TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — A gunman rammed a car into a courtyard at Citibank’s sprawling Tampa business campus Wednesday and opened fire with a rifle, killing a woman before a security guard shot him, authorities said.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office has not given a motive for the shooting or said whether the shooter and his lone victim knew each other.
The attack sent workers scrambling as the suspect rammed his car among outdoor tables where people were eating lunch, then began shooting, said Chief Deputy Frank Losat of the sheriff’s office. He said 3,200 people were working on campus during the attack.
The gunman shot the woman before a security guard confronted him in a cafeteria, Losat said. The guard and the shooter exchanged gunfire, and the guard killed him, Losat said.
“Was there a potential for further violence? Absolutely,” Losat told a news conference. “So kudos to that security guard.”
The names of the shooter and the woman killed were not immediately released.
Losat said four other people were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. He did not know if any of them were shot or struck by the shooter’s vehicle.
Citibank vice president heard ‘unbelievable crash’ of gunshots, then screams
Citibank’s campus in suburban Tampa includes four three-story office buildings housing thousands of the banking giant’s employees.
David Dzien, a vice president at Citibank, told The Associated Press that he was returning to work after lunch when he saw the shooter’s sedan crash through a fence about 150 yards (137 yards) from him, followed by an “unbelievable crash” that he later realized was gunfire.
People near the wrecked car suddenly scattered and others began screaming, Dzien said, as he ran back into the building and evacuated through a fire exit.
“I can still hear that particular type of scream,” he said, “and I’m still trying to process it, frankly.”
The attack occurred on a day when “VIPs” who do not normally work at the complex were present for a “quarterly review,” Dzien said.
More than 360 deputies began arriving immediately
Sheriff’s deputies began arriving on campus less than a minute after the first 911 call, Losat said. The response was massive, with more than 360 MPs – many in tactical gear – rushing to the scene.
Those officers spent two and a half hours searching and clearing the building where the shooting took place as well as adjacent office buildings, Losat said.
Radio traffic enabled Broadcastify.com Responding officers described an exhaustive floor-by-floor search, during which people were found sheltering in locked rooms and closets, then carefully escorted out of the buildings and parking lot.
Citigroup said in a statement that it was “aware of an incident” at the complex and was cooperating with authorities.
A nearby hotel sheltered hundreds of fleeing workers
Employees at the Sheraton Tampa Brandon Hotel, a few hundred yards from the Citibank complex, were having their monthly lunch in the hotel’s ballroom when they saw a massive stream of police vehicles heading toward campus.
Chief executive Matt Chauvin said Citibank employees rushed over and told the front desk there was an active shooter.
“We locked the doors first and, you know, we went into lockdown, but the employees kept coming,” Chauvin said.
Chauvin estimated the hotel housed about 300 Citibank employees. Hotel staff gave them water and lunch, and let some into hotel rooms “to decompress or make phone calls.”
“Luckily we were far enough away that they were all safe,” he said.
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Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia. AP reporters Cybele Mayes-Osterman in Chicago, RJ Rico in Atlanta and Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia contributed to this story.
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