Now Reading: Deputy’s son suspected; 2 useless, 6 injured
-
01
Deputy’s son suspected; 2 useless, 6 injured
Deputy’s son suspected; 2 useless, 6 injured
Authorities ID 20-year-old sheriff’s deputy son as FSU shooter
Authorities say 20-year-old Phoenix Ikner is the shooter allegedly chargeable for two deaths and a number of accidents at Florida State College.
Editor’s Word: This web page is a abstract of stories on the FSU college taking pictures for Thursday, April 17. For the newest information on the FSU taking pictures aftermath, learn USA TODAY’s protection for Friday, April 18.
TALLAHASSEE, FL − Police say the son of an area sheriff deputy opened hearth at Florida State College on April 17, killing two individuals and injuring six others within the newest college taking pictures to rock a U.S. faculty campus.
The alleged gunman, recognized as 20-year-old Phoenix Ikner, began firing close to the coed union at roughly 11:50 a.m., putting a number of individuals and triggering a campus-wide lockdown as college students ran for canopy, regulation enforcement officers stated at a information convention.
Campus police arrived on the scene “nearly instantly” and shot the suspect, who didn’t reply to instructions, Tallahassee Police Chief Lawrence Revell stated. The gunman was taken into custody and transported to a hospital with “critical however non-life threatening accidents.”
Two individuals who weren’t college students have been pronounced useless on the scene, regulation enforcement officers stated. Six individuals have been within the hospital in honest situation; 5 suffered gunshot wounds and one other individual was injured whereas operating away from the taking pictures, Revell stated.
On the scene, investigators recovered a handgun that belonged to the suspect’s mom, a longtime deputy with the Leon County Sheriff’s Workplace, stated Sheriff Walt McNeil. A shotgun was additionally discovered, but it surely’s unclear whether or not it was used. Ikner, an FSU pupil majoring in political science, had beforehand attended trainings held by the regulation enforcement company and was a member of its youth advisory council.
“Sadly, her son had entry to certainly one of her weapons,” McNeil stated, referring to the suspect’s mom, a faculty useful resource officer. “We’re persevering with that investigation into how that weapon was used and what different weapons he maybe might have had entry to.”
Developments:
∎ FSU stated in an announcement that each one lessons and occasions scheduled from April 17 to April 18 have been canceled. A number of campus buildings additionally remained closed and athletics occasions in Tallahassee have been canceled by Sunday. “The Scholar Union and the encompassing space remains to be thought of an lively crime scene. The general public and campus group ought to keep away from the realm,” the college suggested.
∎ The FBI has responded to the scene and is actively helping different businesses investigating the incident, in keeping with an announcement from the bureau’s Jacksonville workplace.
∎ President Donald Trump advised reporters within the Oval Workplace that he was “absolutely briefed” on the taking pictures. “It is a disgrace. It is a horrible factor, horrible that issues like this happen,” he stated.
Ikner was a member of the Leon County Sheriff’s Workplace Youth Advisory Council, McNeil stated.
“He has been steeped within the Leon County Sheriff’s Workplace household, engaged in quite a few coaching applications that now we have,” the sheriff stated. “So it’s not a shock to us that he had entry to weapons.”
McNeil stated the suspect’s mom has served on the Leon County Sheriff’s Workplace for over 18 years. “Her service to this group has been distinctive,” he stated.
Revell stated the handgun discovered on the scene was beforehand utilized by the suspect’s mom whereas on responsibility earlier than she obtained a brand new service weapon, at which era the previous one turned her “private handgun.”
The alleged gunman’s mom, whose title has not been launched publicly, serves as a faculty useful resource deputy for Raa Center Faculty in Tallahassee, in keeping with the Tallahassee Democrat, a part of the USA TODAY Community.
Regulation enforcement swarmed the campus as college students, school and employees took refuge in buildings throughout the college. Paige Miller was within the restroom outdoors her classroom subsequent to the coed union when she heard 4 loud bangs.
“I believed it was the roof collapsing, truthfully, after which abruptly three women come operating in and certainly one of them was crying,” she stated. Miller referred to as 911 and held the restroom door shut till police arrived. When she went outdoors, Miller stated she noticed one individual on the bottom surrounded by officers.
Andrew Cheyne was within the basement of the FSU pupil union when the taking pictures broke out. He stated a trainer and a bowling coach got here into the billiard corridor and locked the doorways behind them.
“We waited in there for about 10 or quarter-hour, possibly 30 or 40 of us holed up,” Cheyne stated. He prayed, leaning on his Christian religion however was nonetheless “frightened.”
They have been escorted out of the constructing by police. As soon as outdoors, Cheyne stated he noticed one man on the bottom in handcuffs and one other injured individual. The realm was stuffed with “paramedics and tons and tons of police,” he stated.
– Phaedra Trethan
Mae Baltz, a 24-year-old graduate pupil, was at school when some college students ran in and requested if they may conceal there.
They upended some desks and shoved them below and in opposition to the classroom door, which they could not lock. Once they turned off the overhead projector, the classroom was darkish they usually apprehensive police wouldn’t be capable of discover them, she stated.
Baltz referred to as 911, however didn’t instantly obtain a solution. Nevertheless, inside 5 minutes, they heard walkie-talkies. It was the police.
Their professor later requested whether or not anybody had undergone lively shooter coaching. Baltz had lived close to Parkland, the place a 2018 taking pictures left 17 individuals useless at Marjory Stoneman Douglas Excessive — the nation’s deadliest highschool taking pictures.
Baltz stated she obtained the coaching at Suncoast Excessive Faculty in Riviera Seaside. One other pupil, who had labored in a on line casino, had additionally realized about it.
“I felt so dangerous. There have been so many individuals who have been so scared,” Baltz advised the Tallahassee Democrat.
There have been 81 mass shootings up to now in 2025, in keeping with the Gun Violence Archive. These are incidents the place 4 or extra individuals have been shot, not together with the gunman.
The assaults embrace a Dallas highschool taking pictures wherein 4 college students have been wounded, a taking pictures at a New Mexico park that killed three individuals and injured 15 extra, and a home celebration in Washington that ended with two younger individuals useless and a number of other others injured after gunfire broke out.
– N’dea Yancey-Bragg
Florida State College stated in an alert that regulation enforcement has “neutralized the menace.”
“Please keep away from the Scholar Union, Bellamy, HCB Classroom Constructing, Rovetta A&B, Moore Auditorium, Shaw, Pepper, Hecht Home and Carraway as they’re nonetheless thought of an lively crime scene,” the alert stated. “People are free to maneuver about different areas of campus. People who might have witnessed something of worth ought to name 850-891-4987.”
Florida State College endured a mass taking pictures earlier than. In 2014, a 31-year-old lawyer and graduate of the varsity opened hearth late at night time at a library entrance. The shooter, who authorities stated was fueled by paranoia about authorities and private issues, shot three individuals, injuring one critically.
As many as 500 college students have been within the library on the time, pressured to huddle, terrified, behind barricades they constructed to attempt to preserve the gunman out. The shooter was killed on a wheelchair ramp outdoors. Nonetheless, the tragedy left a mark on the campus and past.
“We’re transferring forward, we’re persevering with to wish for the victims and pray for Florida State College,” then-FSU president John Thrasher, stated. “However we’ll get by this with the good household now we have.”
– Donovan Slack
FSU cancels campus occasion honoring 2018 taking pictures sufferer
An occasion that was designed to advertise security on campus and amongst FSU college students was canceled as a result of taking pictures.
The taking pictures occurred hours earlier than the occasion was scheduled to start. Titled “United Towards Hate: Constructing a Safer Campus and Neighborhood Collectively,” the occasion was meant to honor 21-year-old Maura Binkley, a senior at FSU who was certainly one of two victims killed in a 2018 taking pictures.
Binkley and Dr. Nancy Van Vessem, 61, died after a gunman with a protracted historical past of misogynist and prison habits opened hearth in a sizzling yoga studio in Tallahassee. Binkley was a fourth-generation FSU pupil on the time whereas Van Vessem was a chief medical officer at Capital Well being Plan and an early school member at FSU’s School of Medication.
— Jennifer Sangalang, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida
Sam Swartz and Sean Gulledg stated they have been within the basement of the coed union when the taking pictures began. They stated they heard possibly 10 gunshots whereas they have been engaged on a gaggle mission.
“Everybody began freaking out,” Swartz advised the Tallahassee Democrat.
The group of eight cornered themselves in a hallway and began to barricade the opening with trash cans and plywood. “I bear in mind studying to do the very best you possibly can to make them take time as a result of they don’t need to do something that takes time, they’re simply making an attempt to get as many individuals,” Swartz stated.
College students heard regulation enforcement officers going up and down hallways instructing individuals to return out with their arms up. Everybody was patted down and checked earlier than evacuating, Swartz stated.
Gulledg, a resident assistant, stated they prepare for these kinds of conditions, however by no means thought they’d have to make use of them. “I trusted the coaching,” he stated.
Rafael Fernandez, a sophomore at FSU, was at school within the Rovetta Constructing when an alarm came visiting the PA system and an alert flashed on the display within the lecture corridor. His professor locked the doorways and college students stood in an space of the room with out home windows.
Ultimately Tallahassee cops arrived, they usually opened the doorways.
“We walked out with our arms up, and we have been escorted out of the constructing into a transparent space, a protected zone,” Fernandez advised the Tallahassee Democrat.
Potential FSU pupil describes campus tour that resulted in taking pictures
A potential Florida State College pupil and his household have been touring the campus when the tragedy stroke.
FSU is situated within the state’s capital, Tallahassee. It’s discovered in the course of the Panhandle between Jacksonville and Pensacola.
The principle campus of Florida State College is on West School Ave. A analysis college based in 1851, FSU has 44,300 college students from throughout the state and 130 international locations.
The principle campus has 403 buildings unfold throughout 485.7 acres, in keeping with the varsity’s site, which notes it’s the “oldest steady website of upper schooling in Florida.”
– Donovan Slack, Samantha Neely
As he signed two unrelated government orders after getting briefed on the taking pictures, Trump voiced his help for the Second Modification after being requested if there have been any adjustments he’d like made to U.S. gun legal guidelines.
Trump stated tragedies just like the one at FSU are horrible. “However the gun would not do the taking pictures, the individuals do,” he stated. “I’ll inform you it is a disgrace.”
“I’ve an obligation to guard the Second Modification. I ran on the Second Modification, amongst many different issues, and I’ll at all times shield the Second Modification,” Trump stated.
– Francesca Chambers
President Donald Trump feedback on FSU taking pictures from Oval Workplace
President Trump talks on taking pictures at Florida State College throughout his assembly with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni within the Oval Workplace.
About 20 college students and 12 employees members sheltered within the campus Well being and Wellness Middle behind a locked door, FSU senior Hanna Burda advised USA TODAY. The psychology main from Tallahassee stated she was sitting outdoors, in between the middle and Einstein Bagel Bros store, when she first heard about 5 photographs.
“I really began recording a Snapschat to say, ‘Wow, there is a nail gun going off that appears like a gun,'” she stated by textual content whereas in lockdown. “However then about six extra photographs went off and I noticed college students operating in my path from the trail in entrance of the coed union. That is after I began operating, realizing it was an precise shooter. As I handed individuals who have been unaware of the scenario, I advised them there was an lively shooter. The gunfire was echoing between the Scholar Union, the HCB, Bellamy and the Moore auditorium space.”
– Jennifer Portman
“Our prayers are with our FSU household and state regulation enforcement is actively responding,” stated Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in an announcement on X.
Will Schatz, an FSU senior, was in Strozier Library on campus round midday with mates when he noticed individuals operating. He ran with them, exiting the again of the library.
“I might have sworn I noticed a cop operating after someone and screaming one thing once we ran out,” he advised the Tallahassee Democrat. “Then, after I received out, I heard seven to eight gunshots. I am undecided if that was the shooter taking pictures or if the cops shot the shooter.”
He stated he referred to as his mom proper after he received out of the library to inform her he was OK. Since then, he stated he noticed 4 college students loaded into ambulances and brought away.
Related Posts
Stay Informed With the Latest & Most Important News
Previous Post
Next Post
Advertisement
