On January 23, 2019, at around 12:30 pm, five women – four employees and a customer – were shot and killed at theSunTrust Bank inSebring, Florida. Zephen Xaver, aged 21, surrendered and was arrested at the scene by police after a standoff and the deployment of aSWAT team.[2] He initially pleaded not guilty to five murders.[3] On March 14, 2023, he pleaded guilty in the shooting.[4] On December 16, 2024, he was sentenced to death.[5]
At 12:32 pm, a man entered the SunTrust Bank wearing aballistic vest underneath his sweatshirt. Minutes before entering the bank, he texted to his girlfriend that he was going to die today and that he was going to kill people just to know how it would feel. He walked up to one of thebank tellers and pulled out a handgun. He forced the bank teller and everyone else in the lobby to gather at a wall with their hands up. He told the teller to lock both doors to the bank and she complied. The shooter then ordered the five women to lie down on the floor face down with their heads pointing towards the wall. At 12:35 pm, the shooter executed all five women with nine shots.[6] The man phoned the police at 12:36 pmET,[7] and told responders that he had shot five people.[8] While on the phone with police, he walked back to the bodies of the five women and fired two more shots at them. During the middle of the call, the man pointed the handgun to his own head and told the operator that he might kill himself.SWAT arrived, trying to negotiate to get the barricaded suspect to leave the bank. The perpetrator also told police he had a nine-millimeter handgun[9] and was wearing a bulletproof vest.[10] During the negotiations, the suspect told the negotiator that he was hearing voices telling him to kill and that placing the gun to his head weakened the voices. The crisis negotiator eventually convinced the suspect to put the handgun down and surrender, as members of the SWAT team entered the bank by ramming an armored vehicle through its glass front doors.[11][12] The suspect was arrested.[9]
The lone survivor of the shooting was a bank employee who had been in the bank's break room just before the gunman walked in. The employee escaped out the back door when gunshots first rang out; after getting outside, he called911.[7]
The perpetrator, 21-year-old Zephen Allen Xaver (born April 2, 1997),[13] was born inPlymouth, Indiana, and raised in neighboringBremen.[14][11] He was taken into custody after surrendering to local officers, and was identified as a formerFlorida Department of Corrections correctional officer trainee with theAvon Park Correctional Institution, a position from which he resigned on January 9, 2019.[15]
Xaver was charged with five counts of capital murder and held by police without bond. He was appointed a public defender as he had no income or assets.[16] On February 22, he entered a plea ofnot guilty in the case. Prosecutors intended to seek thedeath penalty.[3] On March 14, 2023, Xaver pleaded guilty in the shooting.[4] In June 2024, jurors recommended the death penalty.[17] On December 16, 2024, he was sentenced to death by a jury vote of 9-to-3.[5]
^KIM MOODY Highlands News-Sun and TERRY SPENCER (May 20, 2024)."Sentencing trial set to begin for Xaver".Mid Florida Newspapers. Associated Press. RetrievedJune 22, 2024.
