The school shooter who killed two people and injured at least six others at FSU held ‘white supremacist’ values, according to former classmates.
Extraordinary footage has now emerged of Phoenix Ikner, a registered Republican, stalking campus grounds as terrified students ran for their lives on Thursday.
The deafening sound of a gunshot rings out in the video as Ikner marches back and forth at Florida State University’s Tallahassee campus, shooting indiscriminately at his terrified classmates.
Ikner, 20, was publicly identified as the shooter during a press conference on Thursday afternoon, in which it was also revealed he is the son of a sheriff’s deputy and had used her gun in his rampage.
Two people were killed and six more injured – all of whom are expected to make a full recovery after undergoing emergency surgery.
Speaking to NBC after the shooting, a student who was once part of a ‘political round table’ with Ikner revealed he harbored white supremacist views.
‘Basically our only role was no Nazis — colloquially speaking — and he espoused so much white supremacist rhetoric and far right rhetoric as well,’ Reid Seybold said.
Seybold, who was president of the club, said he had to kick Ikner out of the group due to his beliefs and rhetoric.
‘We had to exercise that role,’ he said.
Seybold was in a building right near where the shooting took place when he heard gunshots, and said he was ‘getting ready to die.’
And Riley Pusins, who is part of another political discourse club on campus that Ikner would attend, had a similar experience with the suspect.
Pusins said Ikner would attend meetings ‘almost every Thursday’ in which he would ‘go up to the line’ about what was acceptable discussions, but would often cross the line after the formal meeting ended.
The student said Ikner often advocated President Donald Trump’s agenda, promoted white supremacist values and made inappropriate comments, despite joining a nonpartisan group.
Pusins said others in the group would describe Ikner as a ‘fascist.’
Ikner had also recently mocked students on campus protesting the result 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.’
The publication has since withdrawn his words from the story, noting: ‘An earlier version of this article included a quote from the gunman in the April 17 shooting at FSU and was removed at the decision of our editors to maintain ethical journalistic standards and avoid amplifying the voice of an individual responsible for violence.’
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 quote is a passage from the book of Jeremiah in the Bible, which warned of an impending judgement day.
During the shooting and in the immediate aftermath, social media was flooded with sickening footage and images as panic set in, including one showing a victim being carried to safety on the shoulders of paramedics.
A witness on the scene told WFTV they saw a college-aged man exit the student union with a handgun, and another witness told the Tallahassee Democrat they’d heard what sounded like ‘automatic gunfire.’
Several witnesses shared clips of students fleeing and seeking shelter, with others showing food, picnic blankets and bags that were left on a lawn after students scrambled to safety.
Officials said his mother is Leon County Sheriff’s Deputy Jessica Ikner, noting he had ‘access to one of her weapons, and that was one of the weapons that was found at the scene.’
Leon County Sheriff McNeil said at a press conference Thursday the gunman was a member of the department’s youth set-up and was involved in training programs.
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.’
