In the aftermath of the tragic shooting at Florida State University, there are still unanswered concerns regarding the stepson’s transition from middle school school safety officer to alleged gunman. These issues are intertwined with the chemistry notes and other materials that have been abandoned.
Phoenix Ikner, a student of political science, was deeply immersed in the agency’s familial atmosphere as a long-term member of the youth advisory council. Authorities claim that the 20-year-old opened fire with his stepmother’s previous service weapon, killing two men and wounded six others, when cops responded to reports of gunshots inside the university’s student union.
Shot and hauled into jail, Ikner was among those who scurried away in fear. As he lies in a hospital bed, his reason is unknown; he asserted his right not to talk to authorities.
As details of the shadowy side surface, the prosecutor’s office is considering potential charges. His expulsion from a student group was due to remarks that other members deemed offensive, according to one of his classmates.
According to Jimmy Williams, the head of safety for Leon County Schools, “This is horrific” when asked about the incident. “What a terrible, terrible thing to happen.”
The claims highlight that “none of us are immune to tragedy,” according to Williams, who has known Ikner’s stepmother, Jessica Ikner, for ten years.
Over the weekend, Florida State indicated that classes and business operations will resume on Monday.
“It won’t feel like a normal week,” FSU President Richard McCullough told students and workers in a statement over the weekend. Many of you are probably still trying to make sense of what transpired, and this is the last one before exams. Make sure you look after yourself.
A loving deputy’s stepson is the suspect.
A spokeswoman for the sheriff’s office informed The Associated Press that his stepmother, who went to Florida State University herself, was taken off her school resource officer job and given the leave she had asked for on Friday.
Jessica Ikner was on duty at Raa Middle School, about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) away, when the warning of an active shooter at Florida State University went out. As Raa and all of the county’s public schools entered “lockout mode,” a spokeswoman for the sheriff’s office reported that Jessica Ikner made efforts to safeguard the campus and prevent anybody from entering. The task was second nature to her.
After 18 years of service, she was honored last year as “employee of the month” by the sheriff’s office.
Phoenix Ikner was reportedly thought by police to have shot the victims using his stepmother’s service pistol, which she had retained for private use following the force’s weapon upgrade.
It was expected that Phoenix Ikner would have access to firearms, according to Leon County Sheriff Walter McNeil, who said Thursday that Ikner was “steeped in the Leon County Sheriff’s Office family” and had participated in many sheriff’s office training programs.
He did not have a criminal record that could be located. Plus, you may openly carry a concealed weapon in public in Florida without having to undergo background checks or undergo training.
Childhood issues include custody battles and a change of name
According to court records, Ikner’s parents had many custody battles with his biological mother when he was a kid.
His real mother, Anne-Mari Eriksen, said in 2015, when he was ten years old, that she had planned to take him to South Florida for spring break but ended up going to Norway instead. She was sentenced to 200 days in jail after pleading no guilty to removing a juvenile from the state against a court order upon her return to the United States. In a subsequent motion to vacate her plea, she was unsuccessful.
Along with many other relatives, Eriksen sued Jessica Ikner in the fall of that year for civil libel and defamation. They were accused of harassing Eriksen and misusing Ikner’s position at the sheriff’s office in the later-dismissed complaint.
According to court records, the suspect changed his name from Christian Eriksen to Phoenix Ikner in 2020 when he was fifteen years old. The decision was given by administrative magistrate James Banks, who described his former name as a “tragedy” that he endured, according to NBC News.
“Rising from the ashes anew” was the meaning behind Ikner’s name change, according to Banks, who described him as a “mentally, emotionally and physically mature young adult who is very articulate” and “very polite.”
The suspected shooter was a worry, according to a classmate.
Someone hurried in to alert Reid Seybold and his classmates to the shooting as they worked on a group assignment in a facility just three minutes away from the student union. According to the 22-year-old, they drew close, sending what they believed to be their last texts to family and friends.
It was someone Seybold knows, and when he learned that person was the shooter, he was enraged. While both Seybold and Phoenix Ikner were students at what is now known as Tallahassee State College, the local community college, they were both members of a club.
Ikner was asked to quit the group by his other members because of his racist and white nationalist ideas, according to Seybold.
“He made people that uncomfortable,” Seybold remarked, adding that she is now a dual political science student at Florida State. “Multiculturalism and communism are ruining America.” He has reportedly voiced his disapproval of these policies.
The suspect went from a small college to Florida State University.
After Ikner earned an associate degree at the community college, he went to Florida State, according to school authorities.
Besides offering some commentary on a campus demonstration against Trump in an FSU piece, he failed to pique the interest of the school newspaper.
The demonstrators were characterized by Republican Ikner as “entertaining” as the inauguration of Trump was previously scheduled. An editor’s note explained the decision to delete the comments as an effort to “avoid amplifying the voice of an individual responsible for violence.”
A scripture from the book of Jeremiah was mentioned in Ikner’s bio before his Instagram was removed. “Thou art my battle ax and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms,” says Jeremiah 51:20, which academics have interpreted as God’s wrath on Babylon. According to the Bible, the empire represents all that is evil and unethical.
Until recently, the deputy’s family has maintained silence.
Thursday night, a patrol cruiser from the Tallahassee Police Department stood guard on the family’s street, preventing media from getting any closer to their home in a neat suburban community on the east side of the city.
On Friday, no one responded to calls made to the number associated with Jessica Ikner via public records or a school resource website. A representative for the sheriff’s office also stated that she was unaware of any statement or spokesman being put out by the family.
Statements made in the past provide the only source of information. Tallahassee Family Magazine published an article by Jessica Ikner about ten years ago that discussed how to keep children safe online and how to improve family relationships.
“Establish a rapport of trust with your little one,” she said. “Make it clear that they can always come to you with any concerns, even if they blow it.”
