Sheriff says gunman killed woman at Citibank's Tampa campus over $2,500 debt

Gunman threatened violence in call to attorney hours before attack

A gunman killed a woman before being fatally shot by a security guard at Citibank’s sprawling office complex in Tampa, Florida. Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said Thursday that the gunman targeted the campus because he was angry over a $2,500 debt collection.

About three hours before Wednesday’s shooting, 35-year-old Jacob Pearson called an attorney affiliated with Citibank and threatened violence if a court hearing over the debt was not canceled, Chronister told a news conference.

Pearson then drove from his home in Orlando to Tampa, about 90 miles (144 kilometers) away, the sheriff said.

Chronister said Pearson crashed his car through a fence at the Citibank campus and plowed into a courtyard where employees were eating lunch.

Pearson got out of the car with a rifle and shot the first employee he saw, the sheriff said.

The attack killed one woman, according to the sheriff’s account.

An executive who is part of Citibank’s armed security team shot Pearson five times before he could hurt anyone else, Chronister said. Pearson was pronounced dead at a hospital.

The timeline the sheriff described ran from a phone call placed roughly three hours before the shooting to gunfire in a lunchtime courtyard about 90 miles from Pearson’s Orlando home.