GPD: Motive in Imeca murder is currently unknown
Staff report
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – A Gainesville Police Department spokesman says officials do not have a confirmed motive for the murder of 23-year-old Eduardo P. Rodriguez at Imeca Lumber and Hardware on Wednesday.
The spokesman said multiple 911 calls were received about a gunshot fired at about 7:56 a.m. on January 14; one of the callers said they had seen a man carrying a long gun (later found to be a shotgun) walking along East University Avenue, and the same man had just come out of the rear of Imeca and was running toward a red car parked behind the KFC.
Cameras at Imeca reportedly show Justin Dewayne Long entering the warehouse part of the business, finding nobody there, and walking back outside. Long then re-entered the business through the front door and encountered Rodriguez, who was sitting at the front counter; Long walked about halfway across the showroom before fatally shooting Rodriguez, stepping over his body, searching the rest of the business, and then heading back to his car.
A GPD officer was in the area, arrived almost immediately, and saw a red car; he moved his patrol car behind the red car, and Long reportedly got out, ran toward the officer, and started shooting. Two more officers arrived, Long turned his fire toward them, and Long was fatally shot in the exchange of gunfire. Two officers were also shot; they were transported to a hospital, treated for their injuries, and released.
Long has one felony conviction: he was arrested as a juvenile in 2012 for battering a man until he was unconscious and was later charged as an adult in that case. At the time, he had an unspecified juvenile criminal history in both Alachua County and another county. He entered a plea of nolo contendere to the charge and was sentenced to two years of probation.
The investigation is being worked by GPD and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and detectives are jointly gathering information about Long and the incident; they expect to release more information as the investigation progresses.
For additional reporting on this incident, see these articles:
- Suspect and victim dead, two officers injured in East University Avenue shooting
- ‘A hellacious gun battle’: City officials thank first responders, assure citizens that they’re safe
- Names of victim and shooter in yesterday’s East University Avenue incident released
If only we could have gotten him into the Ambassador program earlier.
What do you have against work? The Ambassadors are making a positive impact on our community.
“The issue is jobs. You can’t get away from it: jobs. Having a buck or two in your pocket and feeling like somebody.” ~ Studs Terkel
I know why he did this Desmon Duncan Walker said it at the press conference. He caught a case of the gun violence flu epidermic because he was unvaccinated. So folks goto Shands and get Shands and get you Gun Violence Vaccination today.
yea like how she didn’t say anything about the officers who were shot, just that this was isolated. I don’t think it is isolated if it is East side
Signal, try to catch up with the facts for a change.
For the last 4 years, gun deaths have been #1 in the US for kids. Hey, we also lead the world in gun ownership.
There might be a connection there somewhere. What do you think?
He definitely fits the “don’t trust people without a top lip” stereotype…
Now that you mention it he does look a lot like a kid of the orange man you think him and Jeffrey ever stopped in Windsor
There doesn’t always have to be a motive.
Sometimes, people are just batshiat crazy.
Good for the rest of society; we don’t have to worry about that anymore.
I agree but prove it or keep digging. There was something that made this guy decide it was ok to take a life of a quoted random victim abd then take on cops. Throwing out mental disorder rumor without a complete investigation just create more issues and false narratives. There was already a friend that is trying to throw he was a good person and a good father line out there. “Good person, life of the party, good father”do not go off without a reason or warning sign. Im sure there is more to this tale.
Some things just trigger people. There’s proof all over society of that.
Mental illness is often caused by drugs. It triggers an underlying condition, or Rx drugs makes it worse (as in the Nick Reiner case). But keep listening to “experts”.
USUAL SUSPECTS AS ALWAYS
It doesn’t make me feel better that a crazy cracker did this. It still happened in District 1. Why over here?! I heard Desmond Duncan Walker say in a news clip that she hopes people will move over here. Why would they — so they can be unalived by rando crazy crackers at 8 AM?! I think about the mom who was interviewed who said she was just trying to take her kids to school. Exactly! We’re not all a bunch of lowlifes over here. There are a lot of good people who live in District 1. All this gun violence doesn’t help dispel the stereotype that we’re a bunch of thugs and criminals. And by the way, does anybody know what was meant by someone telling Eastside that this isn’t their fault? Why would we blame ourselves for this? What was that even supposed to mean?
Part of the rumor mill said he may have worked and been fired from the hardware store, but that may very be wrong too.
Yes, it’d be good to dig into his social media history too, what his interests and struggles were, etc. Did his mother do drugs or drink while pregnant, what do his kin say today? He came here from another county, was it to attend college or to party? Once arrested in a college town, and subject to probation, was he allowed to move away or was he stuck here for a decade to struggle?
I worked with him at Shands, my company is the GC doing the renovations. He wasn’t without a job he worked for All Florida Electric. He was only at my job for maybe 5-6 weeks, before doing this. He approached me on day asking about my feelings toward Jews, I told him I love them Jesus was a Jew I can’t very well follow Christ and hate people that doesn’t work. I told him what the Bible says what I believe and that’s that, I’m 60 so I’ve been around for a minute. He told me he had lived with hate in his heart and wanted to change, did I believe him not sure as I didn’t have time to sit and chat I had work to do. There are a mix of ethnicities at the jobsite, he never talked smack about anyone there to me as I would have kicked him off we respect everyone or leave bottom line. I moved to NC last on the 9th my Foreman threw me a little going away party the morning before, everyone was super sweet, we all enjoyed cake and coffee. My husband gets a call from my nephew who also works with us and tells us what happened, blew our minds, you simply never know what is lurking in people’s minds. I never thought of something like this happening it still blows me away and I found out yesterday the cops found a hit list with 6 people from the job site in that list. This is evil pure and simple his demons won the battle and a young man simply at work paid the ultimate price. Stop taking about the color of the skin that didn’t cause it, it was the content of his heart. There are people of all colors that commit horrific crimes taking to race is so stupid and doesn’t do anything to help the ones hurt heal!
Go ask his parents why the hell he did it since people know so much