The two electricians were found this morning by a co-worker inside the AT&T shelter where they had been shot multiple times.
UPDATE: June 22, 2020 – The two cell site workers that were shot to death have been identified. They were found by the mother of a co-owner of the logistics company that was killed. Additional information is available here.
The bodies of two electricians were found early this morning inside an AT&T equipment shelter at a monopole site in Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville Sheriff’s Sgt. Steve Rudlaff of the homicide division said in a press briefing this morning.
Two electricians were shot to death while working inside an AT&T shelter located on a Crown Castle-owned site. The monopole is located at a busy intersection opposite a Family Dollar store where an armed robbery occurred on Tuesday.
The men, according to authorities, were shot multiple times and investigators have initially ruled out that it was “combat against each other”.
They are currently looking at the possibly of a robbery or other reasons why the men were killed at the Crown Castle 100-foot tower site located off of Firestone Rd. just west of I-295.
The electricians, both white and between 30 to 40 years old, were found by a co-worker and were declared dead by Jacksonville Fire Department paramedics.
The names of the workers and their employer are not being released at this time, a Sheriff’s spokesperson said this afternoon.
The men were providing an electrical upgrade, which included installation of new batteries for AT&T, an individual knowledgeable of the incident informed Wireless Estimator.
They reportedly arrived on site at 10 p.m. Wednesday night and were shot to death early this morning.
Officers responded to the site about 6 a.m. after receiving a 911 call about two unresponsive men in the building. The compound’s gate was open and the electricians’ truck, a Penske rental vehicle, was backed up to the equipment shelter.
The site is in a relatively safe area of Jacksonville, neighbors say, but according to a number of social media posts of tower techs who have worked on that site or in the area, it’s not.
On Tuesday, according to public records reviewed by Wireless Estimator, there was an armed robbery at 7 p.m. opposite the tower site at a Family Dollar store. It is not known if the two incidents are related, but authorities will be investigating whether they are and if there are any surveillance cameras at Family Dollar or in the Crown Castle compound.
Wireless Estimator will provide additional information as soon as it becomes available.
Anyone with information on the shooting can contact the Sheriff’s Office at (904) 630-0500 or leave an anonymous tip and be eligible for a possible reward by calling First Coast Crime Stoppers at (866) 845-8477 (TIPS).