SEBRING, Fla. — Investigators on Wednesday swarmed the home where neighbors say 21-year-old Zephen Xaver lived with his parents for at least the past year.
The former corrections officer trainee accused of shooting five people to death at the SunTrust Bank off U.S. Highway 27 was intelligent, according to neighbors, and much like any other young adult.
But Sebring Police Department Chief Karl Hoglund quoted Xaver, who said "I have shot five people," in the moments after the shooting. He faces five counts of premeditated first-degree murder.
Sharron Spillane lives next door and arrived home to find a line of law enforcement vehicles clogging her street
"It's just very shocking," she said. "Because I know the family, and nothing like this has happened to someone I personally know.
Spillane says her neighbors would often invite her over for dinner or to watch a movie; Xaver seemed like a perfectly normal kid. She says while Xaver would often hang out in his room playing video games, he also made time to be nice to her 9-year-old daughter.
"He's a good kid," Spillane said.
She said Xaver is "his mother's life" and called him his mother's "baby."
Investigators have still offered no motive for Wednesday's mass shooting making the circumstances that much harder to comprehend.
Xaver is in the Highlands County jail awaiting his first appearance in front of a judge Thursday morning.
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