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Suspect arrested in Florida rampage


ORLANDO, Fla. — Orlando police confirmed Friday that a man suspected in a deadly mass shooting inside a downtown Orlando office building has been taken into custody.

The suspect, Jason Rodriguez, 40, is a former employee of Reynolds, Smith & Hill, a construction engineering firm with offices on the eighth floor of the Gateway Center, the site of the shooting.

One person is dead and five are confirmed shot in the attack, which took place about10:45 a.m. St. Louis time. The shooter used a handgun, police said.

A SWAT team spotted the suspect more than two hours after the attack through a window at his mother's residence. Rodriguez came out of the home without incident, Orlando Police Chief Val Demings said.


After the arrest, the suspect was confronted by reporters just outside the police department's doors.

"Why did you do it?" a reporter asked.

"Because they left me to rot," Rodriguez said, who was terminated by the engineering company in 2007.

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer confirmed that the victims were all employees of Reynolds, Smith & Hill.

Melinda Velez, the manager of a cafe in the building, said, "With what happened in Texas yesterday, this just seemed like something that happens to other people, and now here it is so close to home. It's a state of disbelief and shock ... very surreal."

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