A knife-wielding man who took hostages at a Fort Myers Bank of America and falsely claimed to have a bomb was shot dead by a SWAT team sniper, Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno announced during a news conference.
The incident at the Florida bank branch escalated when Sterling Ramon Alavache, 36, held two individuals captive after several others fled upon sheriff deputies' arrival, officials were swift deploying a robodog, the SWAT team, electronic surveillance and drones to secure the scene, according to WPTV.
Negotiation attempts with Alavache soured as he endangered a hostage's life; "at some point, the man put a hostage in a headlock and held a knife to her throat," Marceno described, detailing the tense moments before a law enforcement sniper neutralized the threat. The aforementioned scene was shared by Marceno in a statement obtained by ABC News.
In the aftermath of the shooting, while no injuries to hostages or deputies were reported, the sheriff's department has not confirmed the existence of an actual bomb and the officer involved in the shooting has been put on administrative leave as per standard procedure pending investigation, a common protocol followed in such incidents involving the use of deadly force.
