DAVENPORT, Fla. – Authorities said Sunday a third victim has died following a violent attack where an angry electrician wielding a knife and baseball bat killed three co-workers and injured another at the Florida home they shared.
Polk County Sheriff’s officials said electrician Shaun Runyon got into the argument with his supervisor Friday, punching the man and fleeing the job site. He returned to the Davenport home where he was temporarily living with his co-workers Saturday and beat one man to death while he slept, killed another man on the front porch and chased another victim into the street, beating him badly with a bat, Sheriff Grady Judd said.
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A fourth victim suffered critical injuries and later died at the hospital. Another man, his wife and their 7-year-old daughter escaped unharmed. Authorities did not release the identifies of the victims.
Runyon and seven co-workers and their families were living at the home rented by J & B Electric, Inc. Phone calls and emails to the company were not returned Sunday.
It's unclear what prompted the fight between 39-year-old Runyon and his supervisor Friday, but Sheriff Judd said he confessed.
He was charged with three counts of first degree murder and one count of aggravated battery. It was not immediately clear if he had retained a lawyer to comment on the charges.
Runyon fled the home, turning up hours later at the home of a random Lake Wales couple, wearing bloody clothes and telling them he’d been raped, according to the sheriff.
Judd said the man discarded his bloody clothes at the home as they urged him to go to the hospital where he was later taken into custody.
Runyon is also charged in Northampton County in eastern Pennsylvania with a felony count of strangulation -- applying pressure to the throat -- on May 21 along with misdemeanor counts of child endangerment, terroristic threat, reckless endangerment and other charges. He was scheduled for formal arraignment and a pretrial conference Oct. 14.
A message was left Sunday for the public defender representing him in that case.