An armed man who fired shots inside a SunTrust bank in Sebring — which reportedly left multiple people injured — has surrendered after a standoff, authorities said.
According to an alert by the Highlands County Sheriff’s Office, deputies and Sebring police responded to the bank on U.S. Highway 27 about 12:30 p.m. after a person called the agency’s dispatch and reported that he had fired shots inside the bank.
Police and deputies established a perimeter but were unable to get the gunman to surrender by negotiating, authorities said.
An sheriff’s office SWAT team later entered the bank and the suspect eventually surrendered, the agency said. Officials have not yet publicly identified the shooter or said what prompted the incident.
NBC affiliate WFLA-TV said Sebring police confirmed that “several people are down” at the bank, while a Highlands County commissioner told CNN multiple people had been shot.
Multiple people have been shot at a SunTrust Bank in Sebring, Florida, authorities say https://t.co/09zhbUm2i9 pic.twitter.com/IfLT3hGeSB
— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) January 23, 2019
WTSP-TV also reported a shooting with more than one victim. The WTSP report described the incident as having begun with “an apparent bank robbery.” Sebring’s mayor, John Shoop, reportedly told the station the shooter was alive and had exited the bank.
“The situation is confined to the bank and there is no danger to the surrounding area,” the sheriff’s office said in an alert.
Sebring is a city east of Sarasota and south of Kissimmee.
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© 2019 The Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, Fla.)
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