Law enforcement can find themselves in an intense situation that requires a split-second decision.
One officer had to make a tough call with everything on the line.
A Florida sheriff revealed this scary decision an officer made in a sick fight.
Florida sniper downs bank robber with hostages with incredible shot
A bank robber hit a branch of Bank of America in Fort Myers, Florida in February.
The suspect took hostages at the bank with a knife and was threatening the worst.
Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said, “We tried to negotiate with him continuously.”
A sniper with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office’s Special Operations Unit fired a shot that traveled through a computer monitor to drop the suspect.
Officers moved in to get the hostages afterward.
“Firing through barriers is a trained and routinely practiced skill by Lee County Sheriff’s Special Operations Unit snipers,” Lee County Sheriff’s Office public information officer Lieutenant Todd Olmer said. “The .308 caliber bullet used is specifically selected due to its known ballistic reliability traveling through intermediate barriers.”
Lee County Sheriff slams soft on crime policies in blue states
Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno, a transplant from New York, told Fox News Digital that people do not move to Florida just for the weather and the beaches.
“It’s because of law and order,” Marceno said. “Their families are safe. Their children are safe in schools, and it’s not like other places, unfortunately, that we see today.”
The Lee County Sheriff’s Office posted a video of the standoff at the Bank of America on social media which quickly went viral.
“Those are someone’s father, brother, mother, sister, family member that went to work just to do a job and unfortunately are presented with a deadly force situation,” Marceno said. “So horrifying. When I drive by the building now, I think about it every single time I drive by, so, of course, it’s going to attract a lot of attention.”
Marceno believes that training prepares his officers to perform in high-stress situations like the Bank of America standoff.
“We pray for the best, but we train worst-case scenario forward, and we’re ready for anything that comes our way,” Marceno stated.
The Lee County Sheriff praised the work of his officers that day.
“Our SWAT sniper is an absolute hero,” Marceno said. “He is a veteran, he’s a hero. The whole team from every level comes together.”
The bank robber, 36-year-old Sterling Alavache, was a convicted felon with an “extensive criminal history.”
Marceno lamented that someone with that record was free to roam the streets.
“I do recognize the failed policies in my hometown of New York, in California, in other places where, you know, allowing violent criminals to roam the streets and reoffend – that’s a failure,” Marceno explained. Our justice system has failed in other places. Not in the state of Florida.”
“No one gets to kill an innocent person in my county,” Marceno added.
Florida’s tough-on-crime policies have crime at a 50-year low in the Sunshine State.
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
