The Lee County Sheriff's Office has released the harrowing 911 calls made Tuesday just before a deputy shot and killed a man after he took people hostage and claimed to have a bomb at a Florida bank, authorities said.
Deputies responded to a Bank of America branch in Fort Myers shortly before noon, Sheriff Carmine Marceno said during a news conference Tuesday afternoon. Officials deployed a robodog, the SWAT team, electronic surveillance and drones.
As deputies entered the bank, dozens of people ran out, Marceno said. A man armed with a knife still had two hostages and claimed to have a bomb, the sheriff said. Negotiators were called to talk with the man, but at some point, the man put a hostage in a headlock and held a knife to her throat, Marceno said.
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The 911 calls illustrate what happened inside the bank at the time of the incident.
"A man just entered the Bank of America and made us all get out and said he has a bomb," a witness is heard saying to 911 operators. "He was a male, with a blue hoodie, really skinny. He jumped over the counter where we were trying to make our deposits and he was holding a square thing and said he had a bomb."
Another call captured the moment the armed man asked people to back up and is heard pleading saying that he did not want to hurt the hostages.
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"I don't want to hurt them...back up...keep your head on the ground...please don't make me shoot him...I don't want to shoot him..ahhhh," the man is heard saying.
Moments later, a SWAT sniper fatally shot the man, Marceno said.
No injuries were reported to any hostages or deputies.
Officials didn't immediately identify the man who was killed or say whether he actually had a bomb.
The deputy who killed the man was placed on administrative leave, pending an investigation, which is normal department policy.
