Police praise "heroic" actions while an armed man shot deadly Cincinnati Bank

A surveillance video inside a Cincinnati bank building, where a gunman opened fire, seems to randomly show unarmed security guards protecting people and keeping them safe.

"Seeing these images, I was extremely impressed by their heroic actions to protect innocent people and try to put them safe," said police chief Eliot K. Isaac. "They should be congratulated."

An alleged gunman, 29-year-old Omar Enrique Santa Perez, is seen in a video of the bank walking into the lobby of Fifth Third Bank's building at Fountain Square on Thursday morning "pulling out someone who's in trouble." he sees, "said Isaac.

We still do not know what motivated the rampage, which began around 9:06 and lasted about 4 minutes since the first shot, until four police officers shot at windows to fatally wound the suspect. .

Perez, dressed in a white shirt, is seen in a video shown broadcast Friday in front of the windows and collapsing to the ground after being shot.

The police camera video released Friday showed officers hiding behind a corner of the building on stairs and shooting through the window.

Isaac said Perez was armed with a 9mm Taurus handgun that investigators believe they legally bought at a weapons store on August 2nd. He also had a briefcase containing about 250 additional cartridges.

The gun suffered a misfire and got stuck at one point, but Isaac said it was not clear. According to the video, it appeared that he had reloaded the weapon at some point, said the police chief. Perez fired 35 shots during the shooting, said Isaac.

"The heroism of these officers is truly remarkable," said John Cranley, Mayor of Cincinnati.

"With hundreds of ammunition, he had climbed into the elevator, had climbed on a floor, had gone there a little earlier or longer, a lot of Other people would have been killed "he said.

The police initially stated that it appeared that the gunman had entered by a loading dock, but on Friday they said it was incorrect and he entered through a normal entrance. Two people who were shot have fled to the loading dock, he said.

Perez went into the area in his own vehicle and parked it on Court Street. Before entering the bank building, Perez went into several other businesses, but it was not clear what was his reason for doing so, said Isaac.

Perez shot a total of five people, the police said. One of the victims was declared dead at the scene and two others were transported to a hospital, where they died later, officials said.

Two other people were also shot. They were in a serious and just state on Friday, officials at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center said.

Those killed were identified as Pruthvi Raj Kandepi, 25 years old; Richard Newcomer, 64; and Luis Felipe Calderón, 48 years old.

Perez has lived in the Cincinnati area since 2015 and has no local criminal background, said Isaac, adding that he had "brief" criminal backgrounds in South Carolina and Palm Beach , in Florida.

Police searched his home in North Bend, Ohio, and "there was" nothing obvious that had a motive, "said the police chief, adding that the investigation was continuing and that the police service

"What we discovered about Mr. Perez, we were not able to determine what his real motive was," said Isaac. Perez was not a current or former employee of the bank, police said.

Perez sued NBC Universal, the parent company of NBC News, and TD Ameritrade, alleging that companies have conspired to listen to it, including on personal devices, in 2017. He has represented himself , according to the judicial archives. The trial was dismissed by a judge in June, records show.

Perez also sued CNBC in June, saying CNBC and Ameritrade "maintained electronic surveillance over Perez-owned communications devices. A judge recommended that the case be dismissed with prejudice in June, according to court records. The judge stated in the document that the complaint was "disjointed, difficult to decipher and close to delusion".

On Friday, during two calls to 911, a person told the dispatcher that she thought there was a gunman and ran into the bathroom to hide with the door locked.

Cranley, the mayor, said he was moved by watching the complete and unpublished video, saying he had seen a receptionist "who was literally in the middle of a shootout", and that his face and relief after the shooting had the police arrived.

"The police saved lives and we owe them a huge debt of gratitude for what happened," he said. "It was pretty horrible, but believe me, it would have been a lot worse if those officers had not rushed in that moment."