2 dead in attack by bat-wielding burglar
A 10-year-old boy called 911 and hid in the bathroom during attack.
A 10-year-old boy called 911 and hid in the bathroom of a Windermere home late Thursday while a bat-wielding burglar killed the child’s grandfather and uncle and seriously injured his grandmother, according to police.
The suspect, Ezekiel Emanuel Hopkins, faces charges of murder and aggravated battery, Windermere police Chief David A. Ogden said in a press release.
The incident happened on Sunbittern Court, which is in the Lake Crescent Reserve gated subdivision.
Hopkins, 34, was trying to steal a vehicle from the house when homeowners John and Lisa Savey, both 61, confronted him, Ogden said. Hopkins then attacked and killed John Savey and pursued Lisa Savey inside the house, police said.
Once inside, he attacked Lisa Savey and killed James Savey, who is the boy’s uncle and the son of John and Lisa Savey, police said. Hopkins beat all three Saveys with a bat, Ogden said. Lisa Savey survived and was taken to a local hospital with serious injuries, police said.
Police officers from Windermere, Ocoee and Oakland as well as Orange County Sheriff ’s Office deputies responded and entered the home. Hopkins by then was closed inside a bathroom, police said.
When officers forced their way inside, he was found and arrested. Hopkins appeared to have swallowed bleach, so he was taken to Health Central Hospital in Ocoee for treatment, said Ogden, who described the suspect as “not very responsive while at the scene.”
Next-door neighbor Kay Chang said she and her husband did not wake up during the attack late Thursday, but found their neighborhood swarmed with police Friday morning. She said she was heartbroken to learn what had happened to the Saveys.
“John and Lisa and their family are the most precious human beings,” Chang said, choking up.
Chang said her longtime neighbors, who were about a decade younger than she and her husband, would often help them around the house or yard, taking in their trash bins or helping out with hurricane preparedness.
“John is so kind, he’s always trying to help,” Chang said. According to Florida records, John Savey was a licensed real estate agent.
Chang said James “Jay” Savey, 30, was “a sweetheart” who she had watched grow up. She said the Saveys were “good Christians” who went to church and attended bible studies.
“I’m so shocked, I’m still kind of shaken,” she said.
Chang said law enforcement told her to stay in the house Friday. A medical examiner’s van remained in their cul-de-sac late into Friday morning.
According to police, prior to the Savey’s grandson calling 911, officers with the Ocoee Police Department had seen a suspicious vehicle near Ocoee Apopka Road behind a construction area. The vehicle sped off down McGuire Road and officers did not chase it, but it soon drove off a berm along Park Avenue, which runs parallel to part of Sunbittern Court.
The car plowed through “several” yards and crashed into a tree near the Sunbittern Court home, Ogden said. The police chief did not say if Hopkins is suspected of having been the car’s driver.
Chang said she wondered why the man tried to steal the Savey’s vehicle, noting that her Mercedes had been parked right next to John Savey’s truck.
The case is still under investigation. A member of the Savey family declined to speak to a reporter when reached by phone Friday morning.