Phoenix Ikner, a 20-year-old student at Florida State University (FSU), has been identified as the shooter in a tragic incident that occurred on the FSU campus in Tallahassee.
On Thursday, Ikner opened fire, using his mother’s former service weapon, killing two people and injuring at least six others. Law enforcement authorities found the weapon at the crime scene, and Ikner has since been taken into custody.
Ikner is the son of a veteran Leon County Sheriff’s deputy, who has been with the sheriff’s office for over 18 years and is considered a model employee.
According to Leon County Sheriff Walt McNeil, the suspect’s mother had retained the gun after the force upgraded its weapons. The sheriff also confirmed that Ikner had access to his mother’s weapons and brought one of her pistols to campus.
In addition to the pistol, Ikner was found with a shotgun, although it is unclear whether he used it during the attack. Some witnesses reported seeing the shooter initially use a rifle-like weapon before switching to a pistol. This detail was later corroborated by the New York Times.
Sheriff McNeil further shared that Ikner was an active member of the sheriff’s office’s youth advisory council and had participated in several training programmes. He also described the event as “tragic in more ways than you people in the audience could ever fathom from a law enforcement perspective.”
The shooting is one of several devastating incidents at U.S. universities in recent years. Among the most notable are the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre in Blacksburg, Virginia, which claimed 32 lives and injured 23 people, as well as two college shootings in 2023.
One took place at Michigan State University, where three students were killed and at least five others were injured. The second occurred at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where three faculty members were killed before the suspect died in a shootout with police.
Also Read: Gunman kills 2, injures 5 at Florida State University campus
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