'Several down' after reports of armed person in Sebring bank

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"SEBRING, Fla. (WFLA) - A massive law enforcement investigation is underway in central Florida after an incident inside a bank.

A commander for the Sebring Police Department confirms "there is a report of an armed person" in the SunTrust bank on US-27 in Highlands County. He also said, "several people are down."

The Highlands County Sheriff's Office says US-27 is shut down in both directions from Hammock Road to Lakeview Drive due to the incident. People are being asked to avoid the area.

The sheriff's office says co-workers and family members of anyone who was inside the bank during the incident should go to the Inn on the Lakes on Gulfview Road.

The Kindergarten Learning Center on US-27 is in a controlled campus as a precautionary measure. The county school board says there is no threat to the school but there may be disruptions to the dismissal schedule. Parents should be notified via call.

Fred Wild Elementary is also on a controlled campus.

Sebring is 94 miles southeast of Tampa, about an hour and 45 minutes away.

News Channel 8 has crews headed to the scene and will bring you updates as soon as we get them."

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Suspect is apparently in custody from what I've heard. But what I want to know more is what happened to the front entrance?

I have to wonder if this was a tried and true mass shooting or a robbery that got botched real bad.

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Death toll is at five right now. America couldn't go one month into the new year before a mass murder happened.

Is it me, or has there been more and more shootings in Florida as of recently?

School Massacre Archives wrote:

Is it me, or has there been more and more shootings in Florida as of recently?

Absolutely, just in the past couple years there's been Pulse (49 dead), Parkland (17 dead), Fort. Lauderdale Airport (5 dead), Jacksonville (2 dead), Orlando apartments (4 dead) and Hillsborough (4 dead) and now this Suntrust thing (5 dead). Which is a crazy amount for one state to have

Mh_12rm_66 wrote:

School Massacre Archives wrote:

Is it me, or has there been more and more shootings in Florida as of recently?

Absolutely, just in the past couple years there's been Pulse (49 dead), Parkland (17 dead), Fort. Lauderdale Airport (5 dead), Jacksonville (2 dead), Orlando apartments (4 dead) and Hillsborough (4 dead) and now this Suntrust thing (5 dead). Which is a crazy amount for one state to have

It's considered the craziest state of the union for a reason.

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5 facts about the shooting and the suspect himself.

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His Facebook pages.

School Massacre Archives wrote:

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His Facebook page.

Damn, you're moving fast. Kiwi Farms needs to up their game, I haven't seen them say a thing about this incident or the perpetrator.

His name sounds like something out of a futuristic video game.

I also saw his first Facebook profile and it looks like it has a My Little Pony character as the background. made me laugh a bit

NSAhoneypot wrote:

I also saw his first Facebook profile and it looks like it has a My Little Pony character as the background. made me laugh a bit

lmao I knew Randy Stair wouldn't be the last brony killer.

QuestionMark wrote:

I have to wonder if this was a tried and true mass shooting or a robbery that got botched real bad.

I wondered this at first, seemed like an actual mass shooting considering he wasn't wearing a mask and brought a real gun. If he was planning on using the quiet method of giving the worker a note and showing them the gun he likely would've used a fake one like most do, there would've been no point in getting a real gun.

InsaneIntruder wrote:

QuestionMark wrote:

I have to wonder if this was a tried and true mass shooting or a robbery that got botched real bad.

I wondered this at first, seemed like an actual mass shooting considering he wasn't wearing a mask and brought a real gun. If he was planning on using the quiet method of giving the worker a note and showing them the gun he likely would've used a fake one like most do, there would've been no point in getting a real gun.

Unless of course, he was a dumb crook.

Seems that wasn't the case though.
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From the looks of it, this was a legit mass murder.

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This has more info on his social media accounts. Unfortunately they do not link to these accounts, so verifying what the news has reported is going to be hard.

All of his victims were women, however police state that was random and no one was targeted. Idk about that... maybe another incel shooter?

hvernon wrote:

All of his victims were women, however police state that was random and no one was targeted. Idk about that... maybe another incel shooter?

He apparently had a girlfriend so maybe not, let's wait and see what info comes out.

Over the years, Mr. Xaver complained about being bullied at school and disliked by his family, said Mr. Heitkamp, who now works in the service industry.

When Mr. Xaver got upset, Mr. Heitkamp said, he openly talked about a desire to hurt people and how he had access to guns.

“This man did not hide it,” Mr. Heitkamp said in an interview on Thursday. “He had an obsession with violence.”

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Here’s a timeline of events that occurred inside the bank

12:30 p.m.

Xaver entered the SunTrust Bank, 1901 U.S. 27 South, with a gun. He immediately contacted bank employees and a bank customer, and overtook the bank by force.

He then shot everyone in the bank.

12:36 p.m.

After shooting them, Xaver called 911 on himself. He told dispatchers that he had killed five people in the bank.

The thoughts and the acts of local dispatchers were to maintain phone contact with him until responding units arrived at the scene.

12:40 p.m.

Units from the Highlands County Sheriff’s Office arrived at the bank.

12:42 p.m.

Units from the Sebring Police Department responded 2 minutes later.

Both units maintained observation and control of the scene until other units arrived, including crisis negotiators.

12:44 p.m.

A SWAT callout was initiated in hopes that authorities could assume responsibility of the scene. During crisis negotiations with Xaver, it appeared he was not willing to allow law enforcement authorities access to the victims in the bank.

1:54 p.m.

The Highlands County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team entered the bank at the request of Sebring Police Chief Karl Hoglund. The team entered by crashing through the front doors in an armored SWAT vehicle, according to the Sheriff's Office.

2:28 p.m.

After entering and securing the scene, authorities located Xaver in a rear office and took him into custody, according to an arrest affidavit. He had a bulletproof vest and a 9 mm handgun, the affidavit stated.

They immediately began assessing victims. All victims had succumbed to their injuries inside the bank.

The victims were found lying face down in the lobby with gunshot wounds in the backs of their heads and upper torsos, according to the affidavit.

Shit. Why do I feel like I know this person? I swear I met someone on Skype with the SAME NAME as him and is also a brony.

Update: Disregard this. It turns out I never met him online at all. The person in question that I met on Skype was someone with a different, but similar name.

School Massacre Archives wrote:

Shit. Why do I feel like I know this person? I swear I met someone on Skype with the SAME NAME as him and is also a brony.

Update: Disregard this. It turns out I never met him online at all. The person in question that I met on Skype was someone with a different, but similar name.

Why would you talk to a brony?

Preparator and his girlfriend:

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InsaneIntruder wrote:

School Massacre Archives wrote:

Shit. Why do I feel like I know this person? I swear I met someone on Skype with the SAME NAME as him and is also a brony.

Update: Disregard this. It turns out I never met him online at all. The person in question that I met on Skype was someone with a different, but similar name.

Why would you talk to a brony?

It was 2015. I didn't know any better.

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Wonder why they broke up.

Tommy QTR wrote:

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Wonder why they broke up.

She stated in a news article that I read that he was bad for her mental health. I'm guessing his obsession with death was just too much.

hvernon wrote:

Tommy QTR wrote:

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Wonder why they broke up.

She stated in a news article that I read that he was bad for her mental health. I'm guessing his obsession with death was just too much.

When exactly did they break up? Because I'm wondering if that's what pushed him over the edge.

I wonder if his original plan A was a bank robbery but if everything didn't 100% go his way he would immediately switch to plan B and do a mass shooting instead. He also took hostages if I recall correctly, but considering how he shot and killed everyone I'm guessing that he wasn't doing a true hostage-taking and was instead using them to prolong the amount of time before the law enforcement would storm in or using it as an excuse to make it easier for him to kill.

TheDragonoid wrote:

If this wasn't supposed to be a robbery, that's just bad tatics. Why do a mass shooting at a bank of all places?

I assume it's because people will think it's a robbery and will immediately lay down on the floor, but then again, a bank is usually pretty empty.