A gunman on Wednesday killed five people in a bank in central Florida and then called police to inform them of the shooting before he eventually surrendered, local authorities said.
The shooting occurred at the SunTrust Bank in Sebring, a town of about 10,000 people 153km south of Orlando, at about 12:30pm, Sebring Police Chief Karl Hoglund said at a news conference.
The 21-year-old suspect, identified as Zephen Xaver, called 911 dispatchers and said he had shot five people inside the bank, authorities said.
Photo: EPA-EFE
When police entered the bank, the gunman had barricaded himself inside, but eventually surrendered, the Sebring Police Department said in a statement posted on Facebook.
Police did not offer any details about a possible motive.
“Today has been a tragic day in our community,” Hoglund said. “We’ve suffered significant loss at the hands of a senseless criminal doing a senseless crime.”
No information has been released about the victims, who were the only people in the bank at the time of the shooting, police said.
“We are working closely with officials and seeking to take care of everyone affected at our Sebring, Florida branch,” bank spokeswoman Sue Mallino said.
A spokeswoman for Stevens-Henager College in Utah said that Xaver was an online student from September to last month before he voluntarily withdrew.
Xaver lived for a time in northwest Indiana, local news in Indiana reported, citing social media accounts associated with the same name.
Xaver was hired in November to work at Avon Park Correctional Institution, a Florida Department of Corrections prison, before he resigned earlier this month, a report by FloridaToday.com said, citing state officials.
Avon Park did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not