Two Killed in Florida State University Shooting

A mass shooting at Florida State University in the southeastern US state of Florida has left two men dead and five wounded.

The gunman, identified as 20-year-old Phoenix Ikner, allegedly used his mother’s service weapon to carry out the attack. Ikner is the son of a local deputy sheriff and was a student at the university.

According to Chief Lawrence Revell of the Tallahassee Police Department, a sixth person was injured while trying to flee the scene. Ikner was shot by law enforcement and is currently hospitalized with “serious but non-life-threatening injuries.”

Leon County Sheriff Walt McNeil confirmed that Ikner was the son of an “exceptional” 18-year member of his staff.

“Unfortunately, her son had access to one of her weapons, and that was one of the weapons that was found at the scene,” McNeil said. “He added that the suspect was part of Sheriff’s Office training programs, meaning “it’s not a surprise to us that he had access to weapons.”

Bystander footage showed a young man walking on a lawn and shooting at people who were trying to get away.

Witnesses described chaos as people ran through the campus when shots were fired near the student union. “Everyone just started running out of the student union,” a witness named Wayne said. “About a minute later, we heard about eight to 10 gunshots.”

The witness added, “The whole entire thing was just surreal. I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Everything was really quiet, then all chaotic.” The two victims who died were “adult males” who were not students, police said.

Florida State University President Richard McCullough expressed condolences, saying, “This is a tragic day for Florida State University. We’re absolutely heartbroken by the violence that occurred on our campus earlier today.”

Student Sam Swartz described the scene, saying, “Everyone started freaking out, a group of eight people huddled in a hallway and barricaded themselves with trash cans and plywood.” Swartz added, “I remember learning to do the best you can to make them take time, Mass shooters are just trying to get as many people as they can.”

Footage on social media showed students evacuating the building with their hands up. The university canceled classes and advised non-resident students to leave campus.

Mass shootings are common in the US, where gun control laws are often debated.

President Donald Trump said, “I’m a big advocate of the Second Amendment. I have been from the beginning. I protected it. These things are terrible, but the gun doesn’t do the shooting, the people do.”

According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been at least 81 mass shootings in the US so far this year.