BRANDON, Fla. — A shooting at the Citibank Center office campus near Tampa left two people dead on Wednesday, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said. The dead were a woman who was shot outside the building and the suspected gunman, who was shot by an armed Citibank security guard.
Emergency calls began at about 12:11 p.m., according to Hillsborough County Chief Deputy Frank Losat, who briefed reporters in the afternoon. Investigators said the gunman got out of a vehicle carrying a rifle, approached a woman who was eating lunch outside, and shot her. She died at the scene.
At about 12:15 p.m., the armed security guard confronted the gunman and exchanged fire with him, police said. The attacker was wounded, taken to Tampa General Hospital, and pronounced dead there. Four additional people were taken to hospital with injuries described as non-life-threatening.
Sheriff Chad Chronister said investigators believed the attack was targeted, though he stressed that assessment was preliminary. Authorities had not released the identities of the woman or the gunman, and had not publicly established a motive or said whether the two knew each other.
More than 360 deputies responded to the campus in the Sabal Park area, about 13 miles east of downtown Tampa, and officers cleared the buildings within about two hours. About 3,200 people were on the campus when the shooting occurred, the sheriff's office said.
Citigroup said it was aware of the incident at its Tampa location and was cooperating with law enforcement. The sheriff's office said it was conducting a homicide investigation and asked anyone with video of the incident to submit it to investigators.
