ORLANDO, Fla. – A man who was fired from a central Florida awning factory in April returned Monday morning with a semi-automatic pistol and methodically killed five people, then took his own life at the sound of an approaching siren, authorities said.
Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings identified the shooter as John Robert Neumann Jr., a 45-year-old Army veteran who lived alone and did not appear to belong to any type of subversive or terrorist organization.
The shooting began around 8 a.m. after Neumann slipped through a rear door into the cavernous factory, an area larger than two football fields where awnings are stitched together for recreational vehicles. He paused at least once to reload.
"My experience tells me that this individual made deliberate thought to do what he did today. He had a plan of action," the sheriff said. The gunman "had a negative relationship with" at least one of the victims.
"He was certainly singling out the individuals he shot," Demings said, adding that most victims were shot in the head. Some were shot multiple times.
The motive remained under investigation. Deputies cordoned off the gunman's mobile home in Maitland, north of Orlando, and were looking through any social media postings for clues. Neumann was honorably discharged in 1999 and did not have a concealed weapons permit, the sheriff said.
Arnie Boyd, who lives in the same trailer park, said Neumann was not particularly social. "Every once in a while, he would ride his bike around and that's it," Boyd said. "We would speak only once in a while."
The dead were identified as Robert Snyder, 69; Brenda Montanez-Crespo, 44; Kevin Clark, 53; Kevin Lawson, 46, Jeffrey Roberts, 57, and Robert Snyder, 69.
Clark was a widower. He was raising a 17-year-old and a 14-year-old as a single parent since his wife's death six years ago.
Lawson, who worked in shipping and receiving at Fiamma Inc, was married with four daughters and two granddaughters.
Roberts had been Fiamma's sales manager since January.
"We all send our prayers to the family and other people that work there," said Sandi Garcia, who works down the street and knew at least one of the victims of the shooting.
Authorities had confronted Neumann once before at the Fiamma awning factory, when he was accused of battering a co-worker in June 2014. But after interviewing both men involved, deputies filed no charges, Demings said.
Neumann's previous criminal record was otherwise minor -- marijuana possession and driving under the influence -- and the co-worker he allegedly beat up three years ago was not among Monday's victims, the sheriff said.
Fiamma calls itself one of the largest manufacturers of awnings for camper vans, motor coaches and sport utility vehicles.
Shelley Adams said her sister, Sheila McIntyre, called her from the company's bathroom during the shooting and kept repeating, "My boss is dead. My boss is dead."
State and federal law enforcement officers converged on the awning business in an industrial park in Orlando after a woman ran out and called 911 from a tile business across the street, said Yamaris Gomez, that store's owner.
"All she kept saying was he was holding a gun and told her to get out," Gomez said.
That woman had been hired after Neumann was fired in April, so he probably did not recognize her, the sheriff said.
"It's devastating. We have enough stupid violence in this world. We don’t need people to do anymore hurt more people," Garcia said.
Officers arrived two minutes later, the sheriff said. The FBI also responded, said Ron Hopper, who runs the FBI's Orlando office.
And while five people were killed, "seven others' lives were saved due to the quick actions of the officers who arrived on the scene today," said Special Agent Danny Banks of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Authorities had no reports of any specific threats the gunman made to people at the company or anyone else, Banks said.
The attack shows why people need to alert authorities whenever they learn of anything that could lead to violence, Banks said.
"If people see something that seems abnormal, they need to say something," Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs added.
Sen. Bill Nelson called for more action to address mental health issues. He noted that next Monday will mark a year since the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history, at a gay nightclub in Orlando. The attack at the Pulse club killed 49 people and wounded dozens more.
"The city of Orlando, which is still healing from the Pulse massacre, has seen too much violence this past year," the Florida Democrat said in a statement.
Republican Gov. Rick Scott asked "all Floridians to pray for the families impacted by this senseless act of violence."
How common is this?
Workplace violence is more common than many may realize. Records show violent workplace incidents have tripled in the last decade.
According to Bureau of Labor Statistics from 2016, workplace violence is now the fastest-growing category of murder in the United States, and it's the second-leading cause of death for women while at work.
According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, working in small numbers is one of several risk factors for workplace violence.
Others include:
- Contact with the public
- Exchange of money
- Delivery of passengers, goods, or services
- Having a mobile workplace, such as a taxicab or police cruiser
- Working with unstable or volatile persons in health care, social services, or criminal justice settings
- Working late at night or during early morning hours
- Working in high-crime areas
- Guarding valuable property or possessions
- Working in community-based settings
OSHA estimates 2 million workers in America are victims of varying levels of violence while at work every year.
And while workplace violence is declining overall, the number of active shooter incidents at work are rising, happening on average once every three weeks across the country.
For many people in Jacksonville, Monday's Orlando shooting sparked memories of the GMAC mass shooting in which eight people were killed and six others injured in 1990 when a man came in to the car loan processing center armed with a semi-automatic rifle and a revolver.
That shooter, 42-year-old James E. Pough, was upset about his car being repossessed and was a stranger to many that he killed.
The National Center for Victims of Crime found strangers commit the most common acts of workplace violence.
Their report found shootings account for 76 percent of those growing workplace homicides.
They found 19 percent of workplace homicide victims are protective service workers, like police officers and security guards.
But even more victims, 26 percent of murdered workers, are sales and retail professionals.
American Public University offers the following suggestions to prevent workplace violence: