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Mason business owner charged with murder in Florida

Posted at 1:37 PM, Jul 31, 2018
and last updated 2018-08-03 12:56:30-04

CAPE CORAL, Fla. -- A Mason, Ohio business owner is facing a murder charge in a Florida slaying.

Police in Cape Coral, Florida, arrested 49-year-old Gerald Koller after responding to a report of shots fired in the Cape Harbour gated community, WCPO sister station WFTX reported.

The officers arriving at the scene discovered a dead body with gunshot wounds on a deck in the back of the property. 

Koller surrendered himself to officers at the scene. He was charged with second-degree murder.

He's being held in the Lee County Jail.

Koller is the owner of the Mason-based JK Excavating & Utilities Inc., according to Ohio Secretary of State's Office records. 

JK Excavating was recently cited by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration after a 25-year-old employee was killed in a trench collapse last December in Morrow. OSHA proposed penalties totaling $202,201 for the company, alleging its employees had been working in trenches without adequate protection. 

OSHA also previously cited JK Excavating for two "serious" violations it said occurred in July 2014, including one violation related to inadequate trench protections.