Nov. 21--It was a routine workday for newspaper deliveryman Ronald Hudson as he made his way through the Meadow Woods community early Tuesday -- until he saw flames and smoke coming from a house on his route.
Hudson ran up to the house on Quincy Woods Lane to find the front door open, but couldn't see anything because of the thick smoke.
"I heard a guy in there saying, 'Help me! Help me! Help me!,' " said Hudson, who delivers newspapers for the Orlando Sentinel.
Hudson said he started reaching into the house, but he couldn't see the man who was yelling for help.
"He just told me, 'Help me! Get me out of here. I can't walk,' " Hudson said.
"He grabbed me. He grabbed my arms," Hudson said. "Then I grabbed him and pulled him out."
When firefighters arrived about 4 a.m., the home was engulfed in flames.
The man whom Hudson helped pull out of the house, identified by the Orange County Sheriff's Office as 44-year-old James Succi, suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was transported to Orlando Regional Medical Center.
The Sheriff's Office said Succi underwent surgery Tuesday and was in critical but stable condition.
Deputies have not identified any suspects in the shooting or the blaze, but the Sheriff's Office said investigators do not think it was a random act of violence.
Firefighters searched the home and found no other human victims inside, according to Orange County Fire Rescue spokesman John Mulhall.
He said a dog at the home died in the fire, but that the fire did not spread to neighboring properties.
Hudson said Succi asked him to help rescue the dog, but the newspaper deliveryman said the smoke had become too thick and he couldn't rescue the pet.
A Chevrolet Impala was stolen from the home and found nearby on Sandy Oaks Lane -- also on fire. Firefighters also extinguished that blaze.
Sheriff's Office detectives were following numerous leads Tuesday afternoon.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call Crimeline at 800-423-TIPS.
[email protected] or 407-420-5620. [email protected] or 407-420-5735
Copyright 2012 - Orlando Sentinel
