DAVENPORT, Fla. — The state of Florida is seeking the death penalty for an electrician who is accused of killing his co-workers earlier this month in Davenport.
Shaun Runyon, 39, was doing subcontract work with J & B Electric, Inc. at a Publix supermarket. When his supervisor told him he wasn't working fast enough, investigators say Shaun punched him in the face.
It was the first sign of violence in what would eventually become the gruesome murder of three men, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said.
According to law enforcement, after attacking his boss, Runyon was on his way back to Pennsylvania. However, he stopped in Georgia to buy a crossbow before returning to Florida.
After swapping out his company car for a rental car at Tampa International Airport, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said Runyon picked up a baseball bat and spent the night in a Walmart parking lot.
Investigators add Runyon told them that the next morning, he went to the Davenport home where he was staying with his co-workers, entered his supervisor's room, and "went to town on his face with a baseball bat."
He then reportedly admitted to striking and killing a second co-worker with the baseball bat.
The sheriff's office said when Runyon hit a third sleeping co-worker with the bat, the co-worker fought back. In response, authorities said Runyon stabbed the co-worker with a knife. The struggle took them down the stairs and onto the front porch where the co-worker collapsed and died, according to the sheriff's office.
The state attorney's office is calling Runyon's actions "heinous, atrocious or cruel." The state also added that the murders were "committed in a cold, calculated, and premeditated manner without any pretense of moral or legal justification."
The sheriff's office said Runyon admitted to killing his three co-workers and hitting another with the bat. He is currently charged with three counts of first-degree murder and one count of aggravated battery.
Law enforcement added that Runyon was on bond in Pennsylvania on several "violent charges," including strangulation, endangering the welfare of children, and terroristic threats with intent to terrorize another.