Two people dead, six injured, suspect in custody after FSU shooting

Two people were killed and six wounded on the campus of Florida State University after a 20-year-old opened fire at the student union Thursday. 

The Tallahassee Police Department (TPD) identified the shooter as Phoenix Ikner, son of Leon County Sheriff’s Deputy Jessica Ikner, who works as a school resource officer. Investigators said he used his mother’s personal handgun, formerly used on the job, in the attack.

Authorities responded “almost immediately,” and “engaged, neutralized, and apprehended” the shooter, TPD Chief Lawrence Revell said during a press conference Thursday afternoon, at which he was joined by officials from the FBI, FSU Police, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and university administrators.

Revell said Ikner, believed to be a student, did not comply with commands when he was first confronted by police but that he did not shoot at any of the police officers. 

Separate from the gun Ikner used, police also found a shotgun at the scene. It’s not clear whether Ikner used it.

Ikner is in the hospital not speaking to authorities, asserting his Fifth Amendment rights, Revell said.

Authorities are not releasing the names of the two slain victims but Revell said that neither of them are FSU students. FSU President Richard McCullough said he and his wife went to the hospital to visit the victims. 

Background in law enforcement

Deputy Jessica Ikner has been with the Leon County Sheriff’s Department for more than 18 years, Leon County Sheriff Walt McNeil said. An investigation is on but McNeil said Deputy Ikner remains on the force. 

McNeil said he is familiar with Deputy Ikner’s son, describing him as a “longstanding member” of Leon County Sheriff’s office youth advisory council and participant in several training programs hosted by the department.

“This is obviously a heinous crime,” McNeil said. “Our deepest condolences go out to the FSU family, the families of the students who were here, and we understand that you all have been devastated because of this person’s actions.”

Revell described a “very seamless response to this tragedy.”

FSU sent an alert to students announcing the shooting at 12:02 p.m.

Skyler Burrus, a freshman at FSU from Delray Beach, was in class when the alert came. He stayed in the classroom and followed updates while half the class left, he said. 

“Obviously, a lot’s circulating around on social media, so paying attention to that, but I’m really lucky and I guess grateful that I wasn’t directly involved,” Burrus told the Phoenix Thursday afternoon. “One of my friends was in the union at the time that it happened, so I’m just trying to make sure that he’s good, which is my main concern.”

Burrus called himself an “advocate for gun reform,” and said Florida’s Legislature and congressional delegation “are unfortunately mistaken on their policies and I hope this can at least help to push some common sense gun reform.”

“I’m concerned, obviously. I think a lot of my concern goes out to, I guess the politics of it all, but more I just want to make sure people are okay, getting the right information, and hopefully no one has to go through this again.”

Tallahassee responds

The shooting transcended FSU’s campus, reverberating through nearby public schools and even the Capitol, where state legislators are meeting in their annual 60-day session just blocks away from campus. Police locked down the building at approximately 1 p.m. but reopened it after some 20 minutes.

Capitol police stood at the building’s entrances, long guns in hand. 

 A group of students from Wakulla County lined up against the wall with teachers explaining that they should follow the same shooter protocol they’d learned in school. The students, Special Olympics athletes, were in the Capitol following the Special Olympics Law Enforcement Torch Run, an event in which law enforcement officers from across the state run with them. 

Leon High School, located less than two miles from the FSU student union, sent an email to parents at 12:25 p.m. saying the school was in “LOCKOUT,” meaning students weren’t being allowed to leave the classrooms.

Principal Michael W. Bryan sent a second email about an hour later, telling parents the school was still on lockout but that dismissal would occur on time. “Leon students and staff are safe and secure and well supervised. Thank you for your patience. Please stay safe!” Bryan wrote in the email.

E.W. Scripps television reporter Forest Saunders posted footage of abandoned personal belongings on a campus lawn. “FSU students evacuated so fast from parts of campus they left food, laptops, and shoes behind on the lawn,” he wrote.

“Our prayers are with our FSU family and state law enforcement is actively responding,” Gov. Ron DeSantis posted on X.

“My office is responding to the active shooter situation on FSU’s campus, and we will provide updates as they become available,” state Attorney General James Uthmeier wrote in his own post. U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody, the former AG, wrote that she, too, was in contact with campus officials and was “praying for the safety of the students, faculty and all first responders involved.”

“What we are watching unfold at FSU is terrifying and every parent’s worst nightmare,” House Speaker Daniel Perez wrote. “We are continuing to monitor the news here in Tallahassee and urge everyone to pray for the students, families, faculty, first responders and all involved.”

“From our vantage point here in the Senate, we can see and hear many first responder vehicles rushing to FSU. Grateful for their courage. Praying for the entire FSU community,” Senate President Ben Albritton wrote at 12:37 p.m.

Christine Sexton contributed to this report