Lawyer for man accused of shootings in Orlando says he's "very, very mentally ill"

From The New York Times:

ORLANDO, Fla. — The lawyer for the man accused of shooting six people, one fatally, at an Orlando office building on Nov. 6 told reporters after a court appearance on Nov. 7 that his client was “very, very mentally ill.”

“This guy is a compilation of the front page of the entire year — unemployment, foreclosure, bankruptcy, divorce, all of the stresses,” said the lawyer, Robert Wesley, a public defender assigned to represent the suspect, Jason Rodriguez (pictured). “He has been declining in mental health.”

Mr. Rodriguez, 40, who was apparently unemployed, was fired in 2007 from an entry-level job at Reynolds, Smith & Hills, the engineering company where the shooting took place. A company spokesman said Mr. Rodriguez had been fired because his work had not been up to the company’s standards.

“He had been given notice all year that performance was substandard,” said the spokesman, Michael T. Bernos. After that, Mr. Rodriguez had difficulty keeping a job and filed for bankruptcy in May, claiming assets worth less than $5,000, including a Nissan Xterra that did not run.

Mr. Rodriguez is being held without bail on suicide watch in the Orange County Jail. He appeared in court wearing handcuffs and a protective vest.

Mr. Rodriguez is accused of entering the offices of the engineering firm and opening fire, killing Otis Beckford, 26, the father of a 7-month-old, near the reception desk. He then went into the common work area, the police said, and opened fire, wounding five people, who were listed in stable or good condition. Hours later, he was arrested at his mother’s apartment.

According to an arrest affidavit, Mr. Rodriguez told the police, “I’m just going through a tough time right now, I’m sorry.” When asked by a reporter why he had opened fire, he replied, “They know why I did it; they left me to rot,” according to the affidavit.

Mr. Rodriguez had quit his most recent job, at a Subway sandwich shop, the affidavit said, because he was not getting enough hours, and he had filed for unemployment. He believed that the engineering firm was somehow blocking his application for benefits, the affidavit said.

Mr. Rodriguez periodically took medication for what his former mother-in-law, America Holloway, said was schizophrenia. When he was not taking the medication, Ms. Holloway said, he was unbearable to live with — angry, jealous, paranoid and controlling.

Once, Ms. Holloway said, her daughter had appeared at the front door covered in bruises. She moved home, but a few weeks later Mr. Rodriguez apologized and said he was taking anger management classes. Her daughter took him back.

The couple then lived with her for five years, Ms. Holloway said, before she finally threw him out and the couple divorced in 2006. They have an 8-year-old son.

“I’d be standing in the kitchen, he would come from the back room and say, ‘I know you’re talking about me.’ I would say, ‘There’s nobody here,’ ” Ms. Holloway said. “When he had his medicine, he was the most wonderful person.”

Ms. Holloway said that before the couple married Mr. Rodriguez had decided to join the armed forces, but that he changed his mind because he did not want to have to say “Yes, sir” and “No, sir” to anyone. At the same time, he often believed that co-workers were spreading rumors about him or trying to get him fired. “He felt superiority and inferiority at the same time,” she said.

Ms. Holloway said she believed that Mr. Rodriguez, in a downward spiral, had not been able to afford treatment. About six months ago, she said, he left his car and keys behind and walked to a mental health facility, where he stayed for a few weeks before being discharged, she said.

There were other indications that Mr. Rodriguez had received mental health treatment.

The Orlando Sentinel reported that in 2007, Mr. Rodriguez attacked a nurse’s aide while he was at a hospital for a mental health evaluation.

“He was laying down in the bed, said he was going in the bathroom, and I was watching him to make sure he was O.K. going there,” the aide, Denise Exume, said in a telephone interview on Friday. “And suddenly he just pushed me and ran outside the room.”

The Sentinel reported that after that incident, a recommendation for Mr. Rodriguez’s arrest on a charge of battery was sent to the Orange-Osceola state attorney’s office, but there is no record of criminal charges. Law enforcement officials said they did not know what had led to the hospital evaluation.

Ms. Holloway said she believed that Mr. Rodriguez’s father was also mentally ill. Over time, Mr. Rodriguez’s child support payments had dwindled from $365, the amount he was supposed to pay, to $200, to $140, to nothing.

Ms. Holloway said her grandson had called his father about a week ago and begged to see him. He replied, as Ms. Holloway recalled: “No, honey. I cannot see you. I don’t have money, I don’t have anything to eat, and when things get better, I will see you. You know I love you.”