Amid the abandoned chemistry notes and other debris left behind after a deadly shooting at Florida State University are lingering questions about how the stepson of a beloved sheriff\u2019s deputy tasked with school safety at a middle school became the accused gunman.
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\nPolitical science student Phoenix Ikner was a long-standing member of a sheriff\u2019s office youth advisory council and was steeped in the family-like culture of the agency. When officers rushed to the university\u2019s student union on reports of gunfire, authorities say it was the 20-year-old who used his stepmother\u2019s former service weapon to open fire, killing two men and wounding six others.<\/p>\n
As people fled in terror, Ikner was shot and taken into custody. He invoked his right not to speak to investigators, and his motive remains unknown as he lies in a hospital bed.
\nThe prosecutor’s office is weighing possible charges as stories emerge about a darker side. One classmate recalled him being kicked out of a student club over comments that other members found troubling.
\n\u201cThis is horrific,\u201d Jimmy Williams, the chief of safety for Leon County Schools, said of the shooting. \u201cThis is a horrible, horrible event.\u201d
\nWilliams, who has known Ikner\u2019s stepmother, Jessica Ikner, for a decade, said the allegations underscore that \u201cnone of us are immune to tragedy.\u201d
\nClasses and business operations will resume Monday, Florida State announced over the weekend.
\n\u201cI know it won\u2019t feel like a normal week," FSU President Richard McCullough said in message to students and employees Saturday. "It\u2019s the last one before finals, and many of you are still processing what happened. Please take care of yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n
His stepmother, whose own alma mater is Florida State, was reassigned from her position as a school resource officer Friday and granted the personal leave she requested, a sheriff\u2019s office spokesperson told The Associated Press.
\nWhen the alert went out of an active shooter at Florida State University, Jessica Ikner was on duty around 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) away at Raa Middle School. A sheriff\u2019s office spokesperson said Jessica Ikner worked to secure the campus to prevent anyone from entering as Raa went into \u201clockout mode," along with all of the county\u2019s public schools. She was practiced at this work.
\nLast year, she was named an \u201cemployee of the month\u201d by the sheriff\u2019s office, where she has worked for 18 years.
\nPolice said they believed Phoenix Ikner shot the victims using his stepmother\u2019s former service handgun, which she had kept for personal use after the force upgraded its weapons.
\nLeon County Sheriff Walter McNeil described Phoenix Ikner on Thursday as having been \u201csteeped in the Leon County Sheriff\u2019s Office family\u201d and engaged in a number of sheriff\u2019s office training programs, adding that it wasn\u2019t a surprise that he would have access to guns.
\nThere was no record of him having a criminal record. And in Florida, training and a background check are not required to carry concealed guns in public.<\/p>\n
When Ikner was a child, his parents were involved in several custody disputes with his biological mother, court records show.
\nIn 2015, when he was 10, his biological mother, Anne-Mari Eriksen, said she was taking him to South Florida for spring break in 2015 but instead traveled to Norway. After returning to the U.S., she pleaded no contest to removing a minor from the state against a court order and was sentenced to 200 days in jail. She later moved to vacate her plea, but that was denied.
\nIn the fall of that same year, Eriksen filed a civil libel-slander complaint against Jessica Ikner, along with several other family members. The complaint, which was later dismissed, accused them of harassing Eriksen and abusing Ikner\u2019s position at the sheriff\u2019s office.
\nIn 2020, at age 15, the suspect received court approval to change his name from Christian Eriksen to Phoenix Ikner, court documents show. His old name was a constant reminder of a \u201ctragedy\u201d he suffered, in the words of administrative magistrate James Banks, who approved the request, NBC News reported.
\nBanks observed that Ikner was a \u201cmentally, emotionally and physically mature young adult who is very articulate\u201d and \u201cvery polite\u201d said he chose the new name as a representation of \u201crising from the ashes anew.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reid Seybold and his classmates were working on a group project in a building located a short, three-minute walk from the student union when someone ran in and warned them about the gunfire. They huddled together, the 22-year-old said, frantically firing off what they thought might be their final text messages to loved ones.
\nWhen Seybold found out who the suspect in the shooting was \u2014 that it was someone he knows \u2014 he was overcome with anger. Seybold was the president of a club that Phoenix Ikner joined when they were both studying at the local community college, now called Tallahassee State College.
\nSeybold said Ikner was known for espousing racist and white supremacist views that so alienated other members that the club asked him to leave the group.
\n\u201cHe made people that uncomfortable,\u201d said Seybold, who now also is studying political science at Florida State. \u201cI personally know him to have complained about how multiculturalism and communism are ruining America.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ikner transferred to Florida State after earning an associate degree at the community college, school officials said.
\nHe didn’t attract the attention of the school paper, other than commenting in a FSU story about a rally on campus against President Donald Trump.
\nIkner, a registered Republican, described the protesters as \u201centertaining\u201d because Trump was already set to be inaugurated. The comments have since been removed from the story, an editor’s note saying the move was to \u201cavoid amplifying the voice of an individual responsible for violence.\u201d
\nBefore Ikner\u2019s Instagram was taken down, his bio quoted a verse from the Old Testament book of Jeremiah. \u201cThou art my battle ax and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms,\u201d reads Jeremiah 51:20, which scholars have interpreted to depict God\u2019s judgment on Babylon. The empire is a symbol in the Bible of sinfulness and immorality.<\/p>\n
A Tallahassee Police Department patrol car was stationed Thursday evening near the street where the family lives, blocking reporters from approaching the family\u2019s home in a well-kept suburban neighborhood on the city\u2019s east side.
\nPhone messages left for Jessica Ikner at a number listed for her on a school resource website and another phone connected to her through public records were not immediately returned Friday. And a sheriff\u2019s office spokeswoman said she is not aware of the family putting out a statement or having a family spokesperson.
\nThe only insight comes from the past statements. Nearly a decade ago, Jessica Ikner wrote a story posted on the Tallahassee Family Magazine website about children\u2019s safety while surfing the internet, including tips to strengthen family bonds.
\n\u201cBuild a trusting relationship with your child," she wrote. "Let them know that if they do make a mistake they can still come to you about anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
The shooting at Florida State University has raised many questions about the accused gunman, Phoenix Ikner, and his background. As the investigation continues, it is clear that Ikner’s life was marked by both involvement with the sheriff’s office and controversy, including being kicked out of a student club for his views. The community is left to grapple with the aftermath of this tragedy and to seek answers about how this could have happened.<\/p>\n
Q: Who is the accused gunman in the Florida State University shooting?
\nA: The accused gunman is Phoenix Ikner, the 20-year-old stepson of a sheriff’s deputy.
\nQ: What was the motive behind the shooting?
\nA: The motive behind the shooting is still unknown as Ikner invoked his right not to speak to investigators.
\nQ: How did Ikner obtain the gun used in the shooting?
\nA: Ikner used his stepmother’s former service handgun, which she had kept for personal use after the force upgraded its weapons.
\nQ: What is the current status of Ikner’s stepmother, Jessica Ikner?
\nA: Jessica Ikner has been reassigned from her position as a school resource officer and granted personal leave.
\nQ: What is the community’s response to the shooting?
\nA: The community is in shock and mourning, with many seeking answers about how this tragedy could have occurred.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Introduction to the Incident Amid the abandoned chemistry notes and other debris left behind after a deadly shooting at Florida State University are lingering questions about how the stepson of a beloved sheriff\u2019s deputy tasked with school safety at a middle school became the accused gunman. Political science student Phoenix Ikner was a long-standing member […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":13453,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-13452","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/media.nbcmiami.com\/2025\/04\/tlmd-fsu-tiroteo-GettyImages-2210198960-copy.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&fit=5000,2813&w=1920&resize=1920,1080&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13452"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13452"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13454,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13452\/revisions\/13454"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}