A Florida sniper shot and killed a bank robber holding hostages — and it was all caught on body-cam and surveillance video.
Lee County Sheriff’s Office released the footage of hostages being held by a suspect on Feb. 6 at a Bank of America in Fort Myers, Fla.
The video also shows the suspected armed bank robber getting fatally shot through a computer monitor and between two hostages.
Deputies responded to the scene earlier this year and discovered the suspect, who was armed with a knife, also claimed he had a bomb.
“We tried to negotiate with him continuously,” Sheriff Carmine Marceno said in a previous news conference, adding that at one point, the suspect held a knife to the female hostage’s throat.
The suspect remained between the man and woman but once it was deemed the suspect “presented deadly force,” a sniper from the special operations unit fired a “planned and deliberate shot through a computer monitor,” striking the suspect in the forehead, killing him instantly, according to the sheriff’s office.
“Firing through barriers is a trained and routinely practiced skill by Lee County Sheriff’s Special Operations Unit snipers,” Lt. Todd Olmer said in a video shared on Facebook.
“The .308 calibre bullet used is specifically selected due to its known ballistic reliability travelling through intermediate barriers.”
Once the suspect, identified as 36-year-old Sterling Alavache, hit the ground, flash bangs were fired to distract in order to remove hostages and confirm there was “no longer a threat,” the sheriff said.
The monitor, which appeared to still be working, could be seen with a huge hole in it.