BRANDON — A gunman drove into the Citibank campus at Sabal Center on Wednesday afternoon, killed a woman eating lunch outdoors, and was then shot and killed by an armed Citibank security guard, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said.
More than 3,200 people were on the campus at 3800 Citibank Center, just west of Brandon near Falkenburg Road and Interstate 75, when the attack unfolded shortly after noon. Four other people were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Investigators had not said by Wednesday night whether those injuries came from gunfire, the vehicle or something else.
Authorities have not released the names of the woman killed or the gunman, and they have not established a motive or whether the two knew each other. Citibank Chair and CEO Jane Fraser told employees in a memo that the victim was a Citi colleague.
How the attack unfolded
911 calls reporting shots fired began at about 12:11 p.m., Chief Deputy Frank Losat said. The first marked sheriff's unit arrived within a minute.
According to Losat, the gunman drove a small four-door sedan over medians and grass, crashed through a secure fence and into an outdoor seating area where people were having lunch. He got out with a rifle, approached a woman sitting outside and shot her. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
The gunman then moved into a cafeteria inside the building. An armed Citibank security guard confronted him about 12:15 p.m., the two exchanged gunfire, and the guard fatally wounded the attacker, Losat said. The suspect was taken to Tampa General Hospital and pronounced dead at 1:12 p.m.
"Was there a potential for further violence? Absolutely," Losat told reporters. "So kudos to that security guard."
Sheriff Chad Chronister said in a statement that the gunman "was intent on killing as many people as possible" and credited the on-site security team and more than 365 deputies with stopping him.
Huge law enforcement response
A total of 367 Hillsborough deputies responded, along with SWAT, aviation, drone and K-9 units and local, state and federal partners — more than 400 law enforcement personnel in all, the sheriff's office said. Crews spent about 2½ hours clearing six or seven three-story buildings across the complex.
Body-camera and aviation footage later released by the sheriff's office shows deputies moving through the campus and escorting employees out with their hands raised. Nearby, the Sheraton Tampa Brandon Hotel sheltered hundreds of workers who fled the complex, hotel general manager Matt Chauvin told the Associated Press.
Hillsborough County had urged people in the Sabal Park business area to shelter in place while the scene was active, and deputies asked motorists to avoid Queen Palms Drive and Falkenburg Road.
What Citi said
In a memo to staff shared with local news outlets, Fraser called the shooting "heartbreaking, awful news" and said the company was adding security at other sites as needed and offering counseling. "I am grateful to the brave actions of our security team who prevented this awful day from being even worse," she wrote.
Citi employs more than 10,000 people in the Tampa region, including at the roughly 670,000-square-foot Sabal Center campus.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office is investigating. Anyone with video related to the incident is asked to send it to the agency's public tip channel. Detectives planned overnight witness interviews Wednesday as they worked to establish a motive.
Information from the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, Associated Press and local news briefings was used in this report.