A Florida man who killed five women at Sebring bank in 2019 just because he felt like it was sentenced on Monday to death.
In June, a jury in Florida recommended the death penalty in a non-unanimous vote for the Parkland school shooter, Nikolas Cruz. The decision, allowed under a new state law, was made by eight out of nine jurors in favor of the death penalty.
Circuit Judge Angela Cowden upheld the jury’s recommendation during a sentencing hearing for the perpetrator, which also involved emotional statements from the families of Zephen Xaver’s victims.
Judge Cowden highlighted the calculated nature of Xaver’s actions leading up to the tragic event, citing evidence of premeditation found in his behavior and a note on his phone expressing his intent to kill. She emphasized that the shooter had been planning the attack for a considerable period of time.
State Attorney Brian Haas said all five of the families supported the death penalty for Xaver, who texted a girlfriend in another state that he was “dying today” and “taking a few people with me because I’ve always wanted to kill people so I am going to try it and see how it goes,” as CrimeOnline reported. After the murders, apparently having changed his mind about “dying today,” he called 911 and admitted what he’d done.
He’d already killed Cynthia Watson, 65; Marisol Lopez, 55; Ana Piñon-Williams, 38; Debra Cook, 54; and Jessica Montague, 31; and he pleaded guilty to the murders late last year.
“I have no sympathy for him and as I said, I would pull the switch if they would let me,” Michael Cook, Debra Cook’s husband, at the hearing on Monday, WFTS reported.
