New video shows security guard shooting gunman at Tampa Citibank campus
Newly released surveillance footage shows a security guard confronting and shooting a gunman during an attack targeting Citibank employees in Tampa, Florida. One employee was killed, and the gunman later died at a hospital.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office showed the footage at a briefing Thursday, a day after the attack. Sheriff Chad Chronister identified the guard as John Fraley, a Marine Corps veteran who works on Citibank’s security team and serves as a vice president of operations.
Fraley took up a position in a men’s restroom after hearing gunfire and opened fire when he saw the gunman approaching. The gunman fired back, and Fraley struck him five times. The confrontation came less than a minute after the gunman entered the building.
The suspect, identified as Jacob Pearson, 35, of Orlando, died at Tampa General Hospital. He had no criminal record, the sheriff said.
The attack followed a threat made at around 9 a.m. Wednesday to a law firm that handles collections for Citibank. The suspect had received a court summons over a $2,500 debt and threatened to go to Citibank with “my AR-15, my bulletproof vest, and my insanity” unless the case was canceled.
The law firm notified Citibank’s head of security, who asked Orlando police to check on the suspect. Officers went to his home, where his wife told them he had driven away without saying where he was going.
Citibank security then contacted the sheriff’s office, which sent two deputies to the campus. A supervisor heard gunshots as he arrived.
The gunman crashed through a gate into a courtyard shortly after noon, got out with a rifle and shot a woman three times. When the rifle malfunctioned, he went back to his car for a handgun and shot her again as she tried to crawl away, the sheriff said.
The woman was identified as Leanne Selman, 41, of Palm Harbor. She had worked at Citibank for nine years and was a learning adviser for its security and investigative services team.
The gunman then entered the cafeteria while still trying to fix the rifle. About 3,200 employees were on campus at the time, and workers ran or hid after hearing the shots. The sheriff said the gunman brought 90 rounds of ammunition and fired 15.
“He was there intent on one purpose, and that purpose was to hunt any human being he could find and kill,” Chronister said. “This hero, this member of the Citibank security team, saved a lot of lives yesterday.”
Four people went to Tampa General Hospital following the shooting and have since been released. Two had minor injuries, a pregnant woman went as a precaution, and paramedics took a man to the hospital after he experienced chest pain, according to the sheriff.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
