Who Is the FSU Campus Shooting Suspect? What We Know So Far

The student who is accused of opening fire on the campus of Florida State University is the stepson of a sheriff’s deputy and has been involved in law enforcement programs.

Authorities named Phoenix Ikner, 20, as the suspect in the shooting that left two people dead and six injured on Friday, April 18 in Tallahassee. 

The shooting began shortly before noon and the suspect allegedly shot several people. Ikner was shot by FSU police and taken to the hospital.

Law Enforcement Connection

Ikner’s connection to law enforcement is through his stepmother, who, according to Leon County Sheriff Walt McNeil, is an 18-year department veteran.

The sheriff’s office’s website lists a deputy named Jessica Ikner.

“Unfortunately her son had access to one of her weapons and that was one of the weapons that was found at the scene,” McNeil said.

McNeil added that Ikner was a member of the sheriff’s office’s youth council and that he had been engaged in training programs they offered.

Kidnapped by Biological Mother

In 2015, when Ikner would have been around 10 years old, Ikner’s biological mother, Anne-Mari Eriksen, violated a custody agreement with the then-child’s father and brought him to Norway, according to a Leon County probable cause affidavit reviewed by PEOPLE.

At the time, Ikner’s legal name was Christian Gunnar Eriksen and he missed school tests, appointments and medications he was taking for both diagnosed growth hormone disorder and ADHD, according to the affidavit.

Following her return to the United States, Anne-Mari Eriksen pleaded no contest to removing a minor from the state, records indicate.

Asked to Leave Political Club Over ‘Uncomfortable’ Views

CNN and NBC reported that Ikner is a registered Republican and that he transferred to FSU from Tallahassee State prior to the spring semester.

In January, Ikner was quoted in the FSU student newspaper reacting to anti-Trump protests on campus. He is described as a political science major by the paper.

“These people are usually pretty entertaining, usually not for good reasons,” Ikner told FSU News. “I think it’s a little too late, he’s [Trump] already going to be inaugurated on Jan. 20 and there’s not really much you can do unless you outright revolt, and I don’t think anyone wants that.”

NBC also reported that classmates of Ikner said he was asked to leave a political discussion group over purported white supremacist ideas.

Reid Seybold, who was in the same political club, told NBC and CNN Ikner was asked to leave because of unsettling views.

“He had continually made enough people uncomfortable where certain people had stopped coming,” Seybold told CNN. “That’s kind of when we reached the breaking point with Phoenix, and we asked him to leave.” 

Police have not discussed what the motive behind the shooting was.