Medical Center.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the shooting.