1 dead, 5 hurt in Orlando shooting; gunman caught

By MIKE SCHNEIDER, Associated Press Writer Mike Schneider, Associated Press Writer 3 mins ago
ORLANDO, Fla. – A gunman opened fire Friday in the offices of an engineering firm where he was let go more than two years ago, killing one person and injuring five others.
Jason Rodriguez, 40, surrendered to police 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.
She said investigators did not know why Rodriguez targeted the engineering firm where he once worked.
"This is a tragedy no doubt about it, especially on the heels of the tragedy in Fort Hood that is on our minds," she said. "I'm just glad we don't have any more fatalities or any more injuries than we currently have."
People streamed out of the 16-story Legion Place office building around lunchtime and some told local television stations they had barricaded themselves inside their offices while the gunman was on the loose.
Mike Bernof, a spokesman for Reynolds Smith & Hill, the transportation engineering consulting firm where Rodriguez was an engineer, told CNN Rodriguez was released in June 2007 for performance issues. He could not say what those issues were. The firm performs transportation engineering work for the Florida Department of Transportation.
Gerry Gilgo, who works on the floor where the shooting occurred, told The Associated Press she was meeting a co-worker at the elevators for lunch.
"She yelled, 'There are gunshots! There are gunshots! Get back in your office,'" Gilgo said.
Will Halpern, an attorney on the building's 17th floor, was among the last group to be evacuated. He said the lobby was filled with about 20 officers in SWAT gear, carrying assault weapons, ready to search.
Interstate 4 was closed in both directions through downtown and nearby schools were locked down until the gunman was caught.
Rows of ambulances lined up outside the building as police snipers took up positions around the building and officers on foot and horseback searched the area.

 

I suppose this will bring all the copy cats out of their holes...I hope not!!!

 

=[

Why does this keep happening?

 

Don't you guys know? Ragnarök is right around the corner!

Also, it's an American tradition to go around and do senseless killing. It's one of our oldest, proudest, most fucking retarded, pond-scum-thinkingest... Tradition....


Sigh.....

 

Posting in this thread before baller16 tells us that his motives are irrelevant.

 

Ever notice how crime, and suicide rates go up when the economy is in the shitter? I wonder if it has anything to do with that.... Hm... I wonder....

 

I was reminded recently of a similar event in Canada twenty years ago.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/École_Polytechnique_massacre

I guess it's safe to say that this sort of thing is not confined to the U.S.

It's also safe to say that the motives for such mass killings are almost random in nature.

 

Yet in the UK I can think of only one gun-related massacre in the last ten or fifteen years - Dunblane.

I'm not trying to point fingers - I honestly don't understand. Is it simply because America, being larger, has a larger statistical likelihood? I don't know. I haven't done the numbers.

 

Ragnarök.....

 

Välhällä!

 

I think it also has to do with how the US and Canada think about things. Canada does not have it happen often, but there is usually copycat crimes sometimes after.

 

Because the media gives them the attention they crave,that they desire. Mass shooters are lonely people who feel that only something drastic will bring them the publicity they desire.

Klebold and Harris, the two kids who shot up Columbine felt picked on and isolated and that killing a bunch of their peers will bring them the attention they weren't getting.

Look at Nadal (shot up Fort Hood yesterday). His recent conversion to Islam and his impending (unwanted) transfer to Iraq had him feeling cornered. He felt his only way out was to kill a bunch of people.

If the media would only resist the urge to do hour long specials on the nutcases, then these losers wouldn't have the publicity they crave.

 

I was under the impression that he was not a recent convert to Islam but had, in fact, been a lifelong Muslim.

 

No, I'm sure there's a disproportionate number of cases in the U.S. It sure feels that way.

Me, I chalk it up to the gun culture and the ease with which guys like Hasan can obtain firearms legally. I'm sure others will beg to differ.

 

Actually, the FBI found that Harris was a psychopath, and that he wanted it to be much more than a school shooting.

But other than that, your answer is partially correct.

 

If the news report I saw regarding this yesterday was telling the truth, then what you have stated is fact. He is a devoted follower of his faith but not an extremist.

 

I would say that this shooting is a copycat for what happened at Fort Hood.