Five dead after disgruntled ex-employee opens fire in former workplace in Orlando

ORLANDO, Jun 05 2017 – Five people are dead after a former employee opened fire in a recreational vehicle business in Orlando, Fla., early Monday morning.

Orange County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of an active shooter at a business in an industrial area just after 8 a.m. ET.

Shortly afterwards, the sheriff’s office confirmed on social media the shooting has resulted in “multiple fatalities” and the “situation” has been “contained.”

Video footage from the scene showed a large police presence and a K9 unit, which was seen going from vehicle to vehicle in a parking lot outside the business.

At an 11 a.m. press conference, Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings said a disgruntled former employee opened fire, killing three men and one woman. Another victim was transferred to a hospital where he later died from his injuries.

Police said the 45-year-old shooter took his own life.

“Deputies arrived on scene two minutes later to the active shooter call for service. Once they arrived here, they found multiple individuals that had been shot,” Demings said. “Three male victims were deceased at the time, one female victim was deceased. A fifth person, a male, was transported to Orlando Regional Medical Center where he subsequently died as a result of his injuries.”

Demings noted there were seven people who survived the incident and are being interviewed by authorities.

“The individual was armed with a handgun and a knife this morning and there’s no indication that he used the knife on any of the victims but shot five innocent people this morning and then turned the gun on himself,” the sheriff said.

A woman who rushed to the scene told reporters she received a frantic phone call from her sister who was in the building at the time of the shooting.

“She just kept saying ‘I’m OK, I’m OK,’” Shelley Adams said. “She just said that ‘My boss is dead, my boss is dead.’ She was very upset.”

Adams said her sister was in the bathroom when she heard a bang and saw someone lying on the floor when she left the washroom.

“She was hysterically crying,” Adams said of her sister. The woman said she was shocked to hear of a shooting at the business Monday morning.

“I’m a school teacher and that’s always a concern for teachers you know with our students, keeping them safe but it’s just unbelievable that it could happen at a small business,” Adams said.

Demings said officials are likely dealing with a “workplace violence incident,” ruling out terrorism.

“There’s no indication that this subject is a member of any subversive-type organization. We have no indication that this subject is a participant in any type of terror organization,” Demings said.

The sheriff did not release the name of the alleged shooter, noting the former employee was fired at some point in April.

“He was a disgruntled employee that came back to this business this morning,” Demings said adding that police have little record of incidents at the business.

“However, about three years ago in June of 2014, we did respond to this business in which the subject who is responsible for the deaths this morning was the subject of a workplace violence incident in which he allegedly battered another employee here in the business,” Demings said. “There were no charges actually at that time.”

The sheriff told reporters the suspect had a criminal history he called “minor in nature.”

Florida Gov. Rick Scott issued a statement saying he was briefed on the “tragic incident.”

“Over the past year, the Orlando community has been challenged like never before. I have been briefed by our law enforcement officials on this tragic incident and Ann and I are praying for the families who lost loved ones today,” Scott said in the statement. “I ask all Floridians to pray for the families impacted by this senseless act of violence.”

The suspect was later identified as John Robert Neumann Jr, a U.S. Army veteran who was discharged honourably in 1999.

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