Insets: Jacob Pearson and Leanne Selman. Background: Pearson after he allegedly killed Selman at a Citibank corporate office in Tampa, Fla. (Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office).
A Florida man drove to a Citibank corporate campus with more than 3,000 employees to hunt “any person he could find and kill” because he was upset over a $2,500 debt.
Jacob Pearson, 35, is accused of killing Leanne Selman, 41, around noon on Wednesday before a “heroic” security guard shot him to death. Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister told reporters during a press conference that Pearson called a lawyer for Citibank on Wednesday morning, “irate” that he had received a court summons over $2,500 for a 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.”
Alarmed by the threat, the lawyer contacted corporate security, which began investigating. They learned Pearson lived in Orlando. Cops in Orlando went to Pearson’s home and inquired about his whereabouts. His wife said he left their home earlier in the morning and was angry about something.
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The security guard also contacted the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office to alert them of the threat. As the deputies were arriving on scene and speaking with the security guard, they heard gunshots, Chronister said.
“Courtyard! Courtyard!” the security guard informed them.
Pearson allegedly drove through the gate into the courtyard. He got out of his car and walked up to the “first person” he saw and shot her three times, Chronister said. The 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 walked into the cafeteria, where several people eating lunch scrambled to flee. He began walking further 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.”
Paramedics rushed Pearson to the hospital, where he died.
Selman, who worked for Citibank for nine years, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Chronister credited the security guard, a retired Marine, with stopping the shooting before it got any worse.
“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.
The post Man armed with 90 rounds of ammunition ‘executed’ woman at Citibank because he was upset about $2,500 debt: Sheriff first appeared on Law & Crime.
