Video above: FSU taking pictures suspect seems in court docket
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A grand jury has indicted a Florida State College pupil on murder charges for the killings of two people and the wounding of six others in a mass shooting on campus final month.
The indictment launched Wednesday divulged new particulars of how 20-year-old Phoenix Ikner allegedly carried out the assault that terrorized the university and Florida’s capital city.
Jurors described the rampage as “our group’s worst nightmare” however concluded the speedy response of legislation enforcement reduce quick the violence, based on a grand jury report obtained by The Related Press. The grand jury additionally discovered that the officer who shot and wounded Ikner acted lawfully and heroically.
Wednesday’s indictment got here a day after Ikner made his first appearance in court for the reason that April 17 taking pictures.
Jessica Yeary, the general public defender assigned to Ikner’s case, didn’t reply to a request for remark from AP.
Ikner, who investigators have recognized because the stepson of a local sheriff’s deputy, is being held with out bond underneath orders that he haven’t any contact with the victims and their households. He has been transferred to a jail in neighboring Wakulla County, which is normal process when an inmate is expounded to a Leon County deputy, authorities mentioned.
After reviewing police physique digital camera footage, campus surveillance feeds and video recordings by witnesses, the grand jury concluded that Ikner acted alone, that the assault was slowed by a shotgun that didn’t correctly function, and that the violence was halted by a multiagency legislation enforcement response.
In roughly four minutes, officers had confronted Ikner, a political science pupil at Florida State, taking pictures and wounding him, based on Tallahassee police.
The grand jury highlighted the actions of FSU Police Officer Cody Poppell, who drove his bike towards the sound of gunshots as college students fled round him. Poppell shot on the gunman a number of instances, nonetheless astride his operating bike, hitting Ikner as soon as within the face, the grand jury discovered.
“There isn’t any query others would have died absent his actions,” the grand jury wrote of Poppell.
Talking at a gathering Thursday of the board that oversees the state’s college system, Chancellor Ray Rodrigues applauded the response of legislation enforcement.
“Clearly tragic to have college students shot and to have any lack of life. However the fast response of the FSU campus police prevented this from being a lot, a lot, a lot worse than it might have been,” Rodrigues mentioned.
Based on the grand jury’s findings, Ikner was armed with a shotgun and a handgun, which was emblazoned with a sheriff’s star and “Leon County Sheriff’s Workplace.” Investigators have recognized that firearm as the previous service weapon of Ikner’s stepmother. Ikner “stole” each weapons from his dad and mom’ house, jurors concluded, taking the pistol from his father’s bedside.
The grand jury described Ikner’s collection of the victims as “completely random,” concentrating on women and men of “numerous ages, races, and life.”
“All proof suggests he merely wished to kill as many individuals as potential, not that he was concentrating on any particular person or group,” the grand jury wrote. “The one constant trait of every sufferer was their innocence.”
So far, the jurors discovered that Leon County Faculties had no historical past of psychological well being or behavioral referrals indicating Ikner as a risk. Likewise, Tallahassee State School, which Ikner beforehand attended, had no disciplinary referrals or experiences on file of Ikner making threats in opposition to different college students. FSU additionally has no file of Ikner searching for psychological well being counseling, being reported for violent feedback or going through disciplinary referrals, jurors discovered.
Courtroom data present Ikner’s arraignment is scheduled for June 11.
