ORLANDO, Fla. -- A 26-year-old Orlando man and Jamaican native was the fatal victim in a Friday shooting at an Orlando high-rise that left five others wounded, police said.
Otis Beckford died in the shooting. Orlando Police Sgt. Barb Jones said the shooting took place at Reynolds, Smith & Hills, an engineering and construction firm located on the eighth floor of the high-rise office building. Police have arrested Jason Rodriguez, 40, and a former employee at the firm who was terminated in 2007, in connection with the shooting.
Police said they found Beckford without any vitals at the scene. Family member said Beckford was a new father of a 7-month-old and was about to get married. They said he was an architect at the engineering firm, according to reports by FLORIDA TODAY news partner Channel 6.
Orlando Regional Medical Center said it is treating four patients, three men and one woman. All are in stable condition with non-life-threatening injuries, the hospital said. The victims range in age from 23 to 49 years old.
ORMC said two victims are recovering from surgery. Another patient at Florida Hospital is reportedly in good condition.
Reynolds, Smith & Hills spokesman Mike Bernos said Rodriguez was an entry-level engineer who was fired in June 2007 after working there for a year.
"His performance wasn't up to our standards, so we terminated him," Bernos said. There had been no contact between the company and Rodriguez since then.
Camille Previlon told The Associated Press her uncle, engineer Guy Lungenbel, was shot in the back and was able to talk but had not said much about the shooting.
"He is stable," she said. "He's just hurting real bad in the back."
Gerry Gilgo, who works on the floor where the shooting occurred, told The Associated Press she was meeting a co-worker at the elevators for lunch.
"She yelled, 'There are gunshots! There are gunshots! Get back in your office,"' Gilgo said.
Will Halpern, an attorney on the building's 17th floor, was among the last group to be evacuated. He said the lobby was filled with about 20 officers in SWAT gear, carrying assault weapons, ready to search.
According to financial records, Rodriguez was in immense debt and has been working at Subway. Rodriguez was divorced in 2006, lost his job at the engineering firm in 2007 and filed for bankruptcy in February 2009.
Police initially said at least eight people were shot.
I was reading the abc news site about this, and many of the messages posted were going off on a tangent about bad management and corporate bullying.I’m thinking WHOA – where is the evidence that Rodriguez was bullied or a victim of some “whim”, unjust firing?Yes, I know it happens, but simply because the employer contested his unemployment benefits doesn’t mean he was bullied or that there was a conspiracy against him.He was kept on payroll for 11 months – maybe longer than he should have been.Maybe they tried to work with him but there could have truly been performance issues and even misconduct.I’m hardly one to take the side of management, but perhaps the firing was justified.
A lot of people have lost their jobs, a lot of people have mounting debts, and a lot of people ae behind in child support.
Obviously he felt overwhelmed, angry, hopeless, etc. but to go on a shooting rampage wasn’t the solution.I see that he worked for awhile at Subway, and for that I give him credit. People have to do what they can to get by and survive. But I am disgusted by his actions a few days ago.
>>Personal problems can affect one's job performance ref. his divorce in 2006, job dismissal 2007. <<
I know personal problems can affect job performance.He was divorced in 2006 – a lot of people go thru divorces and breakups and perform well enough to keep their jobs.His job dismissal was in 2007, so that dismissal was not a personal problem which affected his performance because he was dismissed.
My point was that there is no evidence that he was bullied or treated unfairly by the employer who dismissed him.We don’t know the reasons for denial of unemployment benefits, and we don’t know anything about his performance or conduct on the job.
"My point was that there is no evidence that he was bullied or treated unfairly by the employer who dismissed him.We don’t know the reasons for denial of unemployment benefits, and we don’t know anything about his performance or conduct on the job."
True. On message boards often there's speculation rather than facts. Have been guilty myself. :)
