Police describe execution-style killings inside Florida bank

SEBRING, Florida (AP):

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.

Sebring police chief Karl Hoglund said there’s no indication Zephen Xaver intended to rob the bank and no apparent connection among him, the bank or the victims.

Xaver, 21, has been charged with five counts of premeditated murder in the shooting deaths of the four bank employees and a customer.

“He overtook the bank by force. He then shot everyone in the bank,” Hoglund said. “After shooting them, he called 911” and “told dispatchers that he’d killed everyone in the bank.”

According to an affidavit, all the victims were found in the bank’s lobby, lying face down with gunshots to the backs of their heads. Shell casings from Xaver’s 9mm handgun were scattered on the floor.

After calling 911, Xaver refused to surrender and would not allow officers to reach the victims, the chief said. After more than an hour of negotiations, the chief ordered a SWAT team in; they had to use an armoured vehicle to break through the front doors. Xaver was found in an office in the rear.

By then, all the victims were already dead, the chief said.

Hoglund identified two of the victims: customer Cynthia Watson and bank employee Marisol Lopez. Citing Florida’s version of a victims’ rights law, he said three of the families don’t want the names released.

The community is mourning the loss of “our sisters, our mothers, our daughters and our co-workers,” Hoglund said.