On Thursday, a shooting at Florida State University (FSU) resulted in two deaths and four injuries, with the gunman, Phoenix Ikner, the 20-year-old son of a Leon County sheriff’s deputy, being shot by officers and hospitalized.
Authorities stated that Ikner acted alone, and the motive remains unclear. He accessed his mother’s personal handgun, which was once a service weapon she had purchased after retiring from the department.
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The shooting occurred around 11:50 a.m. near the student union building. While two of the victims were killed, none of the injured were FSU students. Responding police officers opened fire on Ikner when he refused to surrender, taking him into custody along with the wounded individuals. The incident forced students and faculty to shelter in place as police arrived.
This tragic event marks the second shooting on FSU’s campus in 11 years, following an earlier incident in 2014 when a graduate shot and wounded three people at the university’s library.
Witnesses described chaotic scenes as shots rang out, with students and visitors fleeing for safety. Authorities also believe the suspect may have brought a shotgun onto the campus, though it’s uncertain whether it was used in the attack.
Recent mass shootings on U.S. college campuses, including those at Michigan State University and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, have highlighted the ongoing threat of gun violence in educational institutions. The 2007 Virginia Tech massacre remains one of the deadliest incidents in U.S. campus history.
