Florida authorities say 2 dead at Tampa office complex, including gunman shot by security guard

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — A gunman plowed a car into a courtyard connected Citibank's sprawling concern field adjacent Tampa connected Wednesday and opened occurrence with a rifle, sidesplitting a pistillate earlier a information defender fatally changeable him, authorities said.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office did not springiness a motive for the shooting oregon accidental whether the gunman and his lone unfortunate knew each other.

The onslaught sent workers scrambling arsenic the fishy crashed his car among outdoor tables wherever radical were eating lunch, past started shooting, said Chief Deputy Frank Losat of the sheriff’s office. He said 3,200 radical were connected the field astatine enactment during the attack.

The gunman fatally changeable the pistillate earlier a information defender confronted him successful a cafeteria, Losat said. The defender and the gunman exchanged fire, and the defender killed him, Losat said.

“Was determination a imaginable for further violence? Absolutely," Losat told a quality conference. "So kudos to that information guard.”

The names of the gunman and the pistillate killed were not instantly released.

Losat said 4 different radical were taken to a infirmary with non-life-threatening injuries. He didn't cognize whether immoderate of them had been changeable oregon struck by the gunman's vehicle.

Citibank VP heard ‘incredible clatter’ of gunfire, past screaming

The Citibank field successful suburban Tampa includes 4 three-story bureau buildings that location thousands of the banking giant’s employees.

David Dzien, a Citibank vice president, told The Associated Press helium was returning to enactment aft luncheon erstwhile helium saw the shooter's sedan clang done a obstruction astir 150 yards (137 meters) distant from him, followed by an “incredible clatter” that helium aboriginal realized was gunfire.

People adjacent the crashed car abruptly dispersed and others began to scream, Dzien said, arsenic helium sprinted backmost into the gathering and evacuated done a occurrence escape.

“I tin inactive perceive the peculiar benignant of scream," helium said, “and I’m inactive trying to process it, frankly.”

The onslaught occurred connected a time erstwhile “VIPs” who don’t usually enactment astatine the analyzable were contiguous for a “quarterly review,” Dzien said.

More than 360 deputies began arriving immediately

Sheriff's deputies began arriving astatine the field wrong a infinitesimal of the archetypal 911 call, Losat said. The effect was huge, with much than 360 deputies — galore successful tactical cogwheel — rushing to the scene.

Those deputies spent 2 1/2 hours searching and clearing the gathering wherever the shootings occurred positive adjacent bureau buildings, Losat said.

Radio postulation connected Broadcastify.com from responding officers described an exhaustive floor-by-floor hunt arsenic radical were recovered sheltering successful locked rooms and closets, past cautiously escorted from the buildings and parking garage.

Citigroup said successful a connection that it was “aware of an incident” astatine the analyzable and was cooperating with authorities.

Nearby edifice gave structure to hundreds of fleeing workers

Employees astatine the Sheraton Tampa Brandon Hotel, a fewer 100 feet from the Citibank complex, were having a monthly worker luncheon successful the hotel’s ballroom erstwhile they saw a monolithic flood of constabulary vehicles headed toward the campus.

General Manager Matt Chauvin said Citibank employees ran implicit and told the beforehand table determination was an progressive shooter.

“We astatine archetypal locked the doors and, you know, went into lockdown, but the employees kept coming over," Chauvin said.

Chauvin estimated the edifice sheltered astir 300 Citibank workers. Hotel unit gave them h2o and lunch, and fto immoderate spell into edifice rooms “to benignant of decompress oregon marque telephone calls.”

“Luckily we were acold capable distant that they were each safe,” helium said.

___

Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia. AP journalists Cybele Mayes-Osterman successful Chicago, R.J. Rico successful Atlanta and Claudia Lauer successful Philadelphia contributed to this story.