Sebring bank standoff: Shooter surrenders after shots fired at SunTrust bank

[lakelandman]

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/flori ... story.html
An armed man who fired shots inside a SunTrust bank in Sebring — which reportedly left multiple people injured — has surrendered after a standoff, authorities said.

According to an alert by the Highlands County Sheriff’s Office, deputies and Sebring police responded to the bank on U.S. Highway 27 about 12:30 p.m. after a person called the agency’s dispatch and reported he had fired shots inside the bank.

Police and deputies established a perimeter but were unable to get the gunman to surrender by negotiating, authorities said.

An HCSO SWAT team later entered the bank and the suspect eventually surrendered, the agency said. Officials have not yet publicly identified the shooter or said what prompted the incident.


NBC affiliate WFLA-Channel 8 said Sebring police confirmed that “several people are down” at the bank, while a Highlands County commissioner told CNN multiple people had been shot.

WTSP-Channel 10 also reported a shooting with more than one victim. The WTSP report described the incident as having begun with “an apparent bank robbery.” Sebring’s mayor, John Shoop, reportedly told the station the shooter was alive and had exited the bank.

“The situation is confined to the bank and there is no danger to the surrounding area,” the Sheriff’s Office said in an alert.

[zeebaron]

I will never understand why people are so desperate for money that they place themselves in high risk situations, like working in a bank or convenience store clerk, when their both being paid poorly and can't conceal carry a weapon on the job by company policy.

[Tenzing_Norgay]

Dirt-bag shooter Zephen Xaver

[lakelandman]

Zephen Xaver was employed as a correctional officer trainee at Avon Park Correctional Institution and resigned two weeks ago.

[Slartibartfast]

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


https://www.npr.org/2019/01/23/68801259 ... in-custody

At least five people were killed when a man opened fire Wednesday afternoon in a bank in Sebring, Fla., according to officials.

At a brief news conference, Sebring Police Chief Karl Hoglund named 21-year-old Zephen Xaver, of Sebring, as the suspect. Xaver is in police custody.

"Today has been a tragic day in our community," Hoglund said. "We've suffered a significant loss at the hands of a senseless criminal doing a senseless crime."

At approximately 12:36 p.m., Sebring police and Highlands County Sheriff's deputies responded to a SunTrust bank branch after a man called police dispatchers and said he had fired shots in the bank.

Responding law enforcement agents began negotiating with the barricaded shooter, trying to get him to surrender. A SWAT team from the sheriff's department entered the building and continued to negotiate with the gunman until he eventually surrendered. Video footage from the scene showed a standalone, low-slung brick building with apparent damage to one of its main entrances.

Police didn't release information about the victims, saying they would provide more details on Thursday morning. They said that an investigation is ongoing, but that there is no further danger to surrounding areas; local schools were locked down during the incident.

"This is an individual that needs to face very swift and exacting justice," Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said at the news conference. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. called the shooting "tragic" in a tweet.

"We are deeply saddened by the tragic shooting at our Sebring, Florida branch this afternoon. We are working with officials and dedicating ourselves to fully addressing the needs of all the individuals and families involved," SunTrust CEO Bill Rogers said in a statement. "Our entire team mourns this terrible loss."

Authorities have not yet suggested a possible motive.

[Molivo]

I don't think this was a robbery.

Bad news shooting. And two weeks after the Sebring gunshow to top it off..there's a whole lot of dealers sweating right now...

[Skoll]

Get ready for the rest of us to get blamed for this shit and more calling for the curtailing of our civil liberties. They're going to say that 21 is too young to own a gun now.

[P5 Guy]

It's all our fault and the NRA for not allowing 'common sense' gun controls.
I can hear Nikki Freid now.

[flcracker]

Maybe it's the lack of mental illness awareness/funding and willingness to intervene, maybe it's the video games.....

http://www.therepublic.com/2019/01/23/u ... florida-2/

Police describe execution-style killings inside Florida bank

SEBRING, Fla. — 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.

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.

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.

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.

[Skoll]

Maybe it's the lack of mental illness awareness/funding and willingness to intervene, maybe it's the video games.....

Maybe it was the high fees?