Citibank Guard Stops Shooter After Woman Killed at Campus

People were eating lunch outside a Citibank office complex near Tampa when a man drove into a seating area and opened fire Wednesday afternoon. A woman was killed. The gunman then moved into the building’s cafeteria, where an armed Citibank security guard shot him, ending an attack that brought hundreds of deputies to the campus.

The November 4 shooting unfolded at the Sabal Center complex, a large corporate site with more than 3,200 people on campus that day. Hillsborough County deputies received calls reporting shots at 12:11 p.m. The sheriff’s office said its first marked unit arrived within one minute and officers entered the building immediately.

The sheriff’s office confirmed that one woman died at the scene and four other people suffered non-life-threatening injuries. In a November 5 update, Sheriff Chad Chronister identified the gunman as 35-year-old Jacob Pearson of Orlando. Authorities had not identified the woman who was killed in the reporting reviewed for this update.

From the Courtyard to the Cafeteria

According to investigators, the attack began when the vehicle breached a secured barrier and entered an outdoor area where employees had been sitting. The gunman got out and shot a woman. The movement from a courtyard into an indoor cafeteria left the security team responding to danger in two different parts of the property.

Inside, an armed guard employed by Citibank confronted the attacker and fired. Deputies said the suspect was taken to Tampa General Hospital at 12:24 p.m. and pronounced dead at 1:12 p.m. The guard’s intervention came before law enforcement finished searching the buildings for threats.

Hundreds of Officers Secure the Campus

The response grew rapidly. The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office reported 367 deputies from patrol, SWAT, aviation, canine and drone units, along with investigators. More than 400 law-enforcement personnel from different agencies took part in securing the site, and officials said the buildings were cleared within two hours.

Sheriff Chad Chronister credited the guard and emergency responders with preventing additional harm. On November 5, Chronister said Pearson had targeted Citibank over a $2,500 debt-collection dispute. According to the sheriff, Pearson called an attorney associated with Citibank about three hours before the attack and threatened violence unless a hearing related to the debt was canceled. Authorities said Pearson then drove from Orlando to Tampa; the woman killed was the first employee he encountered. The sheriff’s account was an investigative finding, not a claim that the victim was personally involved in the debt dispute.

Citibank directed employees to a reunification location while investigators secured the offices. Authorities asked people who recorded the incident or its immediate aftermath to share footage with detectives.

The location, 3800 Citibank Center, is part of a business complex on the Tampa side of the Brandon area. The corporate setting made the lunchtime attack especially disruptive: thousands of people had been at work, and many were evacuated or kept away while emergency crews searched the property.

References: HCSO conducts homicide investigation in Sabal Center | Citibank office shooter targeted company over a $2,500 debt collection, Florida sheriff says | Motive not yet released in shooting at Tampa-area Citibank Center

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