ORLANDO, FL -- A gunman opened fire Friday in the offices of an engineering firm where he was let go more than two years ago, authorities said, killing one person and injuring five others.
Jason Rodriguez, 40, surrendered about three hours later, after officers saw him through the window of his mother's home and asked him to come outside, Orlando Police Chief Val Demings said.
Asked by a reporter outside the police station why he did it, he replied: "Because they left me to rot."
Authorities said Rodriguez was so deep in debt that he did not have the money to visit his son 30 minutes away. He recently told a bankruptcy judge he was making less than $30,000 a year at a Subway sandwich shop and owed nearly $90,000.
Demings said Rodriguez brought a handgun to the firm in a downtown office tower where he once worked as an engineer, but investigators are not sure what his motive was.
"This is a tragedy, no doubt about it, especially on the heels of the tragedy in Fort Hood that is on our minds," Demings said. "I'm just glad we don't have any more fatalities or any more injuries than we currently have."
Charles W. Price, an attorney who represented Rodriguez in a bankruptcy case, declined to comment.
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."
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, though he had not yet been formally charged in the shootings.
Police said Rodriguez used a handgun in the shooting, but they did not release additional details, including how he got inside the building, whether he said anything to people in the office or how he initially escaped.
Rodriguez 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.
A somber Gov. Charlie Crist visited some of the wounded at Orlando Regional Medical Center on Friday afternoon.
"They're obviously traumatized," he said. "At the same time, I was impressed with their spirit and strength."
He said he was thankful the shooting was not worse and said the victims "felt very lucky and blessed to be alive."
Reynolds Smith & Hills spokesman Mike Bernos said Rodriguez was an entry-level engineer who worked on drawing in the firm's transportation group. He was fired in June 2007 after working there for less than 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.
"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 2 1/2 years," Jacobson said. "We don't know where he's been or what he's done."
But 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 company's sandwich shops in the Orlando area until six weeks ago. He would not say whether Rodriguez had left or was fired.
Rodriguez 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.
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.
"It was a little scary, a little unnerving," Vella said. "We were afraid the guy was still in the building and making the rounds."
The suspect's mother-in-law, America Holloway, told The Associated Press that Rodriguez and her daughter, Neshby, were married for about 6 1/2 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.
