DAVENPORT, Fla. — A Pennsylvania electrician is in jail after the Polk County Sheriff's Office says he killed three of his co-workers in a violent rampage.
Shaun Runyon, 39, was doing subcontract work with J & B Electric, Inc. at a Publix supermarket in Davenport last week. When his supervisor told him he wasn't working fast enough on Friday morning, Shaun punched him in the face, according to investigators.
That was the first sign of violence in what would eventually become the gruesome murder of three "wonderful family men," Sheriff Grady Judd said.
Judd explained that Runyon was on his way back to Pennsylvania after the incident, per request from his half-brother and owner of the electric company, when he bought a crossbow in Georgia. Runyon then turned his car around to head back to Florida with a plan to kill, the sheriff added.
After swapping out his company car for a rental car at Tampa International Airport, Judd said Runyon picked up a baseball bat and spent the night in a Walmart parking lot.
Investigators add Runyon told them that on Saturday, around 9 a.m., he went to the Davenport home he was staying at with his co-workers, entered his supervisor's room, and "went to town on his face with a baseball bat."
Runyon then reportedly admitted to striking and killing a second co-worker with the baseball bat.
Sheriff Judd said when Runyon hit a third sleeping co-worker with the bat, the co-worker fought back. In response, Judd 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.
The sheriff's office was notified of the incident when, according to Judd, Runyon drove to the house of a Publix employee he had met while working at the store.
The Publix employee reportedly sent Runyon, who told the employee he was in a fight, to the hospital and called 911. Runyon was arrested at the hospital.
The sheriff's office says Runyon admitted to killing his three co-workers and hitting another with the bat. He is charged with three counts of first-degree murder and one count of aggravated battery.
Judd 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.
“This is a cold-blooded calculated violent murdering beast," Sheriff Judd said."He had a pre-designed plan to viciously murder these folks."