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Shooting at Publix plant leaves 1 dead, 1 wounded www.privateofficer.com
February 18, 2009
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Shooting at Publix plant leaves 1 dead, 1 wounded http://www.privateofficer.com
LAKELAND Fla Feb 18 2009 A fight between two former best friends apparently led to a fatal shooting Tuesday about 11:45 a.m. outside a Publix plant on George Jenkins Boulevard.
Police say Christopher J. Robinson, 21, of Lakeland shot Robinsonne Joseph, 26, of Haines City multiple times in the parking lot outside the fresh produce plant before entering his car and killing himself.
Joseph was taken to Lakeland Regional Medical Center with nonlife-threatening injuries. About 60 workers were inside the building at the time of the shooting.
The arguments between the two friends began about seven months ago, said Keyafi Edler of Lakeland, who said Robinson was the father of her three children.
Robinson relied on Joseph for rides to and from the plant, where they both packaged produce for shipment to Publix stores. But after Robinson got a car, he no longer needed rides from Joseph, and that’s when the tension began, Edler said.
Robinson felt Joseph was talking behind his back and saying Robinson just used him for rides, Edler said. Robinson kept a gun in his car and over several months threatened to do something if Joseph kept “pushing him.”
Edler said she thought he must have followed through with those threats Tuesday.
Robinson had an arrest record that included 2008 charges of domestic violence and carrying a concealed weapon, both of which were dropped, according to court records.
Edler said most people who knew Robinson wouldn’t expect him to be violent, but she said she had seen other sides of him.
“People say, ‘He’s so quiet. He’s so nice. He don’t bother nobody.’ When people found out about that, it’s a shocker. But when someone keep picking on him and bothering him, he can’t take it anymore, and he would react.”
Robinson’s relatives and family members of other plant workers waited outside the plant for information Tuesday. By 1 p.m., police still hadn’t notified relatives of Robinson’s death, but they appeared upset.
“Let’s wait until they tell us something. They don’t know nothing yet,” Robinson’s aunt Debrah Flournoy said to a woman who was crying.
While Publix spokeswoman Maria Brous said the facility was not on lock-down, workers were not allowed in or out of the building Tuesday afternoon until about 3:30 p.m. as police investigated the shooting and interviewed witnesses.
The facility does not have metal detectors, but there are security guards at each of the gates. Brous said Publix would provide workers with counseling.
Dwayne Tubbs said his wife worked at the plant with Robinson and Joseph. About 12:30 p.m., he received a call from one of her co-workers asking him to pick her up from work. He asked why, and she said there’d been a shooting.
“‘She can’t take it. She’s crying,’” he recalled the woman said. “So I just got in my car and zoomed over here.”
Once he arrived, he discovered his wife was stuck inside the building. Other parts of the facility remained operational, according to relatives waiting at the scene.
Police say Christopher J. Robinson, 21, of Lakeland shot Robinsonne Joseph, 26, of Haines City multiple times in the parking lot outside the fresh produce plant before entering his car and killing himself.
Joseph was taken to Lakeland Regional Medical Center with nonlife-threatening injuries. About 60 workers were inside the building at the time of the shooting.
The arguments between the two friends began about seven months ago, said Keyafi Edler of Lakeland, who said Robinson was the father of her three children.
Robinson relied on Joseph for rides to and from the plant, where they both packaged produce for shipment to Publix stores. But after Robinson got a car, he no longer needed rides from Joseph, and that’s when the tension began, Edler said.
Robinson felt Joseph was talking behind his back and saying Robinson just used him for rides, Edler said. Robinson kept a gun in his car and over several months threatened to do something if Joseph kept “pushing him.”
Edler said she thought he must have followed through with those threats Tuesday.
Robinson had an arrest record that included 2008 charges of domestic violence and carrying a concealed weapon, both of which were dropped, according to court records.
Edler said most people who knew Robinson wouldn’t expect him to be violent, but she said she had seen other sides of him.
“People say, ‘He’s so quiet. He’s so nice. He don’t bother nobody.’ When people found out about that, it’s a shocker. But when someone keep picking on him and bothering him, he can’t take it anymore, and he would react.”
Robinson’s relatives and family members of other plant workers waited outside the plant for information Tuesday. By 1 p.m., police still hadn’t notified relatives of Robinson’s death, but they appeared upset.
“Let’s wait until they tell us something. They don’t know nothing yet,” Robinson’s aunt Debrah Flournoy said to a woman who was crying.
While Publix spokeswoman Maria Brous said the facility was not on lock-down, workers were not allowed in or out of the building Tuesday afternoon until about 3:30 p.m. as police investigated the shooting and interviewed witnesses.
The facility does not have metal detectors, but there are security guards at each of the gates. Brous said Publix would provide workers with counseling.
Dwayne Tubbs said his wife worked at the plant with Robinson and Joseph. About 12:30 p.m., he received a call from one of her co-workers asking him to pick her up from work. He asked why, and she said there’d been a shooting.
“‘She can’t take it. She’s crying,’” he recalled the woman said. “So I just got in my car and zoomed over here.”
Once he arrived, he discovered his wife was stuck inside the building. Other parts of the facility remained operational, according to relatives waiting at the scene.
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