Posted on 01/23/2019 1:01:01 PM PST by DCBryan1
SEBRING, Fla. (WFLA) - An incident inside a central Florida bank ended with "several people down" on Wednesday afternoon. Sebring police officials say a man called 911 around 12:30 p.m. Wednesday and reported that he had fired shots inside the SunTrust Bank on US-27 South in Sebring. Sebring police officers and Highlands County deputies responded to the scene and established a perimeter around the bank. Our news helicopter flying over the scene saw a massive law enforcement presence as police tried to negotiate with the man barricaded inside.
Police were unsuccessful at first but say the man eventually surrendered after the Highlands County SWAT team went into the bank and continued to negotiate. Authorities have not released official details yet on if anyone was shot or how severe their injuries are but a police commander told News Channel 8 "several people were down."
(Excerpt) Read more at wfla.com ...
As a kid we used to spend Christmas break at Harder Hall, which was a wonderful hotel in it’s day in Sebring. Made it to Disney the first year it was open. To give an idea of how fast the Orlando area grew, when we first flew there you went to the Tampa airport since Orlando’s didn’t exist yet. Cypress gardens was a lot of fun too.
Per WFTV, there’s a 4:30 PM local time presser scheduled.
Suntrust bank. That explains a lot.
I have banked at Suntrust since 1966 with a break of two decades when I lived across the country. It was originally First National Bank then changed ownership or merged several times.
I am not going to change to another bank because I have too much invested in my account.
It does irritate me that every time I check on my balance online, I get a picture of a guy who looks just like Colin Kapernick. I mean the same hair etc.
Only 1 bad guy. In custody. 5 dead. different accounts of race of suspect.
Was there an armed guard at the bank? Every bank Ive ever gone to always has an armed guard at the entrance..prayers for all those involved
Around my area I haven’t been in one bank that has any guard at all in the last 20 years at the least.
Really? I thought they just handed money over and said “Have a Nice Day.”
The one I go to is a small bank, they have two armed guards inside
I haven't seen an armed guard at a bank in years.
Except, of course, when a bank was being closed. The Feds always arranged for armed security for a closing.
Sounds like either a rough inner city neighborhood or a poorly run bank. Common practice now is to given them a few thousand and a free dye pack, get some good pictures, and get them away from the customers and employees as quickly as possible. Losses are going to be less than payroll for guards, and you avoid liability suits and (most) workers comp claims.
So how does the “free dye pack” work?
The news report says the person called 911 from inside the bank. Does not sound like a robbery per se. Five people dead and the perp gave up. Too bad it will be years before they can fry him. Frankly, I’d be happy if they did it before sun down today.
I believe it’s still operational up in Starke...
Around my area I havent been in one bank that has any guard at all in the last 20 years at the least.
A uniformed guard is normally considered a threat to a bad guy and is easily identifiable therefor, he/she is usually the first one neutralized.
Here’s a nice article on that that free dye pack works. I’ve never heard of a bank charging for one, they give them to robbers as lagniappe, as a Cajun might say.
https://science.howstuffworks.com/question671.htm
Per NBC News
Facebook profile for a Zephen Xaver from Sebring, Florida.
Looks like a white guy.
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