‘A horrific situation’: 4 dead in Ohio bank shooting
CINCINNATI — A gunman carrying enough ammunition to cause “a bloodbath beyond imagination” killed three people and wounded two others Thursday morning at a high-rise office building in the heart of Cincinnati before dying in a hail of police gunfire.
The shooting at the 30-story Fifth Third Center sent people running for cover across the city’s Fountain Square amid cries of “Shooter!” Police responded within seconds, and four officers opened fire, bullets smashing through glass doors and the gunman falling to the floor, authorities said.
Police identified him as Omar Enrique Santa Perez, 29, but said they don’t know what motivated the attack.
Police Chief Eliot Isaac said the killer used a 9 mm handgun and was carrying magazines with some 200 rounds of ammunition.
“A very horrific situation,” Isaac said at the scene.
Police Lt. Steve Saunders said he wasn’t a current or past employee of Fifth Third, and police didn’t know why he went to that building.
Police swarmed an apartment in North Bend, Ohio, a village some 15 miles west of Cincinnati. They didn’t explain the search.
“A very horrific situation,” Isaac said at the shooting scene. “We’re in the very early stages” of the investigation.
Federal and state agents were on the scene as police searched the building.
Michael Richardson, who works in the bank building, told The Cincinnati Enquirer that he was standing outside the entrance when he heard gunshots in the lobby.
“I looked behind me and saw the guy — he shot and then he shot again. After that, I started running.”
Leonard Cain told The Enquirer he was going into the bank when someone alerted him about the shooting.
He said a woman, who was wearing headphones, didn’t hear the warnings and walked into the bank and was shot.
One of the victims died at the scene. Two more died at University of Cincinnati Medical Center.
UC Health spokeswoman Kelly Martin said one victim remained there in critical condition and another was listed as serious.
All four taken to the hospital had gunshot wounds, she said. A woman is comforted by authorities Thursday after a downtown Cincinnati shooting left four dead.