Son of the deputy of the local sheriff allegedly opened fires near the union of students of the State University of Florida in Tallahassee on Thursday, killing two people and hurting others, the authorities said.
The suspect, the respondents of the 20 -year -old responders, Phoenix Ikner, a current FSU student, and has been hospitalized, police said. He was arrested with injuries that do not endanger life, said multiple officials in charge of enforcing ABC News.
Ikner is the son of a current deputy director of Leon County, according to Sheriff Walter McNeil. He had access to one of his mother’s personal weapons, which was one of the weapons found in the scene, said the sheriff. It seemed that Ikner had a gun and a shotgun with him, police said.
The mother of the suspect has been deputy of the department for more than 18 years and “her service to this community has been exceptional,” said McNeil.
The suspect was also a “long -standing member” of the Leon County Sheriff’s Office, McNeil said.
He was “committed to a series of training programs that we have,” said the Sheriff, added: “It is not a surprise for us who had access to weapons.”
On this video screen, the first responders tend to the injured after the reports of an active shooter near the students’ union on the campus of the State University of Florida in Tallahassee, Florida, on April 17, 2025.
WFTS
The campus has been insured, police said.
The police have not identified the two murdered people, but said they were not students.
Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare said he received six patients, all in just state.
People evacuates the Campus of the Florida State University after a massive shooting in Tallahassee, Florida, April 17, 2025.
Alicia Devine/USA Today Network through IMAGN images through Reuters
The second year student Paula Maldonado told ABC News that she was in class near the students union when she listened to what rang out as shouting outside.
“Just after, the active threat alarm was shot,” he said. “Everyone in my class quickly turned off the lights, put desks to block the door and hidden at the front of the classroom.”
“We were silent and some whispered,” said Maldonado. “Some also cried and helped each other. Like a student by my side, he told me to put my backpack in front of me to protect me.”
“A police officer entered and I thought he was the shooter, so he was very scary. But after a couple of minutes, another policeman returned and told us that we went out with our hands high, Maldonado said.
People comfort each other on the Campus of the Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida, where the police responded to an active shooter incident reported on April 17, 2025.
Kate Payne/AP
The student Daniella Streety told ABC News that she was in the building on the other side of the Student Union Street when the alert sirens began to sound, and the people who were stopped outside came up with her building.
Then, the students fled the students union when the police flooded the scene, he said.
Florida State University campus shot
Google Maps, Florida State University
Fred Guttenberg, whose 14 -year -old daughter Jaime, was killed in the shooting in the high school park in southern Florida in 2018, said some of Jaime’s classmates now attend FSU.
“Incredibly, some of them were only part of their shots in the second school and others were in the union of students today,” Guttenberg wrote, who has become a supporter of weapons reform, he wrote on social networks. “As a father, everything I always wanted after the shooting in the park was to help our children be safe. Unfortunately, due to the many people who refuse to do the right things to reduce armed violence, I am not surprised what happened today.”
On this video screen, the police are shown in the scene after the reports of an active shooter near the students’ union at the Campus of the Florida State University, on April 17, 2025.
Daniella Streety
President Donald Trump has been informed about the shooting, according to the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt.
The secretary of the Department of National Security, Kristi Noem, said: “My heart is broken by students, their families and the faculty of Florida State University. There is no place in the American society of violence. Our entire nation is praying for the victims and their families.”
FSU said classes are canceled until Friday.
In this screenshot of a video, the officials responsible for enforcing the law are shown on the campus of the Florida State University after the reports of an active shooter, on April 17, 2025, in Tallahassee, Fla.
@Wormack_352/Instagram
This is a development story. Consult the updates again.
Olivia Osteen de ABC News, Sony Salzman and Luke Barr contributed to this report.
