Suspected Orlando Office Shooter Jason Rodriguez Captured at Mom's House
Jason Rodriguez was fired in 2007, filed for bankruptcy in 2009.
Nov. 6, 2009— -- A fired worker allegedly burst into a downtown Orlando office building Friday, shooting one person dead and wounding five others. He was later captured after a city-wide manhunt that locked down schools, businesses and highways.
The shooting suspect was identified as 40-year-old Jason Rodriguez, a former employee of one of the building's offices. He was apprehended at his mother's house several hours after the shootings, Orlando authorities said today.
When asked by reporters why he did it, Rodriguez, being led into the Orlando Police Department, snarled "They left me to rot," according to ABC's Orlando affiliate WFTV.
He also told reporters he was "angry."
The lone victim, identified by police as 26-year-old Otis Beckford, was gunned down by at least two bullets.
Mike Bernoff, spokesperson for Reynolds, Smith & Hills --- a consulting firm in the 16-story Legion Place Gateway Center -- told ABCNews.com today that Rodriguez was a former transportation engineer who was terminated in June 2007 for performance issues.
According to The Associated Press, Rodriguez believed his efforts to obtain unemployment benefits had been blocked and that his bosses at Reynolds, Smith and Hills had fired him two years ago without cause.
He said he filed for unemployment but an expected check didn't come and he blamed his former employers, reports the AP.
Company employees were "obviously very shocked like anybody else in that situation would be, totally shocked," Bernoff said. "He walked into office and it's all I know."
Three men and one woman were taken to the Orlando Regional Medical Center, according to a hospital spokesman. One patient has gone to surgery and the three others are potential surgical candidates, but are still being evaluated and assessed. The victims range from 23 to 49 years old.
The shooting comes one day after a massacre at Fort Hood, Texas, where 12 soldiers and one civilian were gunned down at a military processing center.
Public records show that Rodriguez filed for bankruptcy in May. His lawyer in the case, Charlie Price, declined to comment today.
In his bankruptcy filings, Rodriguez listed his assets as less than $50,000 and his liabilities as between $50,000 and $100,000. He is listed as living with a girlfriend and having an income of just $890 a month.
CLICK HERE to review Jason Rodriguez's 2009 bankruptcy filing.
Included in his debts are $28,912 to student lending giant Sallie Mae and $25,000 in education loans to Wachovia as well as more than $24,000 to a Florida credit union and $2,415.21 in back taxes from 2005 and 2006. He also owes $11,085 in child support payments, almost $1,500 in back rent and several hundred dollars in medical, cell phone and credit card bills.
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