One Killed, 5 Injured in Orlando Shooting, November 6, 2009

One Killed, 5 Injured in Orlando Shooting

November 6, 2009

ORLANDO, the United States, Nov. 6, 2009 (Xinhua) --

One people were killed and five others injured Friday after a gunman opened fire in an office building in downtown Orlando, Fla., police said.

A police booking photograph of suspect Jason Rodriguez, issued by the Orange County, Florida Jail on November 6, 2009. The ex-employee of an engineering consulting firm who was laid off in 2007 opened fire at his former workplace in Orlando, Florida, on Friday, killing one person and wounding five others, police said. The suspected gunman, who caused panic for several hours at the Gateway Center building in downtown Orlando, was arrested at his mother's home after fleeing the scene, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and Police Chief Val Demings told reporters.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

Orlando Police Chief Val Demings told reporters there were six total victims and one of them was dead.

All of the wounded were transported to Orlando Regional Medical Center and some of them are in critical condition.

The shooting happened in the high-rise Gateway Center office building near Orlando's Lake Inavhoe, a considerable distance from the Disney World.

Sgt. Barbara Jones of the Orlando Police identified the suspect as 40-year-old Jason Rodriguez, who is also believed to be the only shooter.

Rodriguez, a former employee at the building, surrendered to police at his mother's home after fleeing the crime scene.

Swat teams and ambulances descended on the 16-story building after gunshots were fired at 11:30 a.m. (1630 GMT) in Reynolds Smith & Hill, a transportation engineering consulting firm in the building.

Gateway Center is a 16-story office building that was constructed 10 years ago.

It was the second U.S. mass shooting incident in past two days after a medical doctor opened fire in the Fort Hood military base in Texas, leaving 13 dead and 30 wounded.

The building, which has been fully evacuated, remains cardoned off and the entrance closed. A helicopter is hovering above the building and much of the traffic around it has been resumed with a dozen of emergency vehicles stationing beside.

Just opposite the high-rise at the Sheraton Orlando downtown Hotel, guest services staff Carlos Soto said that he saw two guys run out of the building and one of them with pants torn open when the shooting took place. They dialed 911 and the hotel was locked down immediately after as a security precaution.

Another hotel staff, the 29-year-old William, who has been working at the hotel for five years as valet parking supervisor, said he saw two males aged about 50 were taken out of the building soon after the gun shots were heard, one in serious condition with head bleeding and the other with right eye closed.

He said he did not think that the public security in Orland, a tourist city with Disney World, is poor and the city's tourism industry will not be affected. "The tourists won't panic because of the incident," he said.

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