Florida State campus shooting: Shooter identified as FSU student

The alleged shooter who took the lives of two people and injured six more on the campus of Florida State on Thursday has been identified. According to Leon County Sheriff Walter McNeil, the shooter was 20-year-old FSU student Phoenix Ikner. Including Ikner, there were nine total victims during the tragic incident.

Reports of an active shooting on the university’s Tallahassee campus began just after noon on Thursday afternoon following reports of multiple shots fired around the school’s student union building. Specific details of those injured have not yet been provided, but local law enforcement was able to confirm the exact number still being treated.

Sheriff McNeil confirmed that Ikner is the son of a Leon County sheriff’s deputy. He revealed that his mother has worked for the sheriff’s office for the last 18 years.

“Her service to this community has been exceptional,” McNeil said. “Unfortunately, her son had access to one of her weapons, and that was one of the weapons that was found at the scene. We will continue that investigation into how that weapon was used and what other weapons perhaps he may have had access to. The alleged shooter was also a long-standing member of the Leon County Sheriff’s Office, Citizen Advisory, or Youth Advisory Council, so he has been steeped in the Leon County Sheriff’s Office family.

“[He was] engaged in a number of training programs that we have. So it’s not a surprise to us that he had access to weapons. This event is tragic in more ways than you people in the audience could ever phantom from a law enforcement perspective. But I will tell you this, we will make sure that we do everything we can to prosecute and make sure that we send a message to folks that this will never be tolerated here in Leon County and I dare say, across this state and across this nation.”

The FBI has confirmed it responded to the scene at FSU, a bureau spokesperson told NBC’s Tom Winter. The agency has an office in Tallahassee that is connected to a larger office in Jacksonville. Agents from both locations are either on-scene or en route at the time of the report.

The sheriff’s office confirmed that there is no longer an existential threat, but advised students to remain away from the main campus and to return to their dormitories or residence halls. FSU president Richard McCullough said that all school activities, including athletics and class-related activities, are suspended through the weekend.