A Citi employee was killed Wednesday afternoon, after a gunman drove through a fence on the bank’s Tampa, Florida, campus, got out of the car and shot her, according to police.
A security guard employed by Citi later shot the gunman dead during an exchange of fire in a cafeteria on the complex.
Four people were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Frank Losat, the chief deputy of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said during a news conference. Losat said he didn’t know whether any of the injured had been shot or struck by the gunman’s vehicle.
“This was a tragic situation where a victim was killed by an individual who was intent on killing as many people as possible," Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said in a statement posted to the social media site X. “Thanks to the brave actions by the security team on-site and more than 365 deputies, this unhinged suspect was stopped before he could harm anyone else.”
In a statement to employees Wednesday, Citi CEO Jane Fraser called the shooting a “terrible tragedy for our Citi family.”
“My heart goes out to our colleague’s loved ones, all our colleagues in Tampa and everyone affected by this horrific act of violence,” Fraser wrote in the statement, seen by the Tampa Bay Times. “I am grateful to the brave actions of our security team who prevented this awful day from being even worse.”
Citi is “working closely with local law enforcement” and increasing security at other sites, Fraser said. Counseling and other resources will be available to employees in the days ahead, she added.
Employees who work from the site were not expected to work Thursday, a Citi spokesperson told CNN.
Roughly 3,200 employees had been at the Sabal Park business complex when the shooting occurred shortly after noon Eastern time Wednesday, police said.
That number includes some “VIPs” who don’t normally work on the campus, who were there for a “quarterly review,” David Dzien, a vice president at Citi, told The Associated Press.
Investigators are working to confirm the identity of the suspect and notify the family of the woman who was killed, police said Wednesday.
The sheriff’s office called the shooting a “targeted” incident, but added it was unclear whether the gunman and the victim knew each other. Detectives are working to determine the gunman’s motive, Losat said.
“Was there a potential for further violence? Absolutely,” Losat said. “So kudos to that security guard.”
The sheriff’s office began receiving 911 calls at 12:11 p.m., Losat said, adding that the first deputy arrived a minute later.
Adara Evans, a Citi employee on the campus, described reacting quickly when she heard the vehicle breach the fence.
“The noise was so loud, when I saw and heard the impact, I was gone,” Evans told the Tampa Bay Times. “Right when I heard the bang, I felt in that moment that something bad was going to happen.”
She said she thought at first it may have been a drunken driver.
“But just something happening in that setting, with a lot of people around, I had this feeling that it wasn’t an accident,” she said.
Monica Escobar, a Citi analyst, told the publication she initially thought there was a fire or practice drill.
“I thought that until I heard, ‘Run, run, shooter!’” she said.
Body camera footage from 12:16 p.m., posted by the sheriff’s office, shows an armed officer running across the campus.
“Subject is in the cafeteria, possibly down,” the officer says on video, adding, moments later, “Shooter is down, shooter is down.
Deputies spent roughly 2½ hours searching and clearing the Citi building and adjacent offices, Losat said.
A nearby hotel sheltered roughly 300 Citi workers Wednesday afternoon, according to the establishment’s general manager. Hotel staff gave the workers water and lunch, and let some go into hotel rooms “to sort of decompress or make phone calls,” Matt Chauvin, the general manager, told The Associated Press.
“Luckily we were far enough away that they were all safe,” he said.
Sergio Linares, a Citi employee, told the Tampa Bay Times he checked on his team to make sure everyone was accounted for.
“People were trying to get out as soon as they could,” Linares said. “But as you can imagine, there was a lot of fear.”