Incredible footage has been released of the moment a sheriff’s sniper killed a suspect by shooting directly through a computer monitor.
Sterling Ramon Alavache was holding two Bank of America workers in Florida at knifepoint while claiming to have a bomb.
Officers had already tried to get the would-be bank robber to surrender, but Alavache decided to take two hostages.
The 36-year-old then put one of them in a headlock and held a knife to his throat, and that’s when a sheriff’s sniper from the SWAT team decided to end the siege.
With remarkable precision, the bullet was fired directly through a computer monitor and into Alavache’s head, killing him instantly.
Sterling Ramon Alavache pulled a knife on two Bank of America workers in Florida while they claimed to have a bomb
The bullet passed through this computer monitor and directly into the suspect’s forehead.
Sterling Ramon Alavache, 36, suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and manic depression.
The woman he tried to use as a shield, another hostage and everyone else at the bank outside Fort Myers escaped unharmed.
The attempted robbery, hostage situation and sniper fire brought a bustling suburban area filled with chain restaurants, hotels, an outdoor shopping center and office buildings to a terrifying standstill as the Lee County Sheriff’s Office responded with tools that included a robotic dog, drones and a battering ram, and a SWAT team.
The Lee County Sheriff’s Office did not say where the sniper fired from, but SWAT members had surrounded the bank to deal with the hostage situation.
A video on the sheriff’s office Facebook page showed several deputies standing with their rifles raised near the bank entrance alongside a negotiator who spoke to Alavache seconds before a shot rang out.
A small white dot can be seen on the computer monitor, which was still working after a bullet passed through.
The sniper is believed to have fired while standing at the entrance to the bank.
Law enforcement officers burst onto the scene shortly after the call came in about a bank robbery south of Fort Myers.
Another video from outside the bank shows an agent being lifted onto a platform with an armored front-end loader.
‘When he presented deadly force like that, our SWAT sniper shot and killed the suspect. We feared for his life and his safety,” Sheriff Carmine Marceno said during a press conference.
“We quickly came face to face with a suspect who was armed with a knife,” Marceno said.
‘He also claimed he had a bomb. “He had two hostages at the time and we continually tried to negotiate with him.”
Then the man inside the bank grabbed the woman and put the knife to her throat.
“When he presented deadly force like that, our SWAT sniper shot and killed the suspect,” Marceno said. “We feared for his life and his safety.”
Law enforcement officers burst onto the scene shortly after the call came in about a bank robbery south of Fort Myers.
Officers rushed into the multi-story building that houses the bank, securing it as dozens of terrified people ran out, Marceno said, describing it as “a chaotic scene.”
A large number of law enforcement officers invaded the hostage situation at the Bank of America building at the Bell Tower Shops in Fort Myers, Florida.
Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno addresses the media following a hostage situation at the Bank of America next to the Bell Tower Shops in Fort Myers, Florida, earlier this year.
Alavache, the slain suspect, suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and manic depression, also known as bipolar disorder, according to his GoFundMe.
“I didn’t even know the county had this,” said local radio host Charlie Lopez, who observed the scene. Fox 4 News.
He watched the sniper shoot from his car and provided details to his Facebook followers.
“You see, in the video it almost looks like they lift the sniper into the air,” he said. —Then they have a battering ram. I had never experienced seeing the entire Lee County Arsenal. “They had drones, they had cameras.”
Alavache, the murdered suspect, suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and manic depression, also known as bipolar disorder, according to his GoFundMe.
The father of three also struggled with drug and alcohol addiction, which only worsened after the death of his wife in 2018.
In 2022, he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a disease that causes a progressive shutdown of the body through damage to the central nervous system, and it was then that he once again entered a downward spiral of drugs and depression.
“His struggle to stay clean became an induction of his mental struggles,” the family wrote.
“While loved ones must now mourn Sterling’s absence, they find comfort in the fact that he is at peace and that these struggles no longer exist.”