A Florida man drove to a Citibank corporate campus , home to more than 3,000 employees , with the stated intention of hunting down “any person he could find and kill,” motivated by a dispute over a $2,500 debt.
Jacob Pearson, 35, stands accused of fatally shooting Leanne Selman, 41, at approximately noon on Wednesday, before a “heroic” security guard shot and killed him. Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister addressed reporters at a press conference, stating that Pearson had contacted a Citibank attorney earlier that Wednesday morning, furious over having received a court summons related to a $2,500 delinquent payment.
“Unless you want me to go over there with my AR 15, my bulletproof vest, and my insanity, you m,f,ing cancel this court case,” Pearson said, per Chronister. “Do you understand me? There are only an hour and three minutes away, so the last thing you want to do is f, with me.”
Disturbed by the severity of the threat, the attorney immediately notified corporate security, prompting an internal investigation. Investigators determined that Pearson resided in Orlando. Law enforcement officers in Orlando proceeded to his residence to inquire about his whereabouts, at which point his wife disclosed that he had left home earlier that morning in an agitated state.
The security officer also notified the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office regarding the threat. As deputies arrived on the scene and began speaking with the security guard, they heard gunshots ring out, according to Sheriff Chronister.
“Courtyard! Courtyard!” the security guard alerted them.
Pearson allegedly drove his vehicle through the gate and into the courtyard. He exited the car, approached the very first person he encountered, and shot her three times, Chronister stated. At that point, his rifle jammed.
“This suspect goes back returns back to his car, retrieves his handgun, walks back over to the victim, who’s trying to crawl away with her life, and executes her,” the sheriff said.
Pearson then proceeded into the cafeteria, where a number of employees who were eating lunch frantically fled the area. He continued to move deeper into the building.
“He takes a tactical position in the men’s restroom, knowing that he heard the gunshots, he hears the door open, and he sees a suspect coming, and he engages this suspect,” Chronister described. “He fires rounds, and now he finds himself in a gunfight because the suspect is returning gunfire. He fires some more rounds, and he’s able to strike the suspect five times.”
Emergency medical personnel transported Pearson to a nearby hospital, where he was subsequently pronounced dead.
Selman, a nine-year veteran employee of Citibank, was declared dead at the scene.
Sheriff Chronister commended the security guard , a retired United States Marine , for his swift and courageous intervention, which prevented the situation from escalating further.
“Because of the heroic actions of this Citibank security officer, vice president of operations, his reign of terror ended before it even began,” Chronister said.
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