Authorities say a $2,500 credit card debt dispute appears to have set off a deadly shooting at a Citibank complex near Tampa. Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said that 35-year-old Jacob Pearson, a married father of one, became enraged after receiving a court summons over a $2,556.40 balance, allegedly calling a collections attorney on Wednesday morning and warning he could show up with an AR-15 and body armor, reports ABC News. “The last thing you want to do is eff with me,” he allegedly said in that call.
Hours later, Pearson allegedly rammed his car through a gate, shot 41-year-old Citibank HR employee Leanne Selman in the courtyard, then fatally shot her again with a handgun after his rifle jammed. Pearson then went into a cafeteria but was confronted by security guard John Fraley, a Marine Corps veteran, who shot Pearson five times, authorities said. Pearson, carrying 90 rounds of ammo, died at a hospital. Four other people were hospitalized with minor injuries, including those suffered at the chaotic scene and due to chest pains; one of the individuals was pregnant and was advised to get checked out as a precaution.
Officials credited Fraley with preventing a larger massacre. “John Fraley confronted this suspect and is a hero, plain and simple,” Chronister said in a release. “In a moment when most people would run away from danger, this guard ran toward it and stopped the threat.” Chronister says Pearson had no criminal record, and Pearson’s father tells the AP that there’d never been any hints that his son was capable of such violence.