Sebring shooting suspect's background reveals murderous dreams, dark texts

A couple who tried to go into a Sebring bank Wednesday was caught by surprise.

Victor and Deanna Sparks said they were making a midday stop at a Suntrust Bank on U.S. when they noticed the doors were locked.

When Victor Sparks looked inside, he saw something that prompted him to call 911.

"They were on their stomachs, and there was an individual walking behind them," said Sparks.

Zephen Xaver, 21, shot and killed five women inside the bank, police said.

SEBRING, Fla. — TRENDING NOW:

"The thought that goes through my mind is, ‘I was probably the last person other than the shooter to see them alive,’ and that really hits home," Sparks said.

A sixth bank employee was sitting in a breakroom when the shooting started. The employee ran out a back door and called 911, according to The Associated Press.

Police identified three of the victims: customer Cynthia Watson, 65, and two bank employees: Marisol Lopez, 55 and Ana Pinon Williams, 38, a mother of seven.

Tim Williams said his sister-in-law was a devout Christian "and family to everyone she knew." She had recently started working at the bank, and she quickly came to love the job and her co-workers, he said.

A fourth victim was identified when her husband spoke with a national news outlet. Maine Montague said he and his wife, Jessica Montague, 31, had a 3-year-old child.

In honor of the victims of yesterday’s terrible tragedy in Sebring, I have directed flags to be flown at half-staff throughout our state. Casey and I will continue to keep the victims, their families and the Sebring community in our prayers.
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) January 24, 2019

In compliance with a newly passed victims' rights law in Florida, police withheld the name of the fifth victim at the family's request.

"We believe it was a random act," Sebring Police Chief Karl Hoglund said Thursday at a news conference. "Aside from perhaps driving by and seeing it was a bank, we have no known evidence that he targeted this bank for any particular reason."

Read: Timeline of events in Sebring shooting

Xaver refused to surrender and would not allow officers to reach the victims, Hoglund said. After more than an hour of negotiations, a SWAT team used an armored vehicle to break through the front doors. Xaver was found in a back office, and all the victims were dead, the chief said.

The victims were found lying face down, their bodies surrounded by shell casings, according to court documents. Six minutes after the attack began, Xaver called 911 and told dispatchers that he had killed everyone inside, Hoglund said.

Xaver was arrested wearing a T-shirt depicting the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. He was charged with five counts of first-degree premeditated murder, police said.

Xaver’s father said he's "heartbroken for the victims" and that his son "wasn't raised to be like this."

Read: Who is Zephen Xaver?

"He's always been a good kid. He's had his troubles, but he has never hurt anyone ever before. This is a total shock," Josh Xaver told CNN.

But while some family and neighbors said they were shocked by Xaver’s actions, others were warning authorities and his family about Xaver’s violent thoughts and dreams.

Read: Ex-girlfriend of suspect in Sebring shooting says he 'wanted everybody to die'

The Bremen Police Department in Indiana released a 2014 incident report in which Xaver, then 16, said he had dreams of hurting other students in a classroom.

The report from the BPD said Bremen High School Principal Bruce Jennings contacted police on Feb. 20, 2014, after Xaver reported having the dream the previous night and again during a nap at school. The report said Xaver's mother agreed to take him to a behavioral health center. Police took no further action.

Authorities also released log entries of other incidents involving Xaver, including one in March 2017, when Michigan State Police advised that a girl was receiving messages from Xaver that indicated he was "possibly thinking of suicide by cop and taking hostages."

Alex Gerlach, who identified herself as Xaver's former girlfriend, said he's long been fascinated with the idea of killing, but no one took her warnings about him seriously. For some reason, he "always hated people and wanted everybody to die," Gerlach told WSBT-TV in South Bend, Indiana, near his former home in Plymouth, Indiana.

Listen to Alex Gerlach's interview with ABC News below:

"He got kicked out of school for having a dream that he killed everybody in his class, and he's been threatening this for so long, and he's been having dreams about it and everything," she said. "Every single person I've told has not taken it seriously, and it's very unfortunate that it had to come to this."

Gerlach told The Washington Post that Xaver said he purchased a gun last week and "No one thought anything of it" because he had always liked guns.

Xaver had no apparent criminal record in the areas where he's lived in Indiana and Florida.

The Associated press contributed to this report.