Police records show Xaver, accused of killing 5 at a Florida bank, had a history of mental health issues

BREMEN, Ind. -- 21-year-old Zephen Xaver, who’s been identified as the man who opened fire in a Florida bank yesterday, killing 5 people, was having dreams of killing other students while at Bremen High School, police said.

Records show he also had a history of mental health issues. 

Xaver made his first appearance in court Thursday and, in a press conference, Sebring Police detailed what happened inside the Suntrust Bank where five people were killed.

“Zephen Allen Xaver knowingly and intentionally took the lives of five of our community members,” Karl Hoglunde of the Sebring Police Department said. 

The Marshall County native has left his community shocked.

Xaver lived in both Bremen and Plymouth, attending public schools in the area, before moving to Florida last year and briefly worked there as a prison guard before resigning from that position earlier this month.

Darla Carlberg who lives in Plymouth say this hits close to home.

“It is shocking!” Carlberg said. “So much of the news isn’t shocking anymore. My whole family went to Plymouth High School, my sons, and my daughter.”

Officials at Bremen High school said he briefly attended the school during the 2013-2014 school year but did not graduate from there.

During his time at Bremen high school is when Bremen Police responded to a complaint of a "trouble student" having dreams of hurting his classmates. 

Xaver’s classmates describe him as being quiet, but even considering his violent dreams; they never thought he would be capable of doing this.

“Zephen Xaver has formally been charged with five counts of murder in the first degree. We have no information at this time as to what his motive may have been. We believe it was a random act, we don’t think anyone was specifically targeted,” Hoglunde said.

A month after responding to Bremen High, police received a call from the Xaver home.

The report reads: “The reason for the call was to give officers advance notice that if she were to call to assistance there is an immediate need due to Zephen’s psychiatric issues.”

Then in 2017, Michigan State Police received notification from a girl who had been texting Xaver who told them he was possibly thinking of suicide by cop and taking hostages.

Police reports show that the mother declined police assistance and said she would talk to Xaver following that incident.

Now, former classmates of Xaver say they saddened that whatever issues he had led to the senseless murder of five women in Florida.

“I feel sorry for the family and for him,” Carlberg said. “I don’t know why he would have done that.”

Police in Florida are still working out a motive for the shooting.