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A man so broke that he said he didn't have
the money to visit his son 30 minutes away opened fire Friday at
the engineering firm that fired him two years ago, killing one
person and wounding five, authorities said.


      As officers led a handcuffed Jason Rodriguez 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 owed nearly $90,000.

      The shooting on the eighth floor of an office tower paralyzed
downtown Orlando for three hours. Police quickly tracked Rodriguez
to his mother's home, spotted him through a window and ordered him
to come out.

      He surrendered peacefully and was in custody Friday evening.
Police said he apologized as officers handcuffed him.

      "I'm just going through a tough time right now. I'm sorry,"
officers quoted him as saying.

      Police say he will be charged with first-degree murder and other
crimes. Officials said he could make an initial court appearance
Saturday.

      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 let go in June 2007, the company said.

      Witnesses told police they recognized Rodriguez when he entered
the company's lobby. They said he pulled a handgun from a holster
under his shirt and shot an employee standing next to the
receptionist's desk, killing him. He then went into the common work
area and fired several shots, they said, wounding five other
employees.

      The five wounded people were in stable condition at Orlando
hospitals and police say all are expected to survive. The person
who died was not identified.

      Rodriguez worked on drawings in the firm's transportation group,
but his supervisors said his performance was not up their
standards, and when he did not improve, he was fired. The company
did not hear from him again.


      "This is really a mystery to us," said Ken Jacobson, the
firm's general legal counsel and chief financial officer. "There
was nothing to indicate any hard feelings."

      He did not know why Rodriguez would say the company had left him
"to rot."

      "It's been 2½ years," Jacobson said. "We don't know where
he's been or what he's done."

      But Rodriguez told detectives that the company had fired him
without cause and had made him look incompetent. He told them he
was unemployed for a year and a half before landing work at Subway,
where worked until recently.


      He told them the shop couldn't give him enough hours, and he
later filed for unemployment. He expected to get a check recently
but when it didn't arrive he blamed Reynolds, Smith and Hills,
thinking it was harming his efforts to qualify, police said. He
told them he could no longer support his family. Police said he
then invoked his right to remain silent.


      Indeed, Rodriguez' bankruptcy filing and his former
mother-in-law suggested he was plagued by money woes.


      Les Winograd, a spokesman for Milford, Conn.-based Subway
Restaurants, said Rodriguez had worked for one of the sandwich
shops in the Orlando area until six weeks ago. He would not say
whether Rodriguez had left or was fired.

      His ex-wife's mother, America Holloway, told The Associated
Press that Rodriguez and her daughter, Neshby, were married for
about 6½ years before divorcing several years ago. They have an
8-year-old son who lives with Neshby in Kissimmee, about a
half-hour away.


      Holloway said the couple lived with her in Orlando for several
years while they were married and that Rodriguez abused her
daughter and once threw all her clothes into the street.


      "I used to tell my daughter he was crazy," Holloway said. "He
was always fighting, always yelling. There was always problems."


      After the divorce, Rodriguez seldom saw his son, but he called
last week while the child was at Holloway's house and the boy asked
his father why he did not come over, too.


      "He said, 'Because I don't have any money. I don't have a job.
I don't have anything to eat. When things get better, I'll come see
you,"' Holloway said Rodriguez told his son.


      Charles Price, an attorney who represented Rodriguez in his
bankruptcy case, said he could not comment on specifics of the
matter. He had not seen Rodriguez since the summer.


      A somber Gov. Charlie Crist visited some of the wounded at
Orlando Regional Medical Center.

      "They're obviously traumatized," he said. "At the same time,
I was impressed with their spirit and strength."

      Camille Previlon told The Associated Press her uncle, engineer
Guy Lugenbeel, was shot in the back and was able to talk but had
not said much about the shooting.


      "He's just hurting real bad in the back," she said.

      After the lunchtime shooting, some people streamed out of the
Legion Place building while others holed up in their offices. A
major highway was closed, and nearby schools were locked down.

      Greg Cross, who works in a real estate office on the 12th floor,
said he and his co-workers barricaded themselves inside after
hearing about the gunman on television.

      "We were terrified," he said. "We locked the door and put a
filing cabinet in front of the door and just waited."

      Mark Vella, who works in a different office on the same floor,
said he and five co-workers also pulled a filing cabinet in front
of their door. They prayed and talked about what to do if the
gunman showed up.

      "We were afraid the guy was still in the building and making
the rounds," Vella said.


      Associated Press writers Travis Reed, Kelli Kennedy, Jennifer
Kay, Laura Wides-Munoz, David Fischer and Damian Grass in Miami;
Mitch Stacy and Tamara Lush in Orlando; and Christine Armario in
Tampa contributed to this report.

Gallery

Crime, Law and Justice

A man so broke that he said he didn't have
the money to visit his son 30 minutes away opened fire Friday at
the engineering firm that fired him two years ago, killing one
person and wounding five, authorities said.


Suspect in Orlando office shooting had money woes

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