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The Lee County Sheriff's Office released a stunning new video that captured the moment a police sniper took out a bank robber who was holding a hostage with a knife to her neck.
The incident occurred on February 6 at a Bank of America in Fort Myers when 36-year-old Sterling Alavache stormed into the bank and took a man and woman hostage, claiming to have a bomb.
While officers tried to talk down Alavache, he refused to let the hostages go.
When Alavache put a knife to the woman's throat, officials decided it was necessary to use deadly force. LCSO public information officer Lieutenant Todd Olmer said that a sniper with the special operations unit fired a "planned and deliberate shot through a computer monitor," striking Alavache in the head.
He was killed instantly.
"Firing through barriers is a trained and routinely practiced skill by Lee County Sheriff's Special Operations Unit snipers," Olmer explained. "The .308 caliber bullet used is specifically selected due to its known ballistic reliability traveling through intermediate barriers."
The SWAT team then tossed a flashbang into the room and safely secured the prisoners, bringing the hostage situation to an end.