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Police: Bank gunman fired randomly until his pistol jammed

Posted at 12:43 PM, Sep 07, 2018
and last updated 2018-09-07 16:03:15-04

CINCINNATI (AP) – The Latest on a fatal shooting at a downtown Cincinnati bank (all times local):

1:40 p.m.

New security footage shows a gunman who killed three people in a downtown Cincinnati office high-rise firing randomly while carrying a briefcase with hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

The footage released Friday also shows the shooter walking quickly past a security turnstile Thursday morning just as he’s shot and killed by a police officer outside the building.

He says the shooter’s gun jammed at one point during the four-minute rampage.

Police say they don’t know why 29-year-old Omar Enrique Santa Perez decided to open fire in the building. They say he never worked there and an apartment search hasn’t turned up any answers so far. An aunt of his described him as “very quiet.”

A 64-year-old contractor, a 48-year old bank employee and a 25-year-old contractor died in the attack. Two remain hospitalized.

Omar Enrique Santa Perez
Omar Enrique Santa Perez

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12:10 p.m.

An aunt of the man who killed three and injured two during a shooting Thursday broke down crying when she learned her nephew was responsible for the attack.

The Cincinnati Enquirer reports Yudy Martinez Perez slumped against a kitchen wall and muttered denials after she heard the news. She said she knew her nephew, 29-year-old Omar Enrique Santa Perez, had been working various jobs but his family didn’t know where.

Martinez Perez described him as “very quiet.”

Richard Newcomer, a contractor who worked for Gilbane Building Company, was one of three killed. Company spokesman Wes Cotter described Newcomer as a great employee, and struggled to describe how grief-stricken his coworkers are.

A 48-year-old finance manager and a 25-year-old contractor were also killed. Another contractor and a bank vice president were injured.

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10:20 a.m.

A Cincinnati coroner says she recognized the youngest person killed during a downtown shooting that left four dead, including the gunman.

The Cincinnati Enquirer reports Dr. Lakshmi Sammarco had met 25-year-old Pruthvi Kandepi at a local Hindu temple. The two also shared the same hometown and language, Telugu.

Sammarco posted Thursday on Facebook, asking how officials will explain to his parents “they will never see their son again because of a senseless shooting in a foreign country.”

The local Telugu Association of North America office said they plan to help Kandepi’s father. He wants his son’s body to be taken back to India.

The other two killed are 48-year-old Luis Calderon and 64-year-old Richard Newcomer.

Twenty-nine-year-old Omar Enrique Santa Perez began shooting at a Cincinnati high-rise Thursday before officers opened fire on him.

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