Two people — a suspect and one victim — are dead after a reported shooting and active-threat incident on Wednesday afternoon, November 4, at the Citibank Center, the banking giant's sprawling office campus in Brandon, east of Tampa, Florida, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said. Sheriff Chad Chronister said early information pointed to a targeted incident, not a random attack, and more than 360 deputies swarmed the campus as workers streamed out of the buildings.

Source: Associated Press

The emergency began around lunchtime on Wednesday, when witnesses reported a shooting at the complex in Tampa's Sabal Park office development. The sheriff's office said in a social media post that it had "responded to an active threat and is currently clearing the building." Television video showed long lines of workers leaving the office buildings while deputies worked through the campus.

A campus emptied floor by floor

Radio traffic from responding officers, heard on Broadcastify.com and described by the Associated Press, detailed an exhaustive floor-by-floor search of the complex's buildings. Officers found people sheltering in locked rooms and closets and carefully escorted them out of the buildings and the parking garage. A person was photographed being wheeled to an ambulance at the scene in Brandon; the sheriff's office said it was not immediately known whether anyone else had been injured.

Sheriff Chronister updated the public in stages on X. He first indicated one person had been taken into custody, then posted an update confirming that the suspect involved in the Citibank Center scene was deceased, and the sheriff's office subsequently confirmed that one victim had also died. "We believe this is a targeted incident," Chronister wrote. Officials have not said how either person died, whether there was an exchange of gunfire, or what weapon was involved.

Source: Reuters

"He left all this stuff where he was at and he was able to get out"

For families, the afternoon unfolded in frightened phone calls. Doug Merritt told the Associated Press he was startled when his son called him from the Citibank campus saying he had fled after hearing gunshots. "He was very close to it," Merritt said. "He left all this stuff where he was at and he was able to get out of there." For around an hour, Merritt said, a bad internet connection left him not knowing whether his son was safe. "I wanted him to get to safety," he said. "I was upset." Local television reported that the campus also includes a daycare centre and that adults and children were seen leaving the site, that evacuated employees were directed to a gathering point in the Sheraton Tampa Brandon Hotel parking lot, and that a nearby college urged its students and staff to shelter in place while the search continued.

Citigroup said in a statement that it was "aware of an incident" at the complex and was cooperating and coordinating with law enforcement. The company did not elaborate on the circumstances or on when the campus would reopen.

Where it happened: Sabal Park, Brandon

The Citibank Center sits in the Sabal Park office development in Brandon, an unincorporated community in Hillsborough County east of Tampa, in the area of Princess Palm Avenue near Falkenburg Road and Queen Palm Drive. The campus is made up of four three-storey office buildings that house thousands of the banking giant's employees, making it one of the largest single-employer office sites in the Tampa Bay area. WFLA News Channel 8 video showed a car in the courtyard of the Citibank Center; authorities had not confirmed what role, if any, the vehicle played in the incident.

What happens next

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office investigation is continuing. Deputies were still clearing and searching the campus on Wednesday afternoon, and detectives are expected to establish the sequence of events, how the suspect and the victim died, and why the site was targeted. The names of the dead are expected to be released once families have been notified. Tampa Bay is home to a large Indian and Punjabi community, and large office campuses like this one employ many diaspora professionals; officials have released no information about the identities of the suspect or the victim, so no link between the victims and any community is known at this stage. Awaaz Punjab will update this story as the sheriff's office releases names and findings.