jamarchThe man shot dead by a gunman at an Orlando office Friday was a well-respected employee who worked hard for his fiancee and baby and got along with everyone, those who know him say.
Otis Beckford, 26, was one of six people shot and the the only person killed in a shooting rampage at Reynolds, Smith & Hills, where he worked.
“You couldn’t ask for a better nephew or a son,” said Evelyn Cole of West Palm Beach, Beckford’s aunt. “He was just quiet and he never troubled anyone or got into trouble.”
Beckford, known to relatives by his Jamaican pet name, Nickalous, worked for the engineering firm for three years. He was an AutoCAD technician. The young father was well respected by everyone from colleagues to upper-level managers, said Mike Bernos, a company spokesman.
“This was a great young man,” Bernos said. “We’re deeply saddened at the loss.”
Born in Jamaica, Beckford moved to Orlando in search of work after being laid off from a job in West Palm Beach, relatives said. He stayed briefly with his grandmother in Palm Bay before moving to an apartment near the Mall at Millenia in Orlando. He lived in New York before coming to Florida.
Mariol Bosque-Vidal was Beckford’s next-door neighbor when he attended Royal Palm Beach High School. He later studied at DeVry University. Like other friends and relatives, Bosque-Vidal was shocked and saddened by Beckford’s death.
“He was an amazing friend,” she said. “He was very funny and quiet at the same time.”
Beckford liked to play football and soccer, eschewed clubs and lived for his family, fiancee Daneicka Coley, 24, and their 7-month-old daughter, Danielle. His mother lives in West Palm Beach, and he has a father in Jamaica and a sister in Palm Bay.
Family members were struggling to make sense of a loss that seemed so senseless.
“He was quiet and peaceful and intelligent young man — and humble,” said his cousin Juliet Knight. “And they cut his life short.
Media Writer
