Sebring bank shooting: Five women killed, two identified

Five women, including four employees and one client, were the victims of the mass shooting at a SunTrust bank in Sebring, a city in central Florida.

The victims are Marisol López, who worked at the bank, and Cynthia Watson, a customer at this branch. The relatives of the other three murdered victims asked not to reveal their identities to the media.

Karl Hoglund, chief of the Sebring Police, said a news conference on Thursday that there is no clear reason or direct connection between the victims and the suspect in the shooting, the 21-year-old Zephen Xaver.

He had been a correctional officer trainee

The suspect, Xaver, was a correctional officer trainee at Avon Park Correctional Institution and resigned two weeks ago, on January 9, according to Patrick Manderfield, a spokesman for the Florida Department of Corrections.

Xaver, who had recently moved to Florida, was charged with five counts of first-degree murder and remains in jai without bail.

Xaver, this time wearing a black-and-white striped jail uniform, appeared in court Thursday via closed-circuit camera and admitted in the hearing this morning to have fired inside the bank and then to have taken several hostages. Then he called 911 and after several hours of talks, he turned himself to the authorities.

Initial negotiations to get the barricaded suspect to surrender failed, so a SWAT team entered the building and continued negotiating, “unfortunately all the victims were dead,” Hoglund said.

Police said they found Xaver in an office in the back of the bank.

This is the first mass shooting to take place under new Gov. Ron SeSantis, who traveled to Sebring to confer with authorities and investigators.