New details have emerged about 20-year-old Phoenix Ikner, the Florida State University student accused of opening fire on campus Thursday and killing two men and wounding six others.
Ikner, a political science major at FSU, is reportedly the son of Leon County Sheriff’s Deputy Jessica Ikner and a long-standing member of the sheriff’s Youth Advisory Council, according to authorities.
Investigators said Ikner stole his mother’s former service handgun to use in the attack, which she had kept for personal use after the department upgraded to new weapons.
“He has been steeped in the Leon County Sheriff’s Office family, engaged in a number of training programs that we have,” Leon County Sheriff Walt McNeil told reporters. “So it’s not a surprise to us that he had access to weapons.”
The shooting began around lunchtime Thursday near the student union, according to witnesses. Aidan Stickney, a 21-year-old business management student, told investigators he saw the gunman initially attempt to use a shotgun that jammed before retrieving a handgun from his car. FSU Police Chief Jason Trumbower said authorities have no evidence anyone was shot with the shotgun.
PICTURED: Alleged FSU shooter Phoenix Ikner & his mother, Leon County Sheriff's Deputy Jessica Ikner pic.twitter.com/YmQMEIuhD0
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) April 17, 2025
Responding police officers shot and wounded Ikner to stop the attack after he refused to comply with commands, Tallahassee Police Chief Lawrence Revell said. As of Thursday night, Ikner was hospitalized with “serious but non-life-threatening injuries.”
The two men killed in the attack were not FSU students, according to university police. Five of the wounded victims were struck by gunfire, while a sixth was injured while attempting to flee. All were listed in fair condition at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare.
Court records reveal Ikner had a troubled childhood. Born as Christian Eriksen, he later legally changed his name to Phoenix Ikner. Records show that when he was 10 years old, his biological mother, who holds dual US-Norwegian citizenship, took him to Norway in violation of a custody agreement. She later pleaded no contest to removing a minor from the state against a court order and served jail time.
Sheriff McNeil described Deputy Jessica Ikner as a model employee with over 18 years of service. “Her service to this community has been exceptional,” McNeil said. “Unfortunately, her son had access to one of her weapons and that was one of the weapons that was found at the scene.”
An Instagram account bearing Ikner’s name, which was taken offline after he was identified as the suspect, included a biblical quote in its profile: “You are my war club, my weapon for battle; with you I shatter nations, with you I destroy kingdoms.”
Authorities have not disclosed the suspected motive for the mass shooting.
The attack left the campus in shock as students described scenes of terror. Carolina Sena, a 21-year-old accounting student who was inside the student union when the shooting started, said, “Everyone was crying and just panicking. We were trying to barricade ourselves in a little corner in the basement, trying to protect ourselves as much as we could.”
Holden Mendez, another student, described helping calm others during the lockdown. “There was a lot of fear. There was a lot of panic. There was a lot of misinformation that was being spread around,” he said. “I told people, ‘Take a deep breath. This building is secure. Everything is going to be ok.'”
President Donald Trump was briefed on the shooting and called it “a horrible thing” from the Oval Office.
The university canceled classes for the remainder of the week and called off all athletic events in Tallahassee through the weekend. A vigil for the victims was scheduled for Friday evening at Langford Green in front of the Unconquered Statue.
This marks the second shooting incident at FSU in a decade, following a 2014 attack at the main library that wounded three people.