Before committing suicide, 20-year-old gunman struck two nurses with butt of weapon, demanding, 'Do you guys want to die tonight?'
Photos for Headline Surfer® / Jonathan G. Rodriguez-Jeff, shown here in this snapshot, took his own life with a shotgun blast to his head after smashing through a gate at the Clyde Morris entrance to Daytona's Halifax Hospital. He fired at another vehicle, shattered a a glass entranceway to the facility and attacked two nurses with the butt of the weapon before killing himself in a yet-unexplained fit of rage.
DAYTONA BEACH -- What pushed an aparently despondent 20-year-old Deltona man over the edge in taking his own life with a shotgun blast to the head after shooting his way into Halifax Hospital and teeing off on two nurses with the butt of the lethal weapon just before 4 a.m. Sunday is not known.
The angry young man, identified by Daytona cops as Jonathan G. Rodriguez-Jeff, date of birth of 12-10-1993, with a last known address in Deltona, rammed a gate with his SUV, shot at another vehicle and then blasted through a glass door with a second round.
The gunman then made his way up to the second floor. It was there, according to cops, that he came into contact with two nurses, struck both of them with he butt of his shotgun and demanded, "Do you guys want to die tonight?”
He then went into a second room where a nurse and a patient were huddled and turned the lethal weapon on himself, blowing his brains out.
The gunman's suicide is the latest in a string of gun-related killings, armed robberies, carjackings and other violent acts that escalated in the last two years in this tourism destination hub known for the world'a most famous beach and the running of the great American race -- the Daytona 500.
The gunman's suicide is the latest in a string of gun-related killings, armed robberies, carjackings and other violent acts that escalated in the last two years in this tourism-destination hub known for the world'a most famous beach and the running of the great American race -- the Daytona 500.
Cops responded to a series of 9-1-1 calls at 3:52 a.m. of "shots being fired at a moving car traveling northbound on Clyde Morris." Then police received additional reports of shots fired inside the hospital.
No patients were hurt and the nurses suffered minor injuries after being hit with the shotgun, Daytona Beach PIO Jimmy Flynt said in a scant press release, neither identifying the nurses who were struck nor providing any further details about the type of shotgun.
The hospital released a statement later in the day Sunday though a hospital spokesman that didn't really go beyond what little details the cops provided other than to say the hospiral was in a lockdown mode once shots were fired.
“This morning an individual, being pursued by the Daytona Beach Police Department, broke into Halifax Health and ended his life,” Halifax Hospital public relations specialist John Guthrie said. “As the individual entered the Halifax Health campus, the entire facility was locked down. We are thankful no one was seriously injured.”
“This morning an individual, being pursued by the Daytona Beach Police Department, broke into Halifax Health and ended his life,” Halifax Hospital public relations specialist John Guthrie said. “As the individual entered the Halifax Health campus, the entire facility was locked down. We are thankful no one was seriously injured.”
Headline Surfer® checked online circuit court and jail records throughout Central Florida and could not find any adult criminal charges lodged against Jonathan G. Rodriguez-Jeff, who just turned 20 years of age on Dec. 10.