The man who allegedly shot two people dead and injured five more at Florida State University in Tallahassee is the son of a Leon county sheriff’s deputy – and used one of his mother’s former service pistols in the massacre.
Phoenix Ikner, 20, was identified as the suspected killer, Leon County Sheriff Walt McNeil confirmed during a press conference hours after the shooting Thursday.
Ikner, an active FSU student, had access to his mother’s weapons and brought one of her pistols with him to campus, McNeil said.
He was also found in possession of a shotgun, though it is unclear whether he used it in the alleged attack. Some witnesses described the shooter unloading with a rifle-shaped gun before switching to a pistol.
Ikner was also a member of the Youth Advisory Council of the sheriff’s office.
“This event is tragic in more ways than you people in the audience could ever phantom from a law enforcement perspective,” McNeil said.
