The alleged gunman who killed two people when he opened fire on Florida State University’s campus Thursday was identified as the son of a Leon County sheriff’s deputy who allegedly promoted “white supremacist” views, according to officials and a report.
Phoenix Ikner, 20, was identified as the suspected killer and allegedly used one of his mother’s former service pistols in the mass shooting, Leon County Sheriff Walt McNeil confirmed during a press conference hours after the shooting Thursday.
Ikner, an active FSU student, was also found in possession of a shotgun, though it is unclear whether he used it in the alleged attack. Some witnesses described the shooter unloading with a long gun before switching to a pistol.
Police named Phoenix Ikner as the suspect in the Florida State shooting. Facebook / Janice Ikner
At least two people were killed in the shooting at Florida State University on Thursday. via REUTERS
Phoenix Ikner is shackled in the back of an ambulance after being suspected of a shooting at Florida State University. WTXL.com
Phoenix Ikner has been identified as the son of a sheriff’s deputy, Jessica Ikner (right). Leon County Sheriff's Office
Students were initially directed to the locker rooms and held for about two hours before being escorted out by law enforcement. Stefano Mussi via Storyful
The accused killer was also a member of the sheriff’s office’s Youth Advisory Council.
“This event is tragic in more ways than you people in the audience could ever fathom from a law enforcement perspective,” McNeil said.
The president of a political discourse club at Tallahassee State College, where Ikner attended before transferring to FSU, claimed the alleged shooter’s extremist views made others uncomfortable.
The location of the shooting on Florida State’s campus in Tallahassee. Jack Forbes / NY Post Design
Florida State students being moved from an area near the union with their hands up. X/@FSU_Barstool
Phoenix Ikner, 20, was identified as the suspected killer. AP
Doors were left broken in an FSU building after armed police cleared rooms and forced their way into locked spaces as they searched room by room while responding to the deadly mass shooting at Florida State University. Melina Myers via Storyful
Ikner was found in possession of a shotgun along with a pistol, which was his mother’s. Melina Myers via StoryfulIkner talked about President Trump’s agenda while also pushing white supremacist views at the nonpartisan club meant to focus on debate and discourse, Riley Pusins told NBC News.
The alleged gunman attended most club meetings and afterward offered more “inappropriate” remarks, Pusins added.
The former president of the same club, Reid Seybold, said Ikner was eventually booted from the “political roundtable” organization.
“Basically our only rule was no Nazis — colloquially speaking — and he espoused so much white supremacist rhetoric, and far-right rhetoric, as well, to the point where we had to exercise that rule,” Seybold, now a senior at FSU after transferring in, told NBC News.
The gunfire also left another five wounded before the suspect was shot and taken into custody alive.
