GUILTY FL - Sebring: Mass Shooting SunTrust Bank 1/23/19 - 5+ killed - shooter Zephen Xaver in custody

[SandyQLS]

Florida bank shooting suspect 'always hated people'


Florida bank shooting suspect 'always hated people'

From the link:
"... All five dead were women; a bank customer and four employees. ..."

That's what I figured. It was lunch time. On one side either the branch manager or assistant manager, perhaps NKA personal banker. On the other side, 2 tellers and the teller supervisor or operations officer. And one customer.

 

[scapa]

Do we know if he singled out women in the bank?

Thought I was looking at Jake Patterson when I first saw the mugshot. What a vicious, senseless crime. Again.

 

[Bellecent]

I was in banking for over 20 years. My daughter is a branch investment banker. There should be a video that will tell the story.

IMO, they were gunned down so fast they had no time to sound an alarm. And the sensors are within reach of all employees. This was not about robbery or he would have fled asap. Instead he called 911 on himself!

Over the years the public has gotten more and more aggressive. Just wackadoodle. I worry just as much about my daughter as I did my Marine son and LE children.

Very true about aggressive and we need to add mental state of mind. He did not go to rob a bank. He went for attention from the media.

 

[SeesSeas]

Zephen Xaver: Suspected Sebring bank shooter was a former prison guard trainee

ZEPHEN XANDER FIRST COURT APPEARANCE

• The suspected Sebring bank shooter made his first appearance via video conference from the Highlands County Jail on Thursday morning
• Xaver requested a public defender
• Judge Ritenour held Xaver without bond
• He faces five counts of premeditated homicide in the first degree

[...]
Two of the five victims of the shooting have been identified after their families told officials they want their names to be known to the public. Cynthia Watson, 65, a customer in the bank at the time of the shooting, and 55-year-old Marisol Lopez, an employee at the bank working when the shooting occurred, were the two victims identified by police during a press conference on Thursday.

Three of the five victims' names are being withheld in accordance to Marcy's Law, which protects crime victims and their families.
[...]

 

[SeesSeas]

Sebring shooting at SunTrust Bank: Day after police say Zephen Xaver killed 5 women
Published 10:58 a.m. ET Jan. 24, 2019 | Updated 1:31 p.m. ET Jan. 24, 2019
One day after police say Sebring shooting suspect Zephen Xaver entered a SunTrust Bank and killed all five people inside, this is what we know:

What happened?
These details were gathered from the 21-year-old Sebring local's arrest affidavit and Sebring Police Chief Karl Hoglund:

• The shooting took place about 12:36 p.m. Wednesday.
• Xaver called 911 on himself and said he had killed five people inside the bank.
• 911 dispatchers stayed on the phone with him as the Sebring Police Department and Highland County Sheriff's Office responded.
• The doors were locked. Law enforcement attempted to negotiate with Xaver.
• A SWAT team eventually burst inside the bank to recover the victims, at which point Xaver surrendered. He was in a rear office and uninjured.
• Five people were dead, found lying face down in the lobby.
• The victims had gunshot wounds in the backs of their heads and upper torsos.
• Xaver had a bulletproof vest and a 9 mm handgun.

[...]

 

[SeesSeas]

Police: Gunman in Sebring bank shooting killed four employees and one customer, all women
January 24, 2019
SEBRING — Zephen Xaver walked into the SunTrust bank branch on U.S. Highway 27 at 12:30 Wednesday afternoon. Within six minutes, authorities said, he’d shot and killed everyone inside, leaving the small Central Florida community reeling from tragedy and confusion.

Officials in Sebring on Thursday said Xaver, 21, was charged with five counts of first-degree murder in the execution-style shooting. Four of the victims were employees, they said. One was a customer. All were women.
[...]
According to authorities, Xaver entered the bank around 12:30 p.m. and quickly overtook it with force. At 12:36 he called 911 and told dispatchers he killed everyone in the bank. Highlands County sheriff's deputies were on the scene by 12:36 p.m. and soon joined by police. A crisis negotiator and SWAT team were called shortly after, Hoglund said.

Police initially hoped the victims were still alive. Hoglund instructed SWAT to breach the bank after 1:30 p.m., after he said Xaver refused to yield any access to the victims. Witnesses said SWAT first attempted to pull the doors open by attaching chains to the bank’s doors and pulling them off with an armored vehicle. They only got the handles, so they drove straight into the building. It was 1:54 p.m.

Xaver was taken into custody around 2:28 p.m. All five victims were found dead inside.

Police say Xaver apparently made the five women inside lie down on the lobby floor before shooting them in the backs of their heads.
[...]

 

[Angela_Beckett]

So sorry for the victims and their families

I haven’t had time to read media reports, but I’m curious if they had already described this as a quiet kid, that kept to himself, went to church and so.
I hate such description, but it has come out in too many crimes for it not be a red flag for us parents. Don’t know how, just saying

 

[Hraefn]

At Least 5 Dead In Shooting At Central Florida Bank; Suspect In Custody

more...

Very odd. He withdrew from online classes, then resigned from his job, then went on a shooting rampage the day his mother was leaving on a business trip. Is all of this interconnected somehow, or was this a young man who was becoming steadily more mentally unstable and unable to handle the stresses of life?

Seems like he was attempting suicide by cop and then backed out for some reason.

 

[SeesSeas]

What we know about shooting suspect Zephen Xaver
READ XAVER'S ARREST REPORT:
Zephen Xaver Arrest Report by on Scribd

 

[enelram]

So sorry for the victims and their families

I haven’t had time to read media reports, but I’m curious if they had already described this as a quiet kid, that kept to himself, went to church and so.
I hate such description, but it has come out in too many crimes for it not be a red flag for us parents. Don’t know how, just saying

Haven't seen anything about church, but a neighbor in Fl. said he
kept to himself, played video games in middle of night cause neighbor heard him yelling at the games. Suspect's father said
he was a good kid, had a few problems but never tried to hurt anyone. His ex-girlfriend gives a totally different description
of him saying he was always talking about killing people and
was interested in guns.
Wonder if his parents ever got him any counseling for his
weird thoughts and behavior. Also wonder if he was ever on
any psychotropic drugs. Or street drugs.

 

[SeesSeas]

What we know about shooting suspect Zephen Xaver
Listen to a phone interview that Xaver's ex-girlfriend, Alex Gurlach, gave to WSBT in South Bend, Indiana.

Zephen Xaver's ex-girlfriend Alex Gerlach reacts to SunTrust shooting
^^ EX-Girlfriend says they met at psychiatric hospital in 2013; on and off dating until end of 2015.

Edit: EX-Girlfriend

 

[cybervampira]

cybervampira, you might want to remove the last 2 Fox23 articles
as it looks like this is about a different guy.
unless I'm missing something.

Sry, too late. I was searching for Zephen Xaver on FB and this link popped up. And then I didn’t read it.

 

[enelram]

What we know about shooting suspect Zephen Xaver
Listen to a phone interview that Xaver's ex-girlfriend, Alex Gurlach, gave to WSBT in South Bend, Indiana.

Zephen Xaver's ex-girlfriend Alex Gerlach reacts to SunTrust shooting
^^ Girlfriend says they met at psychiatric hospital in 2013; on and off dating until end of 2015.

So they met at psychiatric hospital. I assume they were both
patients there. ??? This must be what the father was alluding to
when he said he'd had some "problems".
Wonder what preceded admittance to psych hospital. Maybe the
high school suspension for threatening to shoot up his school?

 

[SoCalDavidS]

Seems like he was attempting suicide by cop and then backed out for some reason.

Because he's a coward, and a piece of garbage. If he wanted to die, why wear a bulletproof vest?

He backed out because he decided he wanted to live. Something he denied his victims.

 

[SandyQLS]

Do we know if he singled out women in the bank?

Thought I was looking at Jake Patterson when I first saw the mugshot. What a vicious, senseless crime. Again.

- no known connection to victims
- shot everyone who was present, who happened to be 5 women
- no known connection to the bank either
- motive still unknown

Motive unknown in Florida bank shooting, gunman no connection to victims: police

Aren't they being slow about identifying the victims? Locals must all know them.

 

[Inthedetails]

At Least 5 Dead In Shooting At Central Florida Bank; Suspect In Custody

more...

Very odd. He withdrew from online classes, then resigned from his job, then went on a shooting rampage the day his mother was leaving on a business trip. Is all of this interconnected somehow, or was this a young man who was becoming steadily more mentally unstable and unable to handle the stresses of life?

Another item to add to the recent weeks leading up to his crime:

He registered to vote on Jan 7, no party affiliation listed. Is there an upcoming election in Florida? Or maybe he was registering to establish residency for some reason (how long has he lived in Florida, do we know?)? The voter registration might not mean anything, but it's something to add to the timeline .

https://heavy.com/news/2019/01/zephen-xaver/

 

[enelram]

SandyQLS- 2 victims have been identified, the other 3 have
requested no media attention and there is a law in Fl. protecting
identification of crime victims and is subject to family's approval.

 

[enelram]

Another item to add to the recent weeks leading up to his crime:

He registered to vote on Jan 7, no party affiliation listed. Is there an upcoming election in Florida? Or maybe he was registering to establish residency for some reason (how long has he lived in Florida, do we know?)? The voter registration might not mean anything, but it's something to add to the timeline .

https://heavy.com/news/2019/01/zephen-xaver/

He and his mother just moved to Fl. during Fall 2018.

 

[enelram]

4pm press conference. Nothing new from LE but a BIL of one
victim spoke briefly, said she left behind 7 children.

 

[Hraefn]

- no known connection to victims
- shot everyone who was present, who happened to be 5 women
- no known connection to the bank either
- motive still unknown

Motive unknown in Florida bank shooting, gunman no connection to victims: police

Aren't they being slow about identifying the victims? Locals must all know them.

Marsy's Law passed in the last election so victims' families have the right to protect their identity. Only two identifications will be made publicly and they have been IDed.