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Gunman Kills 5 in a Florida Bank, Police Say Gunman Kills 5 in a Florida Bank, Police Say
(35 minutes later)
Five people are dead after a gunman fired shots inside a bank on Wednesday in Sebring, Fla., about 80 miles south of Orlando, the authorities said. A gunman killed five people in a bank in Florida on Wednesday, setting off a tense standoff with police negotiators that ended when a SWAT team burst into the building in Sebring and the man surrendered, the authorities said.
Shortly after noon, a man contacted emergency dispatchers and reported that he had fired shots inside a SunTrust Bank branch on a strip of U.S. Route 27 between Lake Jackson and Little Lake Jackson. The Sebring Police Department and the Highlands County Sheriff’s Office responded, according to a statement. Shortly after noon, a man contacted emergency dispatchers and said he had fired shots inside a SunTrust Bank branch on a strip of U.S. Route 27 between Lake Jackson and Little Lake Jackson, about 80 miles south of Orlando. The Sebring Police Department and the Highlands County Sheriff’s Office responded, according to a statement from the sheriff’s office.
The officers tried to persuade the man to exit the bank. When that was unsuccessful, the sheriff’s SWAT team entered the bank and the person surrendered. By midafternoon on Wednesday, the police said there was no longer any danger to the area. Chief Karl Hoglund of the Sebring police said that officers had tried to persuade the shooter to exit the bank, but he surrendered only after the sheriff’s SWAT team entered the building. By midafternoon on Wednesday, the police said there was no longer any danger to the area.
“We are sorry to learn that we have at least five victims, people who were senselessly murdered, as a result of his act in this bank,” Chief Karl Hoglund of the Sebring police said at a news conference on Wednesday afternoon.
He identified the man in custody as Zephen Xaver, 21, a resident of Sebring. But he said that the families of the victims had not yet been notified. “This is a very dynamic and ongoing investigation,” he added.
Sheriff Paul Blackman said that the authorities expected to release more information about the shooting on Thursday morning.Sheriff Paul Blackman said that the authorities expected to release more information about the shooting on Thursday morning.
“We are sorry to learn that we have at least five victims, people who were senselessly murdered, as a result of his act in this bank,” Chief Hoglund said at a brief news conference late Wednesday afternoon. He identified the man in custody as Zephen Xaver, 21, a resident of Sebring.
The chief told reporters that investigators had not finished identifying the victims and had not notified the families of those they had identified. “This is a very dynamic and ongoing investigation,” he added.
Gov. Ron DeSantis, who traveled to the area on Wednesday afternoon, posted a condolence message from him and his wife, Casey, on Twitter.
“This is a terrible day for Sebring, Highlands County and for the state of Florida,” Mr. DeSantis said. “Casey and I extend our most sincere condolences and sympathies to the families and loved ones of the victims. The people of Florida stand with the community of Sebring.”
The governor said the gunman was “an individual that needs to face very swift and exacting justice.”
Don Elwell, a member of the Highlands County Board of County Commissioners, said families of the victims had gathered at a hotel in Sebring to wait for updates from the police.
“We have a whole lot more questions right now than answers,” he said. Both the shootings and the lack of information had left the community in shock, he said.
“For us — I have some family in Las Vegas, where there was that big shooting, and they said, ‘We’re sorry to welcome you to our club,’” Mr. Elwell said on Wednesday, referring to a 2017 shooting that killed 59 people. “Obviously that was a different scale, but here in little Sebring it might as well be same.”
The episode on Wednesday is just the latest of several high-profile shootings in Florida that have roiled the state in recent months.
Last February, a young gunman barged into his former high school in Parkland, Fla., opening fire on terrified students and teachers and leaving 17 dead. In August, a man with a handgun killed two people at a video-game tournament in Jacksonville, Fla., before fatally shooting himself. And last fall, a man walked into a yoga studio in Tallahassee, Fla., and shot six people — two fatally — before killing himself.
Florida, which bears the official nickname the Sunshine State, is sometimes referred to as the Gunshine State because of its traditionally loose restrictions on firearms. But in March 2018, in the wake of the Parkland shooting, then-governor Rick Scott of Florida signed an array of gun limits into law that included raising the minimum age to purchase a firearm to 21 and extending the waiting period to three days.
It was the most aggressive action on gun control taken in the state in decades, and the National Rifle Association almost immediately sued.