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Otis Beckford was shot dead by gunman during a rampage in downtown Orlando on Nov. 6, 2009. (OTIS BECKFORD/FACEBOOK / November 6, 2009) |
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Amanda Tighe stepped out of the elevator of the Gateway Center on Friday and into the panic that had swallowed her building.
A pack of 10 to 12 people rushed toward her, faces twisted in fear.
"Run!" they screamed. "He's got a gun! He's shooting people!"
Tighe, a legal assistant, thought maybe it was a joke -- but only for a second.
"I could tell by the look in their faces," she said.
She raced through the lobby and out the door.
At 11:45 a.m., Tighe dialed 911.
By then, the chaos that would envelop the north side of downtown was well under way. A former employee of an engineering firm, police say, was on the eighth floor of the 17-story tower and firing at people with a handgun that he pulled from a holster under his shirt.
By the time Jason Rodriguez left the building, Orlando police say, Otis Beckford, 26, was dead and five others were injured. Beckford had lived in West Palm Beach before relocating to Orlando.
The 2 1/2-hour manhunt for Jason Rodriguez shut down city streets, closed Interstate 4, and forced schools and businesses to lock down their buildings.
For much of midday, police and ambulance lights ricocheted off downtown windows, SWAT members prowled the streets with high-powered rifles and residents in north-end apartments watched the scene from their windows.
Rodriguez was ultimately apprehended at his mother's apartment on Curry Ford Road about 2:20 p.m. He surrendered without any resistance as residents of Hollowbrook Apartments looked on.
As Rodriguez was led to a police cruiser, a reporter shouted, "Why did you do it?"
The 40-year-old draftsman offered only a cryptic response.
"Because they left me to rot," he said.
Later Friday night, he shouted "Innocent!" to a crush of reporters at the Orlando Police Department as he left for the Orange County Jail.
No way to get out
The attack was downtown Orlando's first mass shooting in 25 years, and it terrified the people trapped in the building the shooter made his target. Panicked employees phoned loved ones, some barricaded doors with file cabinets, and others armed themselves with souvenir baseball bats.
At Jacobs Engineering on the 14th floor, workers were wrapping up their week -- they work half days on Fridays -- when the receptionist announced there had been a shooting. Gateway Center was locked down, they were told, and there was no way to leave.
Barbara Stiles, a 46-year-old marketing manager, said she looked out the window and saw police swarming outside, guns drawn, and a fleet of ambulances and firetrucks.
A pack of 10 to 12 people rushed toward her, faces twisted in fear.
"Run!" they screamed. "He's got a gun! He's shooting people!"
Tighe, a legal assistant, thought maybe it was a joke -- but only for a second.
"I could tell by the look in their faces," she said.
She raced through the lobby and out the door.
At 11:45 a.m., Tighe dialed 911.
By then, the chaos that would envelop the north side of downtown was well under way. A former employee of an engineering firm, police say, was on the eighth floor of the 17-story tower and firing at people with a handgun that he pulled from a holster under his shirt.
By the time Jason Rodriguez left the building, Orlando police say, Otis Beckford, 26, was dead and five others were injured. Beckford had lived in West Palm Beach before relocating to Orlando.
The 2 1/2-hour manhunt for Jason Rodriguez shut down city streets, closed Interstate 4, and forced schools and businesses to lock down their buildings.
For much of midday, police and ambulance lights ricocheted off downtown windows, SWAT members prowled the streets with high-powered rifles and residents in north-end apartments watched the scene from their windows.
Rodriguez was ultimately apprehended at his mother's apartment on Curry Ford Road about 2:20 p.m. He surrendered without any resistance as residents of Hollowbrook Apartments looked on.
As Rodriguez was led to a police cruiser, a reporter shouted, "Why did you do it?"
The 40-year-old draftsman offered only a cryptic response.
"Because they left me to rot," he said.
Later Friday night, he shouted "Innocent!" to a crush of reporters at the Orlando Police Department as he left for the Orange County Jail.
No way to get out
The attack was downtown Orlando's first mass shooting in 25 years, and it terrified the people trapped in the building the shooter made his target. Panicked employees phoned loved ones, some barricaded doors with file cabinets, and others armed themselves with souvenir baseball bats.
At Jacobs Engineering on the 14th floor, workers were wrapping up their week -- they work half days on Fridays -- when the receptionist announced there had been a shooting. Gateway Center was locked down, they were told, and there was no way to leave.
Barbara Stiles, a 46-year-old marketing manager, said she looked out the window and saw police swarming outside, guns drawn, and a fleet of ambulances and firetrucks.
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