Mom of Orlando Office Shooting Suspect Apologizes

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The mother of a man charged with killing a worker and wounding five others at the Orlando engineering firm where he once worked has apologized to the victims.

Ana Rodriguez told reporters Saturday that she is "so sorry" for the shooting. She spoke after a judge ordered her son, 40-year-old Jason Rodriguez, held without bail at the Orange County Jail in Orlando.

His attorney, Bob Wesley, told reporters Jason Rodriguez "is a very, very mentally ill person."

Police said Rodriguez told detectives he blamed the firm for recent trouble he had receiving unemployment benefits.

The man killed in the Friday shooting was identified by police as 26-year-old Otis Beckford. The five wounded people were in stable condition at Orlando hospitals and police say all are expected to survive.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The engineer accused of fatally shooting one worker and wounding five others at the firm where he once worked appeared briefly in court Saturday and was ordered held without bond.

A judge ordered that Jason Rodriguez, 40, be held without bail at the Orange County Jail in Orlando for Friday's shooting. His defense attorney, Bob Wesley, asked the judge that police and prosecutors have no contact with Rodriguez without his permission.

Employees at Reynolds, Smith and Hills recognized their former co-worker when he drew a handgun from a holster under his shirt, police said, and killed Otis Beckford, 26, next to a receptionist's desk in an office at a downtown Orlando tower. He then walked into the office and unloaded several more rounds, wounding five other employees at the company he had been fired from two years ago.

Rodriguez was taken into custody several hours after the shooting, and police say he will be charged with first-degree murder and other crimes.

Police said Rodriguez told detectives he blamed the firm for recent trouble he had receiving unemployment benefits. As officers led him handcuffed into a police station Friday, a reporter asked the divorced 40-year-old why he had attacked his former colleagues.

"Because they left me to rot," said Rodriguez, who recently told a bankruptcy judge he was making less than $30,000 a year at a Subway sandwich shop and had debts of nearly $90,000.

All the victims worked at Reynolds, Smith and Hills, where Rodriguez was an entry-level engineer for 11 months before he was fired in June 2007, the company said.

Beckford was hit by at least two bullets. The gunman then went into the common work area and opened fire on his other victims. The Orlando Sentinel reported that Beckford had a young daughter and a fiancee.

The five wounded people were in stable condition at Orlando hospitals and police say all are expected to survive. Four of the victims, three men and a woman ranging in age from 23 to 49, were recovering Saturday at Orlando Regional Medical Center, said hospital spokeswoman Katie Dagenais.