Execution-style shootings at Florida bank takeover

A gunman who overtook a bank branch in Florida apparently made the five women inside lie down on the lobby floor before shooting them in the backs of their heads, police said.

There is no indication Zephen Xaver intended to rob the SunTrust Bank, and no apparent connection among him, the bank or the victims, Sebring police chief Karl Hoglund said.

Xaver, 21, has been charged with five counts of premeditated murder in the shooting of the four bank employees and a customer.

“He overtook the bank by force. He then shot everyone in the bank,” Mr Hoglund said.

“After shooting them, he called 911” and “told dispatchers that he’d killed everyone in the bank.”

After calling 911, Xaver refused to surrender and would not allow officers to reach the victims, the chief said.

After more than an hour of negotiations, the chief ordered a Swat team in; they had to use an armoured vehicle to break through the front doors.

Xaver was found in an office in the rear. By then, all the victims were already dead.

Mr Hoglund identified two of the victims: customer Cynthia Watson and bank employee Marisol Lopez.

Citing Florida’s version of a victims’ rights law, he said three of the families do not want the names released.