Two people were killed and six others were wounded when a gunman opened fire at Florida State University, and police said a 20-year-old suspect — the stepson of a sheriff's deputy — was shot and taken into custody.
The university issued an active shooter alert at midday Thursday near the university's student union. A shortly after 3 p.m. when Florida State’s alert system announced that law enforcement had “neutralized the threat.â€
How is the community responding?
Students and staff on Friday were allowed into buildings near the shooting to retrieve their belongings, which police ordered left behind in the immediate chaotic aftermath.
Geology major Josh Jontiff collected his backpack containing his laptop and other materials from his calculus class a few hundred yards (meters) from the shooting scene.
When projector screens in the classroom flashed a message about an active shooter on Thursday, “we all filed to one side of the room and turned the lights off,†Jontiff said.
Police officers with guns drawn then banged on the door and led the group outside with their hands on their heads.
“It was a very scary situation," Jontiff said. “I tried to keep calm and keep others around me calm.â€
On Friday, a steady stream of students and others brought flowers, balloons, teddy bears and candles to a memorial near the student union. Among them were three members of the Florida State women’s volleyball team who held hands in a brief prayer circle.
“I don’t think any words can do it justice,†said Audrey Rothman, a junior.
Brooke Poppe, a freshman, said she was lifting weights in a gym when she heard the gunshots, then blaring sirens. They were locked down in the gym for hours. “It was really scary,†she said. “I don’t think I’ve fully processed what happened yet.â€
A small group of FSU students have endured both Thursday’s shooting as well as the in Parkland.
A community mourns
A few miles from campus, Bethel Missionary Baptist Church began a Good Friday service with prayers for the shooting victims and families. The Rev. R.B. Holmes said he visited victims at the hospital with Tallahassee Mayor John Dailey, who attended the service.
“We’re not going to emphasize the tragedy,†Holmes said. “We’re going to emphasize hope and healing. Our faith says we shall overcome. I said to the students we will be there for them.â€
During a packed evening vigil, university President Richard McCullough called for a moment of silence for the victims and the campus community.
“These have been some of the hardest days that Florida State University has ever faced," McCullough said. "This terrible act of violence shook our community. This kind of tragedy shouldn’t happen. Not here. Not anywhere. We are heartbroken.
“We will carry this loss with us. We’ll carry it together. But we will move forward."
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday ordered U.S. and Florida flags statewide to be flown at half-staff until sunset on Monday in memory of the “lives lost in this tragedy and to recognize the bravery shown by the first responders."
Who were the victims?
was Robert Morales, who helped run campus dining services, according to university senior vice president Kyle Clark.
Morales developed innovative menus, especially Cuban food, Clark said at the campus vigil. He was also a former assistant football coach at nearby Leon High School.
The other was Tiru Chabba, 45, a married father of two children from Greenville, South Carolina, who worked for a food service vendor, according to Michael Wukela, a spokesman for attorneys hired by the family.
Medical staff who treated the injured at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare said at a news conference that all six patients are expected to make full recoveries. They said two patients are expected to be discharged Friday.
Three patients have been upgraded to good condition and one patient remains in fair condition. The hospital did not clarify the condition of the shooter, who police officials said Thursday was being treated at a local hospital.
Who is the suspect?
Leon County Sheriff Walter McNeil identified the suspect as Phoenix Ikner, the stepson of a sheriff’s deputy within his department. McNeil said the deputy's former service weapon was used in the shooting and found at the scene.
McNeil said Ikner was a long-standing member of the sheriff’s office’s youth advisory council and engaged in a number of training programs with the office. He added that the suspect's stepmother has been with the sheriff's office for over 18 years.
“We will make sure that we do everything we can to prosecute and make sure that we send a message to folks that this will never be tolerated here in Leon County, and I dare say across the state and across this nation,†McNeil said.
The university confirmed Friday that Ikner was a student enrolled for the spring 2025 semester after transferring from Tallahassee State College, where he earned an associates degree last fall. He was a junior studying political science, FSU spokeswoman Amy Farnum-Patronis said via email.
Authorities have not yet revealed a motive for the shooting.
When Ikner was a child, his parents were involved in several custody disputes with his biological mother, court records show.
In 2015, when he was 10, his biological mother, Anne-Mari Eriksen, said she was taking him to South Florida for spring break in 2015 but instead traveled to Norway. After returning to the U.S., she pleaded no contest to removing a minor from the state against a court order and was sentenced to 200 days in jail. She later moved to vacate her plea, but that was denied.
In the fall of that same year, Eriksen filed a civil libel-slander complaint against Jessica Ikner, along with several other family members. The complaint, which was later dismissed, accused them of harassing Eriksen and abusing Ikner’s position at the sheriff’s office.
In 2020, at age 15, the suspect received court approval to change his name from Christian Eriksen to Phoenix Ikner, court documents show. His old name was a constant reminder of a “tragedy†he suffered, in the words of administrative magistrate James Banks, who approved the request, NBC News reported.
Banks observed that Ikner was a “mentally, emotionally and physically mature young adult who is very articulate†and “very polite†said he chose the new name as a representation of “rising from the ashes anew.â€
Who is the suspect's stepmother?
When the shooting happened, Deputy Jessica Ikner of the Leon County Sheriff's Office was 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) away at Raa Middle School, where she was on duty as a school resource officer. A sheriff’s office spokesperson said Ikner worked to secure the campus to prevent anyone from entering as Raa went into “lockout mode,†along with all of the county’s public schools.
As of Friday, the deputy was reassigned to the sheriff’s office’s property crimes unit, spokesperson Shonda Knight told The Associated Press. Following the shooting, Ikner requested and was granted personal leave.
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Associated Press writers Kate Payne and Curt Anderson in Tallahassee, David Fischer and Freida Frisaro in Fort Lauderdale, Stephany Matat in West Palm Beach, Michael Schneider in Orlando, Mike Balsamo in New York, Eric Tucker and Christopher Megerian in Washington, and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed.
