ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Two people were shot in one of Central Florida's biggest office complexes and one of them was found dead in the middle of the road.
Deputies say a man shot a woman and then, they say, he shot and killed himself. The woman initially survived, but was left in critical condition and died hours later at Florida Hospital East.
"The suspect came armed with a firearm and shot her multiple times. Then, we believe, he turned the gun on himself and shot himself," said Susan Soto, Orange County Sheriff's Office.
The shooting happened just after 1:00pm in Research Park near UCF, an office complex where close to 10,000 people work.
IMAGES: Scene After Shooting Outside AT&T Building
The shooting took place in the parking lot outside an AT&T cell center office (see map). There were several other people in the parking lot heading back inside the building after lunch when the shots started flying.
Brandin Barroso is a student at UCF and leaves nearby.
"It's a regular AT&T shop and this guy shot this lady. Messed up," he said.
Homicide detectives aren't releasing many details, but did confirm the shooter targeted his victim while she was walking back into work Monday afternoon. There were several eyewitnesses who saw the suspect open fire.
Channel 9 has learned the shooter and victim did know each other, but no one is saying how.
Meanwhile, crime scene techs collected evidence, including shell casings strewn across the area.
"Any idea why that man would target her?" WFTV reporter Mark Boyle asked
"At this point, it's very early in the investigation. We're still trying to determine that," Soto said.
Eyewitness News talked to employees at AT&T, who said they think they know what happened.
"This is what we're hearing, that it was the ex-boyfriend that came," said Azuree Gibbs, who works on the 3rd floor in the AT&T building.
The Research Parkway business complex is large. There are 116 companies, 56 buildings and nearly 10,000 employees. The scene was under control, but some of those who work nearby walked over to see for themselves what was going on.
"It hits home, you know. It's unfortunate something like this happens. I don't know the details. That's why we came over here to check it out," said Mark Brzezinski, who works nearby.
"This is horrible. We didn't hear the shooting, but yeah, I think this is horrible. This is the first time I've heard of something like this in Research Park. It's a very calm area," said Ghaith Haddad, who works at one of the other businesses in the area.
Detectives think one key piece of the puzzle will be surveillance cameras that dot the top of the AT&T building. However, there still several unanswered questions, including what triggered the shooter to open fire.
Names of those involved haven't been released.
WFTV
