Police: Fla. Shooting Suspect Was Angry At Company

ANTONIO GONZALEZ

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Employees at an engineering firm recognized their former co-worker when he drew a handgun from under his shirt, police said, and shot his first victim dead in the reception area. He then walked into the office and unloaded several more rounds, wounding five other employees at the company that fired him two years ago.

Jason Rodriguez was taken into custody several hours after the shooting Friday at a downtown Orlando office tower, and police say he will be charged with first-degree murder and other crimes.

Police said Rodriguez told detectives he blamed the firm for recent trouble he had receiving unemployment benefits. As officers led him handcuffed into a police station, a reporter asked the divorced 40-year-old why he had attacked his former colleagues.

"Because they left me to rot," said Rodriguez, who recently told a bankruptcy judge he was making less than $30,000 a year at a Subway sandwich shop and had debts of nearly $90,000.

All the victims worked at the firm of Reynolds, Smith and Hills, where Rodriguez was an entry-level engineer for 11 months before he was fired in June 2007, the company said.