Following the murderous shooting at the Florida State University Thursday, a portrait of the alleged shooter – the steps of a deputy for the local sheriff – emerged.
At least two people were killed and six others were injured when shots sounded near the student union of the Tallahassee establishment, officials said at a press conference.
The Sheriff of the County of Leon identified the shooter as Pheonix Ikner, 20, presented on this photo published on social networks.
The first stakeholders shot the suspect on the campus and he has since been hospitalized, officials said. He was placed in police custody with non -deadly injuries, said several officials of the application of laws in ABC News.
The suspect was identified at the press conference like Phoenix Ikner, 20. At the press conference, the authorities described Ikner as the son of the Sheriff of Leon County, Jessica Ikner. However, court documents indicate that she is the suspect’s mother-in-law.
The police work at Florida State University Campus after a mass shooting in Tallahassee, Florida, April 17, 2025.
Alicia DEVINE / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images via Reuters
The Sheriff Walter McNeil said that Phoenix had access to one of the personal weapons of his mother-in-law, which was one of the weapons found on the scene. He had a handgun and a hunting rifle with him at the time of the shooting, officials said.
Jessica Ikner has been deputy of the department for over 18 years and “her service to this community has been exceptional,” said McNeil.
Filming of the Florida State University campus
Google Maps, Florida State University
McNeil added that the 20 -year -old suspect was also a “longtime member” of the Youth Advisory Council of the Leon County Sheriff.
Pheonix had been “imbued with the family’s sheriff’s office in Leon,” said McNeil, adding: “It is not a surprise for us that he had access to weapons,” he added.
The suspect was formerly at the International Children’s Center
Ikner was previously at the center of an extended battle between his parents who presented a guard dispute extending from the Panhandle of Florida to Norway, according to court documents.
At the time of the guard dispute, the suspect was a child and was known as Christian Gunnar Eriksen. (He changed his name in 2020 and is now identified as Phoenix Ikner.)
Christian was taken by his biological mother to Norway in March 2015 in violation of a childcare order, according to a probable affidavit of 2015 of the Bureau of the Sheriff of the County of Leon. Anne-Mari Eriksen was accused of having said to the father of Christian, Christopher Ikner, that she took him to the south of Florida for the spring holidays.
“Instead of staying in southern Florida, the accused would have fled the country with him in violation of their custody agreement,” said the Affidavit. “Mr. Ikner said Christian had developmental delays and has special needs which, he said, would not be taken care of without access to his doctors here in the United States.”
Sheriff’s affidavit said that the child was under medication for “several health and mental problems, to include hormonal growth disorder and ADHD”.
The document said Christian and his biological mother were two citizens of the United States and Norway.
Christian was finally brought back to the United States. His mother was arrested at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in July 2015 and then pleaded without competition to illegally withdraw a Florida child.
In October 2015, Anne-Mari Eriksen filed a legal action alleging slander and defamation in the name of herself and her son against the mother-in-law of the father and the Christian, the sheriff assistant Jessica Ikner, as well as two other parents.
“The emotional and psychological damage caused to the minor child will be obvious for years and will require advice, and since the child was at the age of 11, will have the memory affected by the behavior of all the defendants for false allegations made on his mother and for the parental alienation of the close relationship of the minor child,” said the prosecution.
The trial requested more than $ 80,000 in damages to use the Christian University Fund.
A judge rejected the prosecution seven months later.
An investigation into the motive of the fatal shooting is underway.
The police said at the press conference that the response of the police at the shooting was “massive” and “very fast”.
“We are working on several crime scenes, and there are potentially hundreds, even thousands of witnesses,” said Tallahassee police chief.
Revell also said that the suspect did not comply with orders before being killed by agents who responded. “I don’t think he shot officers,” said Revell.
Aaron Katersky, ABC News, Katherine Faulders and Jenny Wagnon Courts contributed to this report.
