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SEBRING BANK SHOOTING: FDLE CRIME LAB ANALYST TO CONTINUE TESTIFYING IN GUNMAN’S
SENTENCING TRIAL

By FOX 13 News Staff
Published  June 11, 2024 8:16am EDT
Highlands County
FOX 13 News

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PRESS PLAY ABOVE TO WATCH TRIAL LIVE

SEBRING, Fla. - The second day of Zephen Xaver’s sentencing trial got underway
on Tuesday morning. Xaver pleaded guilty to shooting and killing five women at a
Sebring bank in 2019 and a jury will decide if he will be sentenced to death or
spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole.





Kate Fahey took the stand first thing on Tuesday morning as she continued her
testimony about what investigators found at the Suntrust Bank in Sebring on Jan.
23, 2019, after Zephen Xaver shot and killed five women inside the lobby. 

On Monday, after hearing prosecutor Bonde Johnson explain why the state of
Florida wants Xaver to get the death penalty, jurors listened to the 911 call
Xaver made from inside the SunTrust bank after he killed the five women. 



In the recording, he told 911 operator Kristin Johnson that he had wanted to die
since he was nine years old and wanted to kill others since he was 11. He went
on to say that he’s heard voices telling him to kill since he was 12-years-old. 

SEBRING SHOOTING TRIAL: 911 CALL PLAYED FOR JURY

Listen to the 911 call Zephen Xaver made after he killed five women inside a
SunTrust Bank in Sebring in January 2019.

The jurors also watched a video of Xaver depositing his paycheck at the SunTrust
bank on Jan. 7. The next day, he was seen on camera withdrawing $300 from the
bank. 

A few hours after withdrawing the money, prosecutors say Xaver purchased the gun
he used in the shooting. However, lawyers noted that since the gun cost more
than $300, Xaver paid for it with a credit card and did not reveal some
information from his past in the paperwork he filled out to purchase the gun.
The next day, prosecutors say Xaver resigned from his job as a corrections
officer trainee at the Avon Park Correctional Center. 

On Jan. 12, Bonde Johnson said Xaver picked up his gun from the store. 

On Jan. 23, 2019, Xaver walked into the SunTrust Bank in Sebring and ordered
five women, four employees, and one customer, to lay face-down on the lobby
floor while he shot them execution style. 

After he shot them, he called 911. 

On Monday afternoon, jurors heard from a deputy with the Highlands County
Sheriff’s Office who took information from Xaver’s cellphone and social media
pages. 

They also listened to testimony from John King of the Florida Department of Law
Enforcement, who described the victim’s gunshot wounds and explained how the
victims were identified. 

Jurors also watched surveillance video that was taken from the bank’s cameras.  

Xaver's public defender made a motion for a mistrial shortly after the video was
played because an audience member had an emotional reaction to the testimony,
and it was revealed that a therapy K-9 with the Highlands County Sheriff's
Office was present. Her motion was denied. 

The state has a potential 117 witnesses to call. 


WHO IS ZEPHEN XAVER? 

The man police say shot and killed five people in a Sebring, Florida SunTrust
bank was described by a woman who knew him as "normal" and "well-mannered."

Sharon Spillane, a friend of Xaver’s parents, told FOX 13 in 2019 that she never
in a million years saw this coming. 

"We’ve cooked together, I’ve been in their house, we’ve watched movies. They’re
a very normal family," Spillane said. "He had a job, and he was very quiet and
very well-mannered. Anytime that I saw him, he was very well-mannered, always
good posture and well-spoken."

However, Xaver’s ex-girlfriend paints a different picture. In a previous
interview with FOX 13, Alex Gerlach said Xaver was obsessed with guns and
knives.

"The only thing I can remember is him talking about guns and wanting guns,"
Gerlach said in a 2019 interview. "He wants to hurt people physically."

According to Gerlach, she met Xaver in a psychiatric hospital in 2013. She said
they dated off and on for about two years.

Pictured: Zephen Xaver

"At one point, my mother was terrified because she thought he was going to
physically harm me," explained Gerlach, who described Xaver as a troubled teen.
"For some reason, he always hated people and wanted everybody to die."

Gerlach said Xaver continued to make chilling comments over the years and said
one week before the shooting he sent her a picture of him holding a gun.

"I've been scared for years and every single person I've told has not taken it
seriously, and it's very unfortunate it had to come to this," she said in 2019.

Documents provided by the Bremen Police Department in Indiana state officers
went to Xaver's high school in 2014, after school officials said he was having
disturbing thoughts.

The documents state Xaver told school officials he had dreams of hurting his
classmates. According to the police report, Xaver's mother agreed to take her
son to a behavioral health center.

The Florida Department of Corrections confirmed Xaver was a correctional officer
trainee with Avon Park Correctional Institution for about two months. He
resigned two weeks before the shooting.


SEBRING SHOOTING VICTIMS

Marisol Lopez, Jessica Montague, Debra Cook and Ana Piñon-Williams were working
at the SunTrust branch on U.S. 27 when Xaver opened fire. A customer, Cynthia
Watson, was also killed in the attack. 

Following the shooting, Piñon-Williams' brother-in-law made a public statement
on behalf of the family. He said the mother of seven was devoted to her family
and her faith, "truly a light in this world."

◀︎ ▶︎
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▼

 

"Loving her was easy. Living without her will be hard. Our family will not only
survive, but we will thrive," Tim Williams said.

Bank employee Marisol Lopez, 55, leaves behind her husband and two children. Her
Facebook profile picture shows her smiling with a loved one. That smile is how
longtime neighbor Gil Osborne said he will remember her.

"She had the best personality, always friendly, always smiling and always
generous," Osborne told FOX 13 News in an earlier interview.

Officials said there was another employee in the bank at the time of the
shooting. Law enforcement did not name the employee, but said the person was in
a back room when shots were fired. They were able to escape and call for help.


WILL ZEPHEN XAVER GET THE DEATH PENALTY? 

Xaver’s trial will be one of the first high-profile cases in Florida where the
death penalty sentence no longer hinges on a unanimous jury verdict.

Florida lawmakers made the change in 2023, shortly after jurors spared the life
of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas school shooter in a 9-3 decision.

Florida law now states that a defendant may be sentenced to death if at least 8
of the 12 jurors recommend execution. 

State Attorney Brian Haas says all five of the victims‘ families support seeking
the death penalty in this case. 

Xaver's sentencing trial is expected to take several weeks.  

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Watch Live
Sebring bank shooter sentencing trial continues

Testimony continues in the sentencing trial of Sebring bank shooter Zephen
Xaver.

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