The school gunman who used a gun he had stolen from his mother to kill two people and hurt numerous more on the FSU campus has been identified as the son of a sheriff’s officer.
After being identified as the mass shooter who terrorized Florida State University’s Tallahassee campus on Thursday afternoon, leaving two people dead and six more hospitalized with various injuries, Phoenix Ikner, 20, is now shown.
According to officials, he had “access to one of her weapons, and that was one of the weapons that was found at the scene.” His mother is Deputy Jessica Ikner of the Leon County Sheriff’s Office.
In a chilling social media post which has now emerged, Ikner wrote: “you are my war club, my weapons for battle, with you I shatter nations, with you I destroy kingdoms.”
The quotation is taken from the Bible’s book of Jeremiah, which forewarned of the approaching day of judgment.
In addition, he had lately made fun of college students who were demonstrating against the outcome of the 2024 presidential election.
“These people are usually pretty entertaining, usually not for good reasons,” Ikner said in his school magazine, where he was described as a political science major.
“I think it’s a little too late, he’s [Trump] already going to be inaugurated on Jan. 20 and there’s not really much you can do unless you outright revolt, and I don’t think anyone wants that.”
At a press conference on Thursday, Leon County Sheriff McNeil stated that the shooter was a part of the department’s youth setup and participated in training initiatives.
Ikner was described as “steeped in the Leon County Sheriff’s Office family.”
Tallahassee Police Chief Lawrence Revell said the gun was previously used by his mother for law enforcement, but was her private handgun at the time of the shooting, because deputies “are allowed to purchase the handgun they used prior.”
According to authorities, Ikner was shot and hurt during the altercation, and there were two fatalities and six injuries overall. He is being held at the hospital.
As fear spread, horrifying videos and pictures appeared on social media, including one that showed a person being carried to safety on paramedics’ shoulders.
One witness told WFTV that they heard what sounded like “automatic gunfire” while another informed the Tallahassee Democrat that they saw a college-aged male carrying a weapon leave the student union.
