By Andrew Hay and Rich McKay, Reuters and AFP
Photo: AFP/Getty Images
A mass shooting allegedly carried out by the son of a local deputy sheriff left two people dead at a university in Florida, police in the southeastern US state said.
Five people were hospitalised after the gunman rampaged through Florida State University, shooting at students, before he was shot by local law enforcement.
"Two victims are deceased and five individuals have been transported to a local hospital with gunshot wounds," said Florida State University chief of police Jason Trumbower.
The suspect was identified as 20-year-old Phoenix Ikner, the son of a Leon County Sheriff deputy and a student at the university, Sheriff Walt McNeil told reporters.
"Deputy Ikner has been with the Leon County Sheriff's Office for over 18 years. She has done a tremendous job... her service to this community has been exceptional," he said.
"Unfortunately, her son had access to one of her weapons, and that was one of the weapons that was found at the scene.
"The alleged shooter was also a long-standing member of Leon County Sheriff's Office, citizen advisory or Youth Advisory Council, so he had been steeped in the Leon County Sheriff's Office family engaged in a number of training programs that we have. So it's not a surprise to us that he had access to weapons."
Trumbower said that the two killed were not students.
It is believed the gunman was a student.
The shooting started about 11.50 am local time (3.30am NZT). Gunshots were reported at the student union building on the FSU campus in the state capital of Tallahassee. Students and faculty were told to shelter in place as police responded. More than 42,000 students attend classes at the main campus.
Student Max Jenkins described the shooter leaving the student union building and firing four or five shots outside.
"He saw the maintenance guy who was waving everybody and I guess heard him probably and turned and shot that way," Jenkins said in a video on the Tallahassee Democrat newspaper website. "There's a golf cart over here with a bullet hole in it."
Mass shootings on US school campuses have become almost commonplace in recent years. Thursday's incident was the second shooting on the FSU campus in 11 years. In 2014, a graduate opened fire early at the school's main library, wounding two students and an employee as hundreds were studying for exams.
Chris Pento was on a tour of the university with his children and eating lunch at the student union building when shots started ringing out.
"It was surreal, people started running. She just got trampled over," Pento told local TV station WCTV, referring to his daughter.
Three firearms were found - one on the suspect, one in a nearby car and a shotgun in the student union - a law enforcement source told CNN.
Law enforcement agencies could not be immediately reached to confirm the reports or to comment.
FBI Director Kash Patel said in a post on X he had been briefed on the shooting and that a team from the Jacksonville FBI field office was assisting.
My team and I have been briefed on the tragic shooting at Florida State and our FBI Jacksonville team is on the ground assisting. We will provide full support to local law enforcement as needed. Please keep the FSU community in your prayers.
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) April 17, 2025
"We will provide full support to local law enforcement as needed," he added.
Notable mass shootings at colleges or universities in recent years include the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre in Blacksburg, Virginia, where 32 people were killed and 23 injured.
In 2023, there were two college mass shootings, one at Michigan State University, where three students were killed and at least five others injured. The other incident unfolded at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where three faculty members were killed before a suspect died in a shootout with the police.
- AFP/Reuters
