ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) A man wounded in last week's Orlando office
shooting frantically told an emergency dispatcher to hurry because
he worried the gunman would return, 911 tapes released by police
Tuesday show.
The unnamed caller whispered he had been shot in the leg and was
afraid to stay on the phone after the gunman opened fire inside the
engineering firm of Reynolds, Smith and Hills, killing one person
and injuring five others.
''I'm shot in the leg ... I'm sorry. Hurry please,'' the man
whispered to a police dispatcher. ''I can't stay on the phone, he
may come back.''
Another man told a dispatcher he recognized the shooter as a
former employee and breathlessly said there were about 40 people in
the office when four to five shots were fired. A female caller said
she was in the parking garage tending to two wounded men, one of
them in bad shape. One man can be heard groaning ''We've got to get
out of here.''
Four other 911 calls were also released Tuesday. One from a
woman outside reported people running from the building saying
someone was inside shooting. A UPS delivery man told a dispatcher
he walked into the office and saw a man lying on the floor and
blood on the door handle.
Jason Rodriguez, 40, was captured soon after Friday's shooting
at his mother's apartment.
A former employee of the firm, Rodriguez has been charged with
first-degree murder and is on suicide watch at the Orange County
Jail.
Authorities say Rodriguez told detectives that he blamed
Reynolds, Smith and Hills for hindering his efforts to secure
unemployment benefits. Company officials are perplexed at that
explanation given, saying he had worked elsewhere since leaving the
firm.
An attorney for Rodriguez has portrayed the 40-year-old as a
mentally ill man who fell victim to countless personal and
financial problems.
Rodriguez left his engineering job at the firm two years ago and
hadn't been able to find comparable employment since. He most
recently made less than $30,000 a year at a Subway sandwich shop. A
police report released Tuesday showed that he tried to drive his
SUV into the shop on Sept. 17. The franchise owners confirmed in a
statement that they called police about an incident ''at the time
of his termination,'' but they declined further comment.
The manager told police Rodriguez drove across the sidewalk and
into the restaurant's wall. He gestured for the manager to come
outside, then he parked in an adjacent lot for a few minutes before
driving away.
The manager told officers that Rodriguez had been scheduled to
meet with him and a regional manager that morning because Rodriguez
become verbally abusive a day earlier and was sent home.
Rodriguez did not return to the restaurant and the manager told
officers on Oct. 10 that he no longer wanted to pursue aggravated
assault charges.
Otis Beckford, 26, was the lone fatality in the shooting. All
five people who were injured in the shooting have been released
from the hospital.
(Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)