1 dead, 1 paralyzed in Rockledge shooting
ROCKLEDGE, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - One man is dead and another paralyzed after a shooting in Rockledge that also landed the shooter in the hospital.
A vase of lilies stands in the Schlenker Automotive parking lot where the attack happened.
Rockledge police say Robert Bailey Jr., 28, shot Roger Smith, 50, dead and another worker who's now paralyzed from the neck down.
Rockledge Police Chief Joseph LaSata calls it senseless.
“We cannot explain what brought Bailey to Schlenker's automotive yesterday [Friday] afternoon at 4:30, we have no idea,” LaSata said.
Rockledge Police say Bailey was walking down the sidewalk, openly carrying a .45 caliber handgun.
He walked into the Schlenker parking lot and shot Mr. Smith and the second worker there.
The paralyzed employee’s name hasn’t been released.
Police say that led to a gunfight between Bailey and two other Schlenker employees who had permitted concealed weapons.
LaSata said they shot Bailey twice, sending him to the hospital in critical condition.
“If not for the quick thinking of the employees of Schlenker's, this could've been much worse,” he said.
A longtime friend of Bailey's family says that's not the man she remembers.
“He was a nice young man, I didn't know anything bad about him,” she said, “I'm just sorry, sorry to hear that. I heard it on the news. I didn't have no idea he was involved in that.”
Police say there is still no apparent connection between Bailey and the Schlenker employees he targeted.