Sunday, Nov. 08, 2009

Office shooting survivors likely to recover

ORLANDO, Fla. -- On Friday, they were colleagues.

Today, they are survivors.

Gregory John Hornbeck, 39, and Guy Lugenbeel, 62, are civil engineers. Ferrell Hickson, 40, is a design engineer supervisor for the state of Florida. Edward Severino, 34, is a structural engineer. Keyondra Harrison, 27, is a transportation planner.

All were inside the eighth-floor downtown Orlando, Fla., office of construction consulting firm Reynolds, Smith and Hills Friday at 11:45 a.m. when a former employee opened fire, killing Otis Beckford, 26, a draftsman and new father.

The wounded were still in the hospital in stable or good condition Saturday and all are expected to recover, officials said.

As legal proceedings against the suspect began Saturday, details about the surviving victims and their conditions began to emerge.

Jason Rodriguez, 40, of Orlando made his first appearance before a judge wearing a protective vest and saying little. Orange County Circuit Court Judge Walter Komanski had to ask Rodriguez to raise his right hand twice to be sworn in. He showed no emotion and rocked back and forth. His hands were shackled at his waist.

Rodriguez was held without bond and faces a first-degree murder charge. Additional attempted murder charges are likely to follow.

Orange-Osceola Public Defender Robert Wesley, who represents Rodriguez, said his client "is a very, very mentally ill person." He said he did not know if Rodriguez was being treated. Jail officials said he was under suicide watch.

The suspect's mother, Ana Lopez-Rodriguez, apologized after the hearing for her son's behavior.

"I am so sorry for everything that's happened," she said. "This is very, very hurtful."

Lopez-Rodriguez did not answer any questions from reporters and asked for privacy. She wiped away tears as she walked to her car.

Hornbeck, Lugenbeel, Severino and Harrison were recovering in stable condition at Orlando Regional Medical Center. Two underwent surgery hours after the shooting.

ORMC spokesman Joe Brown said the patients and their families declined to comment.

Hickson was in good condition at Florida Hospital Orlando.

Harrison, Hornbeck, Lugenbeel, and Severino are part of RS and H's transportation group, which plans and builds highways, roads and bridges. Most employees at the Orlando office are part of this division, said David Robertson, the firm's chief operating officer.

RS and H Senior Vice President Joe Debs, head of the transportation/information division, is in charge of the group in which all of the company's surviving victims were employed. He spent Saturday talking with them, and said they are surrounded by family, friends and co-workers.

All are well enough to carry on conversations with their families. When they speak, they say they're worried about their colleagues.

"Truly, they're all concerned about each other more than themselves," Debs said.

He did not discuss individual workers, saying they were concerned for their privacy.

RS and H's Orlando office will not open Monday. Employees will report to College Park Baptist Church, where grief counselors and other support will be available, Robertson said.

"Our objective right now is to do whatever we need to do to overcome and pick up the pieces and move forward," Robertson said.

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Hickson, 40, an FDOT engineer supervisor, was visiting the firm's office for a meeting about a project near Ocala, Fla., when the shooting started. He saw the gunman shoot through a glass partition, and the bullet shattered glass and pierced Hickson's leg, Florida Department of Transportation spokesman Steve Olson said.

"He doesn't want to talk a lot about it," said Olson, who spoke to Hickson on Saturday afternoon. "It was quite a difficult experience."

Hickson, who is married and has been with FDOT since 1993, told Olson that he is healing and hopes to be out of the hospital in a few days.

"He sounded anxious to be released," Olson said.

In Winter Park, Fla., word spread about Hornbeck's injuries. Neighbors reassured others that he hoped to be home from the hospital in a few days.

No one answered the door at Hornbeck's home Saturday afternoon.

Hornbeck is married and a father of two boys. He's a graduate of Lake Brantley High School and Duke University in Durham, N.C.

He is known as a good neighbor who's active at his Winter Park church, said next-door neighbor Collyns Moore.

The family and friends of Severino did not respond to calls and e-mails sent by the Orlando Sentinel Saturday.

He graduated from the University of Central Florida in 2001 and earned his master's degree in 2003, according to a university spokeswoman. The web site for the American Society of Civil Engineers notes that Severino was among a group who in 2006 won the Arthur M. Wellington Prize -- an award for a transportation paper.

Harrison was hired by RS and H in November 2005 as the planner in its Transportation and Public Infrastructure Programs, according to a notice published in the Sentinel. No one was home at Harrison's family home in Tallahassee, Fla.

Lugenbeel is a member of the company's transportation group. His family told the Orlando Sentinel on Friday that he was shot in the back.

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The streets around Gateway Center office building where the shootings happened were quiet Saturday morning. Yellow crime-scene tape surrounded the 17-story towers.

Some employees started returning to the building to pick up their cars. Officers allowed them into the parking garage but not the building.

Businesses nearby say the shooting was the topic of conversation but things were back to normal.

Across the street from the Gateway, taxis lined up for customers at the Sheraton Hotel.

Valet supervisor William Sanns, who was working Friday morning, said it was back to a typical Saturday.

"It's business as usual so far," he said.

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(Amy L. Edwards, Susan Jacobson and Aaron Deslatte of the Orlando Sentinel staff contributed to this report.)

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