Man remembers friends killed at Fiamma on Forsyth Road

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — A man who rented space inside the same building where five people were gunned down by a former disgruntled employee spoke to Eyewitness News.

John Robert Neumann Jr., 45, fatally shot Robert Snyder, 69, Kevin Lawson, 46, Brenda Montanez-Crespo, 44, Kevin Clark, 53, and Jeffrey Roberts, 57, before turning the gun on himself shortly after 8 a.m. Monday at Fiamma Inc., a manufacturer of recreational-vehicle awnings, on Forsyth Road near Hanging Moss Road.

“The last couple days were very, very tough, because I knew the people very well,” said tenant Todd Bluewater.

Bluewater rents a warehouse to paint food trucks in back of Fiamma Inc.

He said being near the shootings brings in a flood of terrible thoughts.

“When I hit the lot, even though I wasn't here, you start hearing gunshots, and you visualize things that have happened,” Bluewater said.

The memory of his three close friends, Snyder, Lawson and Montanez-Crespo is what he wants to focus on.

“They're family people. I just have no clue, and I don't think I ever will understand why somebody shot these people,” Bluewater said.

Bluewater said Snyder was known to him as Bob. He was the manager of sorts for Fiamma. Bluewater said Synder was by the book and made sure the building was always kept clean.

He said Montanez-Crespo’s death has impacted him the most.

Neumann was fired from Fiamma in April, but Eyewitness News has not received a clear answer for his termination.

Deputies said Neumann likely entered the business from a rear exit on Monday. Bluewater said that it would have been impossible for him to enter the front door.

"You have to buzz yourself in the front door," Bluewater said.

Bluewater believes Neumann entered the side door where Snyder had a desk.

"His door was always unlocked. The rest of these glass doors were locked all the time, every day," Bluewater said.

Cox Media Group