Florida authorities on Thursday identified the individual suspected of carrying out a mass shooting at Florida State University in Tallahassee as 20-year-old Phoenix Ikner.
The suspect was taken into custody after opening fire on campus, killing two people and wounding six. He was also wounded after police shot him during the encounter. He is currently recovering at a hospital.
During a Thursday press conference, Leon County Sheriff Walter McNeil told reporters that Ikner is the stepson of Sheriff’s Deputy Jessica Ikner. He was involved in the sheriff’s office’s Youth Advisory Council and was “steeped in the Leon County Sheriff’s Office family and engaged in a number of training programs that we have, so it’s not a surprise to use that he had access to weapons.”
The council was created to “provide an open line of communication between the youth of Leon County and local law enforcement,” according to a news release.
Ikner allegedly carried out the shooting using one of his stepmother’s old handguns.
The suspect had a tumultuous upbringing that included being the subject of a custody dispute between his parents, ABC News reported.
Ikner was previously at the center of a protracted battle between his parents that featured a custody dispute stretching from the Florida panhandle to Norway, according to court documents.
At the time of the custody dispute, the suspect was a child and was known as Christian Gunnar Eriksen. (He changed his name in 2020 and is now identified as Phoenix Ikner.)
Christian was taken by his biological mother to Norway in March 2015 in violation of a child custody order, according to a 2015 probable cause affidavit from the Leon County Sheriff's Office. Anne-Mari Eriksen was accused of telling Christian's father, Christopher Ikner, that she was taking him to South Florida for spring break.
"Instead of staying in South Florida, the defendant allegedly fled the country with him in violation of their custody agreement," the affidavit says. "Mr. Ikner advised that Christian has developmental delays and has special needs which he feared would not be taken care of without access to his doctors here in the United States."
The sheriff's affidavit said the child was on medication for "several health and mental issues, to include a growth hormone disorder and ADHD."
The document stated that Christian and his biological mother were dual citizens of the United States and Norway.
Christian was eventually brought back to the United States. His mother was arrested at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in July 2015 and later pleaded no contest to illegally removing a child from Florida.
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Initial reports reveal that Ikner was politically active on campus. Florida voter registration records show he was registered as a Republican. He was quoted in an FSU student newspaper article about anti-Trump protests and appeared to mock those demonstrating against the president, according to CNN.
“These people are usually pretty entertaining, usually not for good reasons,” Ikner, who was described as a political science major, was quoted as saying. “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.”
NEW: The Florida State University sh**ter has been identified as Phoenix Ikner, the son of a sheriff’s deputy.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) April 17, 2025
Ikner was featured in FSU News in January before Trump's inauguration.
He was reportedly a political science major.
"These people are usually pretty entertaining,… pic.twitter.com/SKbLR4slYp
Ikner was involved in an extracurricular political club years ago. Reid Seybold, an FSU student, told CNN he was acquainted with the suspect and met him in the club.
“He had continually made enough people uncomfortable where certain people had stopped coming. That’s kind of when we reached the breaking point with Phoenix, and we asked him to leave,” he told CNN.
Seybold claimed Ikner’s comments went “beyond conservatism,” and often railed against “the ravages of multiculturalism and communism and how it’s ruining America.”
Seybold told NBC News, “Basically, our only rule was no Nazis – colloquially speaking – and he espoused so much white supremacist rhetoric, and far-right rhetoric, as well, to the point where we had to exercise that rule.”
“I could not breathe”: FSU student Reid Seybold, who knows the alleged FSU gunman, says 20-year-old suspect Phoenix Ikner was “known for espousing white supremacist and alt-right rhetoric” but he never thought Ikner would be violent.
— NewsNation (@NewsNation) April 18, 2025
More: https://t.co/7SkwVCYEO1 pic.twitter.com/Ucya4wBEFa
Riley Pusins, another FSU student, told NBC News that the suspect supported President Donald Trump. She also claimed he espoused white supremacist views during meetings. She further recalled that Ikner would “go up to the line” during the meeting, then cross that line after.
Still, it is not clear whether his political views played a part in motivating his alleged actions. Moreover, it does not appear that he engaged in violent activity prior to the shooting.
Ikner remains hospitalized after sustaining non-life-threatening injuries during his confrontation with law enforcement. He has invoked his right to silence and has not spoken with police about the incident.
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