Florida bank shooting: Who is suspect Zephen Xaver?

SEBRING, Fla. – Zephen Xaver was not much for posting on social media.

From Instagram to Twitter and Facebook, the 21-year-old man suspected of storming a Sebring bank and killing five people, kept a low profile, News 6 partner Florida Today reported.

Five people died Wednesday when a man identified Xaver - a former Florida Department of Corrections correctional officer - opened fire at a SunTrust bank in Sebring in a "hostage situation," according to Highlands County Commissioner Don Elwell.

Little is know about Xaver, who state officials confirmed late Wednesday was hired in November 2018 to work at Avon Park Correctional Institution near MacDill Air Force Base. Patrick Manderfield, a spokesperson for the agency, reported that Xaver had no discipline while employed with the department, but resigned on Jan. 9. No explanation was given for the resignation.

Nothing was mentioned on Xaver's social media pages about the brief stint as a correctional officer. Xaver kept a scant presence on social media with a Facebook page that listed nine friends while including a single photo of the man. The page shows he lived in Sebring and is single. Another Facebook Page, apparently set up when he lived in Plymouth, Indiana, shows an image of the Grim Reaper and another meme that reads, ‘God is busy right now…may I help you?’

That page shows 334 friends and that Xaver, who also appears to be a Japanese anime fan, lived in Bremen, Indiana. A Twitter account set up in 2017 also turns up, following a variety of people, including President Donald Trump, Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger and New Jersey Sen. Corey Booker. 

There's an interest in gun-related video games and Goth-style music along with artists such as Miley Cyrus. An Instagram page shows 38 followers.

Messages sent to social media friends were not immediately returned. 

Law enforcement officials have not released any information about him other than his name, age and that he lives in Sebring.

In Sebring, the commissioner, who spoke to CNN, announced the grim news that five people were killed at the bank. 

A county SWAT team was sent to the bank after a 911 caller reported that a gunman had fired shots inside.

"After negotiations to try to get the barricaded subject to exit the bank were not successful, the HCSO SWAT team entered the bank and continued the negotiations," the Sheriff's Office said on its Facebook page. "The suspect eventually surrendered to the HCSO SWAT team."

The situation was confined to the bank and there was no danger to the surrounding area, police said.  

Sebring is 88 miles west of Vero Beach and about 94 miles southeast of Tampa.