The suspect accused of shooting multiple people at Florida State University and killing two used a former service weapon belonging to his mother, authorities said.
Phoenix Ikner, 20, was identified by Florida authorities as the suspect Thursday behind the deadly shooting rampage on Florida State University’s campus by its student union center.
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WATCH HEREIkner, who attends FSU, is the son of a Leon County sheriff’s deputy.
“Our deputy, Deputy Ikner, has been with the county sheriff’s office for over 18 years. She has a tremendous job that she’s done. Her service to this community has been exceptional,” Leon County Sheriff Walter McNeil said Thursday. “Unfortunately, her son had access to one of her weapons.”
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SIGN UP Chief Lawrence Revell with the Tallahassee Police Department, which is the lead agency in the investigation, confirmed Thursday the weapon is the former service weapon of Ikner’s mother.
“A lot of times, many agencies…mine included…when we transition to a new handgun, the officers are allowed to purchase the handgun they used prior,” Chief Revell said.
The shooting Thursday killed two people and injured at least six others. Florida authorities noted the two deceased victims are not FSU students, but they did not elaborate beyond that.
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When asked about a possible motive, Revell said the suspect invoked his rights to not speak with police.
McKenzie Heeter, a junior at FSU, said she was walking out of the student union center after lunch and saw the suspect.
“There’s like another boy next to me, and he kind of like…lays off a shot, but it seemed pretty specific to that boy, so I thought ‘Okay, maybe…’ I was still going to run, but well, maybe the boy made him mad,” Heeter recalled. “That’s when he looked the opposite direction toward the union and shot some random lady, like walking in front of him in the back. I started running as fast as I could, and I could just heard like shots echoing.”
Michael Anestis, executive director of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center, is an alumnus of Florida State University.
“I went to Florida State for graduate school. I met my wife while I was down there, and I had the unfortunate experience today of texting mentors, friends who were instructed to shelter in place to make sure they were okay,” he said.
The New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center was founded by the Rutgers Schools of Public Health and Criminal Justice in 2018. Anestis, who is a professional at Rutgers’ School of Public Health, said the center partners with local, state, and national experts accessing data to conduct research that identifies factors involved in gun violence.
“There’s no single profile to shooters, right? You can’t be like he has this philosophy, this background,” Anestis said. “There are some commonalities across the experiences of these folks and what they’re going through. There’s no profile, but the thing that is really consistent is that they have access to the firearm that exists possible and in this case…the shooting…the son of a law enforcement officer is going to have a greater odd of having access to a firearm.”
Authorities said Thursday, the suspect was also found with a shotgun, but it’s unclear if anyone was shot with that weapon.
