What we know about Florida bank shooting suspect Zephen Xaver

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Thursday, January 24, 2019
What we know about Florida bank shooting suspect
ABC News shares the latest details about Florida shooting suspect Zephen Xaver.

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 lastest on the Florida bank shooting



WEDNESDAY'S EVENTS



Police identified 21-year-old Zephen Xaver as the man who 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 surrounded 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.


The Associated Press and ABC News contributed to this report.

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