Classes will resume at Florida State University on Monday, four days after a deadly shooting on campus left two people dead and six others injured, school officials said.
Students and instructors will have the option of holding classes remotely or in person, depending on the class. The school has waived all mandatory attendance policies that could affect grades, so students won't be punished if they choose not to go to class in person, FSU President Richard McCullough said in a letter to students and faculty.
Students also can request an incomplete grade for their class if they feel they are unable to complete a course, McCullough said.
“We want everyone to receive the support and help they need. For some students that may mean not going back into the classroom,” McCullough said. “For others, the idea of community and gathering, as well as the opportunity to focus on academics, may be beneficial. There is no single right answer for everyone.”
The two victims who died were Robert Morales, a university dining coordinator, and Tiru Chabba, an executive for food service vendor Aramark, according to family members and attorneys for the families.
The gunman, identified as the stepson of a Leon County sheriff’s deputy, arrived on campus an hour before the shooting Thursday and stayed near a parking garage before he walked in and out of buildings and green spaces while firing a handgun just before lunchtime, police said.
In roughly four minutes, officers confronted 20-year-old Phoenix Ikner, a Florida State political science student, and shot and wounded him, Tallahassee police said.
At a hospital, Ikner invoked his right not to speak to investigators, and his motive remained unknown.
The Leon County prosecutor's office is weighing possible charges as stories emerge about Ikner's darker side. One classmate recalled him being kicked out of a student club over comments that other members found troubling.
Suspect is the stepson of a beloved deputy
Investigators said the gun used in the shooting was the former service weapon of Ikner's stepmother, Deputy Jessica Ikner, who had kept it for personal use after the agency upgraded its weapons.
Jessica Ikner, whose 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’s office spokesperson told The Associated Press.
“This is horrific,” Jimmy Williams, the chief of safety for Leon County Schools, said of the shooting. “This is a horrible, horrible event.”
Williams, who has known Jessica Ikner for a decade, said the allegations underscore that “none of us are immune to tragedy.”
When the alert went out of an active shooter, Jessica Ikner was on duty around 2 miles away at Raa Middle School.
A sheriff’s office spokesperson said she worked to secure the campus to prevent anyone from entering as Raa went into “lockout mode," along with all of the county’s public schools. She was practiced at this work.
Last year, she was named an “employee of the month” by the sheriff’s office, where she has worked for 18 years.
Custody disputes and name change in his childhood
When Phoenix Ikner was a child, his parents were involved in several custody disputes with his biological mother, court records show.
In 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.
In the fall of that 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’s position at the sheriff’s office.
In 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 “tragedy” he suffered, in the words of administrative magistrate James Banks, who approved the request, NBC News reported.
Banks observed that Ikner was a “mentally, emotionally and physically mature young adult who is very articulate” and “very polite” and said he chose the new name as a representation of “rising from the ashes anew.”
Classmate says there were concerns about the accused shooter
When FSU student Reid Seybold found out who the suspect was — that it was someone he knows — he was overcome with anger. Seybold was the president of a club that Phoenix Ikner joined when they were both studying at what is now known as Tallahassee State College.
“He would complain about Black people pretty regularly, especially when conversations of police brutality would come up,” Seybold said.
Seybold 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.
“He made people that uncomfortable,” said Seybold, who now also is studying political science at Florida State. “I personally know him to have complained about how multiculturalism and communism are ruining America.”
‘Pathway to violence'
A key part of the investigation will likely focus on what might have led to what experts call the “pathway to violence,” said Kenneth Trump, president of National School Safety and Security Services, a Cleveland-based consulting firm.
“The question is, what was the motivation, what was the grievance?,” said Trump, who wrote the book “Practical School Security: Basic Guidelines for Safe and Secure Schools.” (He's not related to the U.S. president).
“Usually, they build up over time through some type of grievance against people," the security consultant said. “The questions in the upcoming days are: Were there warning signs, what were those warnings signs, and if they were there, who knew?”
Accused shooter transferred from community college
Ikner transferred to Florida State after earning an associate degree Tallahassee State College, school officials said.
He was quoted in the FSU school paper in a story about a rally on campus against President Donald Trump.
Ikner, a registered Republican, described the protesters as “entertaining” 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 “avoid amplifying the voice of an individual responsible for violence.”
Before Ikner’s Instagram was taken down, his bio quoted a verse from the Old Testament book of Jeremiah.
“Thou 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,” reads Jeremiah 51:20, which scholars have interpreted to depict God’s judgment on Babylon. The empire is a symbol in the Bible of sinfulness and immorality.
Deputy's family has stayed quiet for now
A Tallahassee Police Department patrol car was stationed Thursday evening near the street where the suspect's family lives, blocking reporters from approaching the home in a well-kept suburban neighborhood on the city’s east side.
Phone 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’s office spokeswoman said she is not aware of the family putting out a statement or having a family spokesperson.
The 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’s safety while surfing the internet, including tips to strengthen family bonds.
“Build 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.”
