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HERO SHARPSHOOTER
Dramatic moment sniper shoots bank robber through computer monitor missing two hostages by inches in one-shot-kill
The bank robber can be seen using terrified hostages as human shield in shock CCTV
THIS is the dramatic moment a sharp shooting sniper took down a suspected bank robber - shooting the bullet through a computer monitor.
Footage of the sniper has gone viral after he missed two hostages and killed a suspected burglar in Florida.
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Sterling Ramon Alavache was killed instantly by a bullet after he held two Bank of America workers at knife point, while claiming he had a bomb.
Local law enforcement officers tried to get the 36-year-old to surrender.
Instead, Alavache put one of the hostages in a headlock, held a knife to her throat and attempted to use her as a human shield.
He was shot dead by the Lee County Sheriff officers while the two hostages were unharmed in the terrifying ordeal.
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Police later released the footage of the dramatic shooting.
The incident occurred on February 6 just outside of Fort Myers, with police responding to the call with tools such as a robotic dog, drones, battering rams and a SWAT team.
In a news conference, Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said: “We tried to negotiate with him continuously.
“At one point he became physical and he started to put one of the hostages in a headlock and had her knife to her throat… When he presented deadly force like that, our SWAT sniper shot and killed the suspect.
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“This is a very unfortunate incident, but I will tell you, the two hostages being safe was our top priority.”
The video also showed several deputies standing near the entrance of the bank, with their rifles raised alongside a negotiator who spoke to Alavache.
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Sherif Marceno said his team had trained for scenarios such as these.
He said: “This is exactly what we train for.
“We train for worst case scenarios. We train for hostage negotiations. That means going from worst case scenarios to best case scenarios.”
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Local radio host Charlie Lopez told Fox 4 News he wasn’t aware the county had a large arsenal.
He said: “You see, in the video, it almost looks like they lift up the sniper in the air.”
"Then they have a battering ram. I've never experienced seeing all of Lee County´s arsenal. They had drones, they had cameras."
According to a GoFundMe page for Alavache, the father of three suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, manic depression and battled drug and alcohol addiction which got worse after the death of his wife in 2018.
He was then diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2022.
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His family said: “His struggle to remain clean became an induction of his mental struggles.
“Though loved ones must now grieve Sterling’s absence, they find solace in the fact that he is at peace, and these struggles are no more.”
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