A Florida State University student walked past a wounded classmate and instead of helping, filmed her while casually sipping iced coffee.
The disturbing video went viral after Phoenix Ikner, 20, fired bullets from his mother’s police gun on the Tallahassee campus, resulting in two fatalities and six injuries.
In the footage, a young woman is shown lying face down on the grass next to a walkway, her blue jeans stained with crimson blood, and her white top pushed up.
She is motionless and silent as the unnamed student walks past, filming her with their phone as they approach, then turning for a second look after passing.
A plastic Starbucks iced coffee cup is visible in the footage as the student filming it nonchalantly sips from it and goes on their way.
Viewers were shocked at the casual way the student filmed the wounded woman without even stopping to see if she was still alive.
Another video later showed her being helped by a policewoman, who was on her knees assessing the young woman’s wounds.
Social media commenters were appalled, with one saying: ‘The person that filmed this needs to go to jail. That’s sick.’
Others made it a commentary on Gen Z, saying that they have been so desensitized to violence and other traumas.
‘Just casually walking by someone that’s shot….WTF,’ another wrote.
Others still were upset that people were more outraged over who was recording the video than the actual shooter and the level of gun violence in American schools.
‘Not sure why people are mad about the person casually walking by and recording…students are numb to this because it happens so often now,’ a commenter wrote. ‘If you want to get mad, maybe try focusing that anger on the people who continuously tell us that guns are not that big of a danger.’
Max Jenkins, an FSU student who witnessed the shooting, mentioned seeing the woman get shot when he was later interviewed by the Tallahassee Democrat.Â
He said that Ikner fired at a maintenance worker who was trying to get students to safety, but a golf cart blocked the bullet.
‘Then after that he turned this way and started shooting out on the green,’ Jenkins said.
‘He shot like two in our direction and then two in that direction and that’s the girl who got shot in the butt over here who was laying down for a while.
‘They (police) stretchered her, she looked like she was alive, but I’m not sure – I hope that she is.’
There haven’t been any updates on the victims since authorities said two people were killed and six more were wounded in the massacre.
Police took Ikner, the suspect, into custody after he resisted arrest, forcing them to shoot and injure him. He is under guard at a local hospital.
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.’Â
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.
He 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.’
Leon County Sheriff McNeil said at a press conference Thursday the suspect was a member of the department’s youth set-up and was involved in training programs, including the Youth Advisory Council.
Jacob West, 18, was part of that council alongside the accused gunman in 2021-2022, The New York Times reported. West said Ikner was always in ‘good spirits’ and ‘never spoke about guns or anything.’
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.’
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.
Students also shared chilling footage from inside a classroom where people were cowering in fear under desks.Â
A person could be heard bashing on the door multiple times yelling ‘open up’, but the terrified students remained silent and unmoving during the terrifying ordeal.Â
As evacuations were carried out, images showed concerned students and faculty trying to call loved ones on campus, and Florida State University said Thursday afternoon that all classes and events were cancelled for the day.Â
Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare said it was treating several victims and was ‘fully mobilized and prepared to provide the highest level of care and support to all those affected.’Â
A hospital spokesperson said one of the six people hospitalized was in critical condition and the other patients were in serious condition.
