On Thursday, April 17th, a 20-year-old Florida State University Student is accused of killing two people and injuring six others in a shooting that took place on campus. The 20-year-old identified as Phoenix Ikner spent time training with law enforcement and served on an advisory council year before the alleged attack.
Ikner was taken into custody after being shot and injured by the Univerity police, he was reported carrying a handgun that used to be the service weapon of sheriff’s deputy Jessica Ikner.
(Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/Getty Images)
After the shooting Tallahassee Police Chief Lawrence Revell states in a CNN article, “Police have not disclosed any potential motive in the shooting. There don’t appear to be nay connections between the suspect and any of the victims” (Tolan, Miller, Devine, Ash, Riess, Park, Sayers, Kamp, Ghazala, Figliola, Apr, 30).
Since the shooting took place, classmates of Ikner have came out and said his political beliefs were extreme and they made many of them uncomfortable. Ikner has opinions such as describing Civil Rights icon Rosa Parks as being wrong, defending the use of Nazi symbols, and disparaging pro-Palestinian and Black Lives Matter protesters.
Sheriff Walter McNeil told reporters, “the suspect was steeped in the Leon Sheriffs Office family and engaged in a number of training programs that we have, so its not a surprise to us that he had access to weapons” (Tolan, Miller, Devine, Ash, Riess, Park, Sayers, Kamp, Ghazala, Figliola, Apr, 30).
Jessica Ikner, the mother is Phoenix Ikner, served at the sheriffs department for more than 18 years. Jessica was praised for her service to the community as it was stated to be exceptional.
On Friday, April 18th, the sheriffs office said that Jessica Ikner has requested time off and was granted personal leave due to the circumstances of the situation. She was also transferred to the property crimes unit. 
CNN further more states, “after the shooting, police recovered an AR-15 style rifle, in addition to the .45 caliber pistol and shotgun recovered at the scene, inside the car Phoenix Ikner drove to campus, according to law enforcement. The car was registered to the suspected gunman’s father” (Tolan, Miller, Devine, Ash, Riess, Park, Sayers, Kamp, Ghazala, Figliola, Apr, 30).
As of today, there is still no motive or reasoning behind the shooting.
