TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – When a 20-year-old opened fire at Florida State College, terrified college students barricaded doorways and fled throughout campus, abandoning chemistry notes and even sneakers, in a capturing that investigators stated killed two males and wounded at the very least six others.
By early Friday, memorials of candles and flowers dotted the campus and a school-wide vigil had been scheduled as college students and college tried to start out therapeutic from the day past’s capturing, which despatched shockwaves of concern throughout the campus.
“I heard some gunshots after which, you already know, simply blacked out after,” stated Carolina Sena, a 21-year-old accounting pupil who was inside the scholar union when the capturing began. “Everybody was crying and simply panicking. We had been attempting to barricade ourselves in slightly nook within the basement, attempting to guard ourselves as a lot as we might.”
The shooter, recognized by police as Phoenix Ikner, is believed to be a Florida State pupil and the son of a sheriff’s deputy who opened hearth together with his mom’s former service weapon, investigators stated. Authorities haven’t but revealed a motive for the shooting, which started round lunchtime Thursday simply outdoors the scholar union.
Officers rapidly arrived and shot and wounded the gunman after he refused to adjust to instructions, stated Tallahassee Police Chief Lawrence Revell.
The 2 males who had been killed weren’t college students, stated Florida State College Police Chief Jason Trumbower, including that he wouldn’t launch extra details about the victims.
The shooter obtained entry to a weapon that belongs to his mom, who has been with the sheriff’s workplace for over 18 years and has been a mannequin worker, stated Leon County Sheriff Walt McNeil. Police stated they believed Ikner shot the victims utilizing his mom’s former service handgun, which she had stored for private use after the pressure upgraded to new weapons.
5 individuals who had been wounded had been struck by gunfire, whereas a sixth was damage whereas attempting to run away, Revell stated in an announcement Thursday night time. They had been all in truthful situation, a spokesperson for Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare stated.
The shooter was a long-standing member of the sheriff’s workplace’s youth advisory council, the sheriff stated.
“He has been steeped within the Leon County Sheriff’s Workplace household, engaged in a lot of coaching packages that we have now,” McNeil stated. “So it’s not a shock to us that he had entry to weapons.”
As of Thursday night time, Ikner was within the hospital with “critical however non-life-threatening accidents,” in line with Revell.
Witness says the suspect’s shotgun jammed
Ambulances, hearth vans and patrol automobiles from a number of legislation enforcement companies raced towards the campus simply west of Florida’s capital after the college issued an energetic shooter alert.
Aidan Stickney, a 21-year-old learning enterprise administration, was working late to class when he stated he noticed a person get out of a automobile with a shotgun and goal at one other man in a white polo shirt.
The gun jammed, Stickney stated, and the shooter rushed again to his automobile and emerged with a handgun, opening hearth on a girl. Stickney ran, warning others as he known as 911.
“I obtained fortunate as we speak. I actually did. I actually, actually did,” he stated.
Trumbower stated investigators don’t have any proof that anybody was shot with the shotgun.
Photographs despatched college students scattering
Holden Mendez, a 20-year-old pupil learning political science and worldwide affairs, stated he had simply left the scholar union when he heard a collection of pictures. He bumped into a close-by campus constructing, the place he stated his earlier emergency response coaching kicked in.
“There was quite a lot of concern. There was quite a lot of panic. There was quite a lot of misinformation that was being unfold round. I used to be doing my greatest to form of fight that,” he stated. “I instructed folks, ‘Take a deep breath. This constructing is safe. Every part goes to be okay.'”
Andres Perez, 20, was in a classroom close to the scholar union when the alarm sounded for a lockdown. He stated his classmates started shifting desks in entrance of the door and law enforcement officials got here to escort them out.
“I at all times hand around in the scholar union,” Perez stated. “So the second I discovered that the menace was there, my coronary heart sank and I used to be scared.”
Capturing shocks campus and the nation
President Donald Trump stated from the Oval Workplace that he had been totally briefed on the capturing.
“It’s a horrible factor. It’s horrible that issues like this happen,” he stated.
However Trump additionally recommended that he wouldn’t be advocating for any new gun laws, saying, “The gun doesn’t do the capturing, the folks do.”
College President Richard McCullough stated he was heartbroken by the violence. “Our hearts exit to our college students and the victims of this horrible tragedy,” he stated.
One other capturing a decade in the past at Florida State
Florida State is one in all Florida’s 12 public universities, with its foremost campus in Tallahassee. About 44,000 college students are enrolled within the college, per the varsity’s 2024 truth sheet.
In 2014, the primary library was the positioning of a shooting that wounded three people. Officers shot and killed the gunman, 31-year-old Myron Might.
The college canceled lessons for the remainder of the week and canceled house athletic occasions by way of Sunday.
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Fischer reported from Fort Lauderdale. Related Press reporters Stephany Matat in West Palm Seashore, Curt Anderson in St. Petersburg, Michael Schneider in Orlando, Mike Balsamo in New York, Eric Tucker and Christopher Megerian in Washington, John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed to this report.
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