Zephen Allen Xaver killed Jessica Montague, top left inset; Ana Piñon-Williams, bottom left inset; Marisol Lopez, bottom middle inset; Cynthia Lee Watson, top right inset; and Debra Cook, bottom right inset. (Victim screenshots from WFLA/YouTube; Courtroom screenshot from WTSP/YouTube)
A jury recommended the death penalty for a man who shot five women “execution-style” at a bank in Florida.
Zephen Allen Xaver, 27, learned his fate in the 2019 mass shooting. A jury in Highlands County voted 9-3 that he receive the death penalty. A judge will formally sentence him in mid-July. He had pleaded guilty to five counts of first-degree murder.
The victims’ families spoke out to reporters after the hearing. Killed were SunTrust employees Marisol Lopez, 55; Ana Piñon-Williams, 38; Jessica Montague, 31; and Debra Cook, and customer Cynthia Lee Watson, 65.
“I’ll never be the person I was before my mother was murdered,” said April Nelson, the daughter of Cynthia Watson, according to Tampa’s NBC affiliate WFLA. “It is what the families wanted, and it doesn’t bring them back. It doesn’t make it any better, but it’s what he deserves, five times over.”
Blanca Piñon, Piñon-Williams’ sister, said her family will never fully heal, local Fox affiliate WTVT reported.
“I feel like we are now one step closer to closing this chapter, but of course, we will never be able to completely heal because Ana was a huge part of our lives. She was the glue to our family. We will always have that missing piece.”
Marisol Lopez’s husband said he feels some closure.
“The verdict won’t bring her back,” he told reporters, Mid Florida Newspapers reported. “So, one way or the other, it’s OK, but at least I have some closure in my heart right now.”
Jessica Montaigne’s husband said he feels a weight has been lifted off his shoulders.
“It’s been a roller coaster, honestly,” NBC Palm Beach affiliate WPTV reported he said. “Emotions everywhere, not knowing what’s going to happen.”
As Law&Crime reported, Xaver, then 21, walked into a SunTrust Bank in Sebring, Florida, and murdered four employees and one customer on Jan. 23, 2019. He entered the bank, armed with a 9-millimeter handgun and wearing body armor. Xaver fatally shot all five victims, then called 911, and stayed on the phone until police and sheriff’s office units arrived, police said. Sebring is about 85 miles southeast of Tampa.
Police set up a perimeter. Crisis negotiators made contact with him by phone. During negotiations, after authorities said it appeared the gunman wasn’t going to allow police access to the victims in the bank, law enforcement personnel went in and apprehended Xaver. The victims were shot execution-style.
A former bank teller, who was in a breakroom when he heard gunshots, fled out of the bank to safety and called police, WTVT reported.
At trial, prosecutors described it as “shockingly evil.”
“He didn’t murder one person to truly know what it would be like to kill. He killed five. He watched them laying there on the floor. They were under his control, for his enjoyment, as he shot each one,” Prosecutor Bonde Johnson said, The Associated Press reported.
Johnson read from the killer’s twisted writings in court, WFLA reported.
“It’s all I hear every day. It’s all I see every day. It’s all I smell and taste every day: blood, death, and murder.”
Jane McNeill, Xaver’s defense attorney, tried to argue for life, saying he was “broken,” “mentally ill,” and “brain damaged,” the outlet reported.
Law&Crime’s Alberto Luperon contributed to this report.
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