Christmas trees now memorialize Sebring bank massacre victims

SEBRING, Fla. - A Sebring man is honoring the victims of the Suntrust Bank shooting in his own special way.  He’s put up small Christmas trees at the old bank site as a holiday memorial to the women killed at the site. 

“It is hard to drive by this lot and not think about these ladies,” said Jose Sanchez. “It’s really hard, every day.” 

Marisol Lopez, Jessica Eileen Noreen Montague, Debra Cook, and Ana Piñon-Williams were working at the SunTrust branch on U.S. 27 when a 21-year-old opened fire back in January. Banking customer Cynthia Watson was also killed in the attack.

Sanchez was a regular at the bank and knew all of the victims, especially his friend Jessica Montague.

”They were like sisters to me, they're all sisters,” he continued. 

He still remembers the day of the shooting, January 23, as if it were yesterday. 

“I just couldn’t believe it. I was like, no way it was going to happen in our town. But it did, and it hurts,” he said.  “They're gone, but they're really not gone. They're here in our souls.”

The suspected shooter in the case, Zephen Xaver, is facing the death penalty.