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FIVE PEOPLE HAVE died following a shooting in SunTrust Bank, in Sebring, Florida.
A 21-year-old gunman, Zephen Xaver, allegedly took hostages after barricading himself in the bank yesterday afternoon, local police said.
The victims have not yet been identified, pending family notification. It’s unclear whether they were bank employees or customers.
The shooter was a former trainee prison guard, and resigned from his job about two weeks ago.
According to investigators, Xaver called police from within the bank, telling them he had shot people.
When hostage negotiations failed, a SWAT team gained entry and captured Xaver.
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Awaiting information
Police haven’t suggested a possible motive, and don’t yet know whether the attack began as a robbery.
“Today’s been a tragic day in our community,” Sebring Police Chief Karl Hoglund said during a news conference.
“We’ve suffered significant loss at the hands of a senseless criminal doing a senseless crime.”
More information is set to be released at a press conference later.
Xaver had recently moved with his mother from Indiana. A neighbour has said he kept to himself, though “he could hear him playing and yelling at video games in the middle of the night”.
Xaver was briefly enrolled in an online-course at Stevens-Henager College, and withdrew last December.
SunTrust Chairman and CEO Bill Rogers released a statement saying the bank was “working with officials and dedicating ourselves to fully addressing the needs of all the individuals and families involved”.
The bank’s “entire team mourns this terrible loss,” he said.
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I’d like to know how the guards are able to find out this type of information for instance how they found out that a certain sportsman had received a fixed penalty notice.are the rules regarding phone tapping being followed.dogs on the street know what they’re doing
@ Ray Farrell – what do you mean Comanche Country?
Oh, I see what you mean. The people in Finglas are Comanches / the real natives and the Gardai are like the Cavalry ruining their way of life. Yeah, I get it now.
Great work by the police. Really well done. However, if it’s a case of “enter one judge NO… into the proceedings”, then most of their efforts will have been for nought.
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