Shaun Runyon courtesy of Polk County Sheriff’s Office
A man accused using a knife and baseball bat to murder three of his co-workers in a bloody rampage earlier this month has been indicted for murder.
A grand jury in Polk County, Florida on Thursday returned an indictment against Shaun Paul Runyon for three counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder, according to a report from Tampa NBC affiliate WFLA-TV. The indictment specifically accuses Runyon of killing three people “unlawfully from a premeditated design,” per WFLA.
The 39-year-old Runyon worked for J&B Electric, a Pennsylvania-based company owned by Runyon’s half-brother that had a team of contract electricians working on a job for the Publix supermarket corporation in Central Florida. Runyon and his co-workers were staying in a rental house in Davenport when he allegedly went on a killing spree following an argument with his supervisor.
As previously reported by Law&Crime, Runyon and his supervisor got into a scuffle at approximately 2 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 2, after which Runyon left the area. Investigators said that Runyon drove approximately 70 miles to Tampa International Airport, where he left his work vehicle. He then rented a car and drove to a local Target where he purchased the baseball bat he would allegedly use to beat his co-workers. Runyon already owned the knife allegedly used in the attacks, per CBS Miami.
Deputies with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call about a possible murder at approximately 9:44 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 3.
According to Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, Runyon is alleged to have attacked several of his co-workers who were staying in one of the homes the company had been renting. Wielding a baseball bat and knife, Runyon allegedly beat and stabbed four of the seven people inside the home. One of those seven people was reportedly a young child.
“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,” an arrest affidavit obtained by WFLA stated. “The suspect indicated the camera was pointed at him as he entered which is why he adjusted it.”
The men who were killed were identified by Judd as 41-year-old Kevin Lanusse of Pennsylvania, who was Runyon’s supervisor, 46-year-old Dewlon “Dew” Donell of Maryland, and 41-year-old Gregory Dolezal of Ohio. Runyon allegedly told investigators that Dolezal, who was the stabbing victim, was the only murder victim who had the chance to defend himself.
Runyon also reportedly told deputies that he brought the bat into the room of the supervisor with whom he’d fought the previous day and proceeded to beat him “until he saw brain matter,” CBS Miami reported. The supervisor was still alive when first-responders arrived on the scene and was airlifted to a local hospital where he later died.
After Runyon was through with his first victim, he reportedly made his way to a second bedroom in the home where he beat a co-worker to death. Moving on to a third bedroom, Runyon reportedly used his knife to stab a third victim to death after he failed to hit the victim with the bat, per the affidavit. Runyon chased a fourth victim through the house but reportedly only managed to hit him on the shoulder and in the back.
Runyon is being held in the Polk County Jail without bond.
[image via Polk County Sheriff’s Office]
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