Orlando Sentinel, Orlando News
Orlando Sentinel, Orlando News: Orlando police confirmed that a man suspected in a deadly mass shooting in downtown Orlando has been taken into custody. The suspect, Jason Rodriguez, 40, is a former employee of Reynolds, Smith & Hill, an engineering firm in construction. A SWAT team saw through a window at the residence of his mother, Orlando Police Chief Val Demings said.
Rodriguez left the house without incident, Demings said. He is now in police headquarters.
One person has died and 5 were confirmed shot in the attack, which occurred about 11:50 am at Legions Place, an office building near Interstate 4 and Ivanhoe Boulevard. The attacker used a firearm, police said.
Witnesses in Hollowbrook Apartments, 5465 Curry Ford Road, saw the SWAT team swept in the complex.
Yahaira Milkez, 19, has lived there about two months. She saw the arrest of the suspect from his upstairs window. It was carried out with a green striped shirt, he said.
“I just heard screams. They [the police] said: Come out with your hands in the air.” The suspect calmly complied, he said.
“He did not resist.”
Marvin Higgins, who has lived in the complex of two months, said an undercover agent entered his building, “told me to go home.”
As he held the suspect in handcuffs, Higgins said, was “quiet.”
After the arrest, the suspect was met by reporters outside the gates of the police department.
“Why do not you?” asked a TV reporter.
“Because I left the putrefaction” Rodriguez said.
Asked if he was angry with his employer.
“I’m not angry,” he said.
Mayor Buddy Dyer confirmed that the victims were all employees of Reynolds, Smith & Hill.
Demings said Rodriguez appeared to fire indiscriminately. Officers believe the shooting was limited to the company offices.
Ken Jacobson, a company spokesman at its headquarters in Florida in Jacksonville, said he had little information, but the company Chief Operating Officer David Robertson and Senior Vice President of Transportation Joe Debs left the offices of Jacksonville en route to Orlando Friday afternoon.
People who have relatives who work there can get information about loved ones going to college Park Baptist Church, 1914 Edgewater Drive, police said.
Orlando Sentinel, Orlando News was first posted on November 7, 2009 at 1:43 am.
