Phoenix Ikner, the 20-year-old suspect in a mass shooting at Florida State University in Tallahassee on Thursday, is the stepson of a Leon County Sheriff’s deputy who allegedly used his stepmother’s former service weapon in a shooting that killed two and injured six.
Ikner was a political science student, and while in high school was a member of the Leon County Sheriff’s youth advisory council. Sheriff Walter A. McNeil told reporters of Ikner, “He has been steeped in the Leon County Sheriff’s Office family, engaged in a number of training programs, so it’s not a surprise to us that he had access to weapons.”
The sheriff said at this time there was no reason to suspend Jessica Ikner from her duties, but an investigation is ongoing into what weapons Phoenix Ikner had access to. A rifle was also recovered from the scene, but it’s uncertain whether it was used in the attack. Tallahassee Police Chief Lawrence Revell said the suspect is not talking.
Phoenix Ikner quoted the Bible and made fun of anti-Trump protesters.
Ikner was known by classmates to hold far-right views and was a registered Republican.
“I got into arguments with him in class over how gross the things he said were,” said Lucas Luzietti, a politics student who shared a class with Ikner.
Luzietti said the two clashed in a federal politics class. Among Ikner’s beliefs were that President Joe Biden illegally came into office, “Rosa Parks was in the wrong,” and Black people were ruining his neighborhood. Ikner made it clear that he owned guns.
Another classmate, Ian Townsend, said Ikner had “weird energy.”
Townsend said Ikner was a socially awkward student who sometimes tried to inject conservative political opinions into class discussions. He said that Ikner often wore shirts bearing the logo of the NRA, and after Donald Trump won reelection in November came to class wearing a red MAGA hat.
Townsend said Ikner often interjected subject material that was off-topic in classroom discussions, and the instructor would have to steer the discussion back on topic. “You could tell he was kind of trying to get people’s attention or try to stir up some type of issue,” Townsend said.
Townsend described Ikner as small statured, no more than 5’5″ tall, and that he was a loner. Other students mostly kept their distance from him.
Ikner was booted from a political club for his extremist views which made others uncomfortable.
Reid Seybold, an FSU student, told CNN he knew Ikner, whom he encountered in an extracurricular political club a few years ago. Seybold said Ikner was asked to leave the group, which discussed current events, due to behavior that unsettled others.
The current president of the same club, Riley Pusins, said that at meetings, the suspect advocated for Trump’s agenda and often promoted white supremacist values, even though the club was nonpartisan and was about debate and political discourse.
Pusins said many people in the club had labeled the suspect, who attended regularly as recently as last semester, as a fascist.
