From Bible-quoting social media posts to youth mentorship, details about the alleged gunman who killed two people and wounded six more at Florida State University on Thursday trickled out in the aftermath of the shooting.
Police identified the shooter as university student Phoenix Ikner, the 20-year-old son of a sheriff’s deputy and school resource officer, saying a service weapon had been found at the scene.
His mother, Jessica Ikner, has been with the sheriff’s office in Leon County, where Florida State is located, for 18 years, Leon County Sheriff Walter McNeil told reporters.
The alleged shooter lives with his parents in Tallahassee and was majoring in political science at FSU, according to First Coast News.
Phoenix Ikner had served as a longtime member of the sheriff’s Youth Advisory Council, according to McNeil. He not only had ready access to weapons but had also “engaged in a number of training programs” offered by the department, FSU Police Chief Jason Trumbower said earlier in the day, which McNeil confirmed.
The sheriff said it was thus “not a surprise” that Ikner had access to weapons, given his council activity and the training programs he was involved in.
The service weapon Ikner used was an old one his mother had purchased for her personal use, Tallahassee Police Chief Lawrence Revell and other law enforcement sources said. She had left it unattended the day of the shooting, First Coast News reported, citing the LCSO.
“Unfortunately, her son had access to one of her weapons, and that was one of the weapons that was found at the scene,” McNeil said after praising Jessica Ikner’s “exceptional” service to the community. “We will continue that investigation into how that weapon was used and what other weapons perhaps he may have had access to.”
The shooter was among those receiving medical attention, Trumbower told reporters. Officers shot and wounded him after he refused to comply with their commands. His injuries were not life-threatening, officials said.
Ikner first emerged from his car with a shotgun, but it jammed, so he dove back into his vehicle and brought out a handgun, then started shooting in earnest, said witness Aidan Stickney, a 21-year-old business management major. No one appeared to have been hit with shotgun fire, Trumbower noted.
Police found a handgun on Ikner when taking him into custody, a law enforcement source told CNN. In addition, a shotgun was found in the student union, and another gun was in Ikner’s car, the official said.
As police sought a motive, some of Ikner’s alleged social media provided potential clues. An Instagram page that bore Ikner’s name and matched his age quoted the Bible in one post, though it was no longer visible on Thursday afternoon.
“You are my war club, my weapon for battle,” read the quote from Jeremiah 51:20. “With you I shatter nations, with you I destroy kingdoms.”
Likewise, Ikner’s quote in an article about a student protest ahead of Trump’s inauguration in January had been removed to “maintain ethical journalistic standards and avoid amplifying the voice of an individual responsible for violence,” campus newspaper FSU News said in an editor’s note added to the article after the shooting.
First Coast News grabbed the comment before it was deleted.
“These people are usually pretty entertaining, usually not for good reasons,” Ikner had told FSU News. “I think it’s a little too late, he’s 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.”
With News Wire Services
