DAVENPORT, Fla. (WFLA) — An affidavit released by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office has revealed more information in the events leading up to the murder of three electric company workers in Davenport this weekend.
On Saturday, Polk County deputies arrested 39-year-old Shaun Runyon of Pennsylvania in the deaths of his coworkers at a home in Davenport. Runyon and the other workers were living in a home rented by their employer, J & B Electric, Inc., while they did LED light installations for a Publix property in Lakeland.
Sheriff Grady Judd said that Runyon got into a fight with his supervisor, identified in the affidavit as victim No. 2, at around 2 a.m. Friday after they had an argument for unknown reasons. Runyon would not be seen again until he returned the following day during the attacks.
However, the affidavit states that during an interview with a Polk County homicide detective, Runyon said he had gone to Tampa International Airport following the fight, parked his work car, and rented a vehicle from Enterprise Rent-a-Car.
According to the document, he then purchased a baseball bat from a local Target and returned to the workers’ rental home at 9 a.m. Saturday, armed with the bat and his personal knife.
“The suspect entered the residence through the back door and adjusted a security surveillance camera inside the residence that captured the back door he entered from,” the affidavit states. “The suspect indicated the camera was pointed at him as he entered which is why he adjusted it.”
The affidavit goes on to explain the exact order of events in the home, saying that Runyon first attacked his supervisor in a downstairs bedroom. The document says Runyon beat his supervisor in the head severely, describing the attack in detail too graphic for 8 On Your Side to release.
Runyon then allegedly went upstairs where he beat another man, victim No. 3, repeatedly in the head with the baseball bat, the sheriff’s office said. The affidavit said after killing this victim, Runyon then went to victim No. 1’s bedroom and tried to beat him with the bat before fatally stabbing him instead.
The affidavit said another man in the house, identified as witness No. 1, heard screaming and saw Runyon stabbing victim No. 1 while the victim screamed for help. Witness No. 1 told authorities he ran out of the front door but tripped, getting hit by Runyon with the bat before the suspect ran back inside the home.
A friend of the witness, who is not identified, locked herself in the room they were sleeping in during the attack. She told authorities she saw Runyon washing blood off his hands in the kitchen sink when she headed downstairs.
She then locked herself in the room again until she didn’t see Runyon anymore, running into the street to find witness No. 1.
Another man, witness No. 2, was in his bedroom with a child when he heard the commotion. Witness No. 2 said he grabbed the child and left his room only to find “large amounts of blood in the upstairs area of the residence.”
Witness No. 2 and the child escaped the home in his vehicle, driving until they found witness No. 1 and his friend in the street.
Two of the victims were pronounced dead at the scene just after 10 a.m., but deputies said the supervisor was still alive when they found him. He was taken to a hospital where he later died from his injuries just before 4:30 p.m.
Runyon made his first appearance in court Sunday morning. As of this report, he is still being held in the Polk County Jail with no bond.