While we still usually associate the term “active shooter” with an attack on a school of some level, elementary through college, we need to constantly keep in mind that it doesn’t require an educational setting. Active Shooter events have occurred at schools, business buildings, warehouses, places of worship, shopping malls and more. In fact, anywhere you can think of where groups of people gather, you can probably find an active shooter even that has occurred there. In this case, the shooter’s target location was the SunTrust Bank in Sebring, Florida.
Just after noon on January 23, 2019, the suspect, Zephen Xaver, entered the bank, originally took hostages and then killed them. There were a total of five victims, four of whom were employees and one who was a customer. The victims ranged in age from 37 to 65 and were all female. The only person reportedly in the bank when Xaver began his attack was an employee who was on break and, upon hearing the shots, escaped through a back door exit, thereafter immediately calling 9-1-1.
Xaver’s only weapon was a 9mm handgun of an, as yet, unspecified manufacture or model and he was reportedly wearing a ballistic vest (body armor) when he committed his attack. The wearing of that body armor may indicate he intended to engage the police or at least anticipated doing so. It may merely have been to protect himself from potentially armed customers / employees of the bank.
The timing of the attack was a topic of discussion, having occurred at approximately 12:30 pm on a Wednesday afternoon. Middle of the day, middle of the week, was Xaver thinking he’d have more people in the bank because it was lunch time for so many? Or had he not even thought about his target location / population at all?
Early investigation revealed that Xaver himself called 9-1-1 at approximately 12:36p.m. claiming to have killed five people in the bank and warning the police about being armed and having on body armor. As protocol dictates, the emergency dispatcher kept him on the line while activating SWAT, hostage negotiators, emergency medical services and more. Upon their arrival, the condition of the victims was unknown and Xaver reportedly would not allow any of the victims to be evacuated for treatment, nor EMS personnel in to treat them.
It was almost an hour and a half later when SWAT was ordered to breach the bank, allegedly doing so by driving an APC through the front door/windows. At that time Xaver had apparently taken refuge in a back room and had to be talked out by the negotiators. Just before two p.m., almost two hours after his initial entry and attack, he surrendered and was arrested.
Xaver’s history was not clear of mental or emotional health concerns, and several of those who knew him prior to the attack spoke of his fascination with death and wanting to kill people. One ex-girlfriend, who met him in a psychiatric treatment facility, mentioned that he was enamored with guns and she didn’t think anything of it. He apparently didn’t mention his fascination with killing at the same time as he talked about his love of guns. Another of Xaver’s past associates said that Xaver had expressed an interest in joining the military so he could kill people. In fact, Xaver had enlisted in the Army in March of 2016 but was unable to finish Basic Training. In June 2016 he was discharged from training but the Army spokesperson would not comment on why. (It’s easy to assume it had something to do with his alleged tendency toward killing, but it could just as easily have been his failure to comply with uniform regulations, inability to pass tests, etc.)
Xaver had also been previously employed by the Florida Department of Corrections but had left the job after only about two months and reportedly had no disciplinary issues while employed there. As a temporary, probationary or conditional employee of the Florida DoC, that may have been when the background investigation discovered his previous psychiatric treatment or received word from the Army personnel office as to the cause of his trainee discharge, either of which might have been cause for dismissal. Reports indicate that he resigned in January 2017 but they may simply have been the act of a kind supervisor who said, “Resign… because it’ll be easier to find another job that way rather than having to explain why you were terminated.” This is conjecture but happens in some cases.
To date, as far as this author can ascertain, there is still no confirmed motive for the murders. Xaver reportedly made previous comment indicating he thought school shootings were of interest and spoke of killing students. Perhaps the bank just offered an easier target, albeit with far fewer potential targets/victims. Xaver remains in prison pending trial. In February 2019 he pled not guilty to the five charges of murder against him.
The one thing of note that can be learned from this event is that a witness approached the bank after Xaver had already taken his hostages and had them laying on the floor. The bank doors were locked, apparently by Xaver on entry, and the long-time customer of the bank / witness looked through the glass to see the hostages laying on the floor with Xaver pacing around. The witness returned to his vehicle, calling 9-1-1 along the way, and heard the gunshots as he did so. It’s the perfect example of how a citizen can place a call in a timely fashion to provide vital information to emergency personnel. This is “if you see something, say something” in action and should always be encouraged.
Joshua Borelli
Joshua Borelli has been studying active shooter and mass attack events over the course of the past several years, commensurate with receiving training on response and recovery to natural disasters and civil disturbances. Joshua started to outline this series of articles in an attempt to identify commonalities and logistical needs patterns for response.
