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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.”
RELATED: The latest on the Florida bank shooting
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.
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.
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.”
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.”
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.