Posted on 01/24/2019 1:48:19 PM PST by Red Badger
SEBRING, Florida -- A gunman who overtook a SunTrust Bank branch in Florida apparently made the five women inside lie down on the lobby floor before shooting them in the backs of their heads, police said Thursday.
Sebring police Chief Karl Hoglund said there's no indication Zephen Xaver intended to rob the bank, and no apparent connection among him, the bank or the victims.
Xaver, 21, has been charged with five counts of premeditated murder in the shooting deaths of the four bank employees and a customer.
"He overtook the bank by force. He then shot everyone in the bank," Hoglund said. "After shooting them, he called 911" and "told dispatchers that he'd killed everyone in the bank."
According to an affidavit, all the victims were found in the bank's lobby, lying face down with gunshots to the backs of their heads. Shell casings from Xaver's 9mm handgun were scattered on the floor.
After calling 911, Xaver refused to surrender and would not allow officers to reach the victims, the chief said. After more than an hour of negotiations, the chief ordered a SWAT team in; they had to use an armored vehicle to break through the front doors. Xaver was found in an office in the rear.
By then, all the victims were already dead, the chief said.
Hoglund identified two of the victims: customer Cynthia Watson and bank employee Marisol Lopez. Citing Florida's version of a victims' rights law, he said three of the families don't want the names released.
The community is mourning the loss of "our sisters, our mothers, our daughters and our co-workers," Hoglund said.
Authorities ended their news conference after only a few questions and didn't respond when asked how Xaver obtained the gun.
Xaver wore a black-and-white striped prison uniform in a brief court appearance Thursday morning as he was appointed a public defender and ordered held without bond.
His father said he's "heartbroken for the victims" and that his son "wasn't raised to be like this."
"He's always been a good kid. He's had his troubles, but he has never hurt anyone ever before. This is a total shock," Josh Xaver told CNN. The Associated Press has reached out to both parents of Zephen Xaver requesting interviews, with no immediate response.
It wasn't a shock to Alex Gerlach, who identified herself as Xaver's former girlfriend. She said he's long been fascinated with the idea of killing, but no one took her warnings seriously. For some reason, he "always hated people and wanted everybody to die," Gerlach told WSBT-TV in South Bend, Indiana.
"He got kicked out of school for having a dream that he killed everybody in his class, and he's been threatening this for so long, and he's been having dreams about it and everything," she said. "Every single person I've told has not taken it seriously, and it's very unfortunate that it had to come to this."
Gerlach told The Washington Post that Xaver said he purchased a gun last week and "no one thought anything of it" because he had always liked guns.
Xaver has had a spotty educational history: Two school districts in northern Indiana said he attended high school for several years but did not graduate. Xaver also briefly was an online student of Salt Lake City-based Stevens-Henager College. A spokeswoman for the college, Sherrie Martin, confirmed that Xaver was enrolled from September 2018 until December, when he withdrew.
In Florida, he tried to be a prison guard: Florida Department of Corrections records show he was hired as a trainee at Avon Park Correctional Institution on Nov. 2 and resigned Jan. 9. No disciplinary issues were reported.
Public records and neighbors say Xaver and his mother moved to Sebring in the fall from Plymouth, Indiana, a small city south of South Bend. They lived in a nondescript pre-fabricated home about 4 miles (6.5 kilometers) from the bank. No one answered the door Wednesday night after police finished searching the home.
John Larose, who lives next door, said Xaver kept to himself, but he could hear him playing and yelling at video games in the middle of the night.
This was at least the fourth mass shooting in Florida with five or more dead in the last three years. A gunman killed 49 at an Orlando nightclub in 2016, five died at the Fort Lauderdale airport in 2017, and 17 died in February at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in a Fort Lauderdale suburb.
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Zephen Xaver's ex says Florida shooting suspect 'always hated people'
Details are beginning to emerge about the man who allegedly opened fire in a Florida bank on Wednesday and then called police, saying, "I have shot five people."
WEDNESDAY'S EVENTS
Police identified 21-year-old Zephen Xaver as the man who allegedly killed five people inside a SunTrust Bank in the small town of Sebring, Florida. After calling police and confessing, investigators said, Xaver barricaded himself inside. Negotiation attempts failed.
A SWAT team stormed the building, and Xaver surrendered to police. He was charged with five counts of pre-meditated homicide murder.
Police have not yet announced a possible motive.
BACKGROUND
ABC57 reports that Xaver is a native of Marshall County in northern Indiana. He moved to Sebring with his mother last fall, AP reports.
Police reports obtained by ABC News detail a February 20, 2014, incident in which police in Bremen, Indiana, received a call from Bremen High School in reference to a 16-year-old student who had "thoughts of hurting other students." Police have confirmed to ABC News that the records pertain to Xaver.
According to the report, the student said that he had a dream the night before about harming students in a classroom. He then took a nap in the school office and, upon waking, said he had a similar dream. The student was transported to a psychiatric hospital for further care.
Bremen police provided ABC with additional documentation detailing a 2017 incident in which another person reported receiving messages from Zephen that he was considering taking hostages in a suicide-by-cop attempt. Zephen's mother, Misti Hendricks, said she would talk to Zephen and declined police assistance.
John Larose, who lives next door, told AP Xaver kept to himself, but he could hear him playing and yelling at video games in the middle of the night. Another neighbor, Sharon Spillane, told WFTS of his crime, "Not even a tiny, teeny little bit, would it have remotely crossed my mind at all."
Xaver worked as a trainee with the Florida Department of Corrections from November until Jan. 9. A spokesperson told ABC News that he resigned, but it's unclear why.
The suspect briefly was an online student of Salt Lake City-based Stevens-Henager College. A spokeswoman for the college, Sherrie Martin, confirmed that Xaver was enrolled from September 2018 until December, when he withdrew.
FAMILY, EX-GIRLFRIEND WEIGH IN
Josh Xaver of Indiana, who described himself as the suspect's father, said he was heartbroken for the victims.
"He wasn't raised to be like this. He's always been a good kid. He's had his troubles," he told CNN. "But he has never hurt anyone ever before. This is a total shock."
Alex Gerlach, who identified herself as Xaver's former girlfriend, told WSBT he "always hated people and wanted everybody to die."
"He got kicked out of school for having a dream that he killed everybody in his class, and he's been threatening this for so long, and he's been having dreams about it and everything," she said. "Every single person I've told has not taken it seriously, and it's very unfortunate that it had to come to this."
SEE ALSO: Paying tribute to the Flordia bank shooting victims
Witnesses/friends and close neighbors said the suspect and his family seem perfectly normal. None of them would have ever suspected this guy of doing anything like this.
Btw, the suspect is a correctional officer trainee.
And she was this guy’s girlfriend why???
I should add these were the initial reports...
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Witnesses/friends and close neighbors said the suspect and his family seem perfectly normal. None of them would have ever suspected this guy of doing anything like this.
Btw, the suspect is a correctional officer trainee.
Very sad for all involved. If his ex-girlfriend knew him this well, to recall him expressing the desire for killing people, then his parents had to know too.
Maybe he was being treated but stopped taking his meds.
He shouldn’t have had access to guns. They may have been stolen for all we know at this time. Our time in this life is both precious and precarious.
.………..if I had my way, a 3 judge panel acting as judges and jurors would have been called to the scene, asked as many questions as they felt necessary to determine guilt and then once pronounced the sob would be taken out to a grassy area and shot right between the eyes. Case closed!
I’m really sick of these shooters! No mercy, no quarter, no jail cell...…………...just a quick trial at the scene and one bullet in the head. There would be plenty volunteers to pull the trigger.
If only the corrections officer thing had worked out he could have spent the rest of his life being an asshole and messing with people and get paid for it. And 5 people would still be alive.
Words fail at times like this.
It is so senseless, the killing of these women.
The grief this causes goes beyond the family, friends, and associates. The public at large is watching as our society melts down.
This saddens me so much.
This is just demonic.
Suicide by police then too yellow to carry it out?
They may have been stolen for all we know at this time.
It was reported he bought one recently.
This guy needs be put in the old electric chair, with his glasses on, and the juice should not be stopped till his plastic lenses melt.
This appears to me to be death by cop and the officers didn’t help him out because he chickened out. Glock, Walther, HK, S&W, or what ever never leave home withou it. Love your spouse? Make sure they don’t leave home without one either.
Good table manners?
Give him a fair trial then hang him. No bullet necessary.................
“He got kicked out of school for having a dream that he killed everybody in his class, and he’s been threatening this for so long, and he’s been having dreams about it and everything,” she said. “Every single person I’ve told has not taken it seriously, and it’s very unfortunate that it had to come to this.”
Every. Damn. Time. :( I know it’s a slippery slope, but someone remind me WHY the Lunatics run the Asylum?
Oh, Yeah. Democrats. *SPIT*
I dunno, maybe having dipshit parents that named him Zephen sent him over the edge.
For a person who's never been involved/convicted of physical violence, this story is a bit bizarre. Seems his alleged dreams/mental issues were quite real to him and obviously enough to push this guy over the edge.
I don’t think so, just a nutbag.......................
Scum like that guy are lucky the Founding Fathers were more compassionate than I am. If I had written the Constitution, that bit about no cruel or unusual punishment wouldn’t be in there.
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