TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) —The 20-year-old son of a sheriff’s deputy opened fire Thursday at Florida State University with his mother’s former service weapon, killing two people and wounding at least six others, investigators said.
Officers quickly arrived and shot and wounded the shooter after he refused to comply with commands, said Tallahassee Police Chief Lawrence Revell.
Authorities have not yet revealed a motive for the shooting, which began around lunch time just outside the student union, sending students and frightened parents hiding for cover in a bowling alley and a freight elevator inside the building.
The shooter, identified by police as Phoenix Ikner, is believed to be a Florida State student, investigators said.
He had obtained access to a weapon that belongs to his mother, who has been with the sheriff’s office for over 18 years, said Walt McNeil, Sheriff of Leon County. Police said they believed Ikner shot the victims using his mother’s former service handgun.
The two people who died were not students at the university, said Florida State University Police Chief Jason Trumbower, adding that he would not release additional information about the victims.
Tallahassee Memorial Hospital confirmed it was treating six patients wounded from in the shooting, one in critical condition.
Ambulances, fire trucks and patrol vehicles from multiple law enforcement agencies raced toward the campus just west of Florida’s capital after the university issued an active shooter alert Thursday.
Ryan Cedergren, a 21-year-old communications student, said he and about 30 others hid in the bowling alley in the union’s lower level after seeing students running from a nearby bar.
“In that moment, it was survival,” he said.
Chris Pento said he and his twins were getting lunch at the student union during a campus tour when they heard gunshots. “It was surreal. And people just started running,” he told WCTV in Tallahassee.
They crammed into a service elevator after encountering locked doors at the end of a hallway. “That was probably the scariest point because we didn’t know. It could get worse, right?” he said. “The doors opened and two officers were there, guns drawn.”
Dozens of patrol vehicles, including a forensics van, were parked outside the student union hours after the shooting. Officers blocked off the area with crime scene tape.
Students and staff who left behind phones, keys and other items in the rush to evacuate waited in the shade and prayed for the victims.
President Donald Trump said from the Oval Office that he had been fully briefed on the shooting. “It’s a horrible thing. It’s horrible that things like this take place,” he said.
After receiving warnings of an active shooter, students and faculty took cover and waited in classrooms, offices and dorms across campus.
The first thing you think of is just, ‘This can’t be true,’ right?” said Kai McGalla, a sophomore who spoke by phone while locked down at a campus testing center.
Junior Joshua Sirmans, 20, was in the main library when alarms went off. Law enforcement officers escorted him and other students from the library with their hands over their heads, he said.
University President Richard McCullough said he was heartbroken by the violence. “Our hearts go out to our students and the victims of this terrible tragedy,” he said.
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As dusk fell over Florida State University, a small memorial of candles and bouquets of flowers had been set up outside the student union, while investigators’ yellow tape blocked off the nearby doors.
Florida State University is one of Florida’s 12 public universities, with its main campus in Tallahassee. About 44,000 students are enrolled in the university, per the school’s 2024 fact sheet.
In 2014, the main library was the site of a shooting that wounded three people. Officers shot and killed the gunman, 31-year-old Myron May.
The university canceled all classes and events for Thursday. It also canceled home athletic events through Sunday.
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