TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A hotel employee was killed by a former coworker in a shooting at a southwest Florida hotel on New Year’s Eve.
The Collier County Sheriff’s Office was called to the Port of the Islands Resort on Sunday afternoon for a reported shooting, according to NBC affiliate WBBH.
A former hotel employee, who has not been identified, entered the lobby and shot a worker before turning the gun on themselves. Both the employee and the shooting suspect died from their injuries.
Deputies evacuated the hotel and searched the surrounding area before finding the suspect dead in a hotel office.
“We heard that flash-bang go off, or whatever that loud boom was, it shook the boat. It has all of us kind of curious as to what happened,” said Brandon Stearns, who was in a houseboat behind the hotel during the shooting and search for the suspect.
“It was pretty crazy. They came in with SWAT in a big group and knocked a door down, broke the glass, got in there,” Stearns told WBBH.
The Collier County Sheriff’s Office will identify the suspect once their next of kin is notified.
