Police took in suspect Phoenix Ikner, 20, a Florida State University student and son of a sheriff\u2019s deputy<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two people were killed in a mass shooting at the Florida<\/a> State University (FSU) campus in Tallahassee on Thursday, and six others were injured, police said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The 20-year-old suspect is believed to be a student and the son of a sheriff\u2019s deputy who had access to one of her weapons, a handgun, which was found at the scene, Sheriff Walt McNeil said at a news conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Law enforcement officials confirmed that none of the victims were students or police officers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Officials named the suspect as Phoenix Ikner, a student at FSU and the son of a Leon county sheriff\u2019s deputy. The police said he had been involved with training programs at the police force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Authorities have not yet revealed a motive for the shooting, which began around lunchtime just outside the student union, sending students and frightened parents hiding for cover in a bowling alley and a freight elevator inside the building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The suspect \u201chad been in the Leon county sheriff\u2019s office family, engaged in a number of training programs that we have\u201d, McNeil said. \u201cSo, it\u2019s not a surprise to us that he had access to weapons. This event is tragic in more ways than you people in the audience could ever imagine, from a law enforcement perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The suspect\u2019s mother has been with the sheriff\u2019s office for more than 18 years, McNeil said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The officials confirmed that the suspect was currently being treated at a hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ambulances, fire trucks and patrol vehicles from multiple law enforcement agencies had raced toward the campus that sits just west of Florida\u2019s state capital after the university issued a shooter alert at midday, saying police were responding near the student union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur prayers are with our FSU family and state law enforcement is actively responding,\u201d the state\u2019s governor, Ron DeSantis<\/a>, wrote on X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The gunfire was reported at the student union building on the FSU campus and students and faculty were advised to shelter in place as police responded. More than 42,000 students attend classes at the main campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Videos posted on social media<\/a> show students being evacuated from the scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By midafternoon the Florida State University campus had been secured, according to the Tallahassee police department. Multiple law enforcement agencies remained on site for the ongoing investigation. The student union and the surrounding area were still considered an active crime scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Earlier, hundreds of students streamed away from the direction of the student union. Students were glued to their phones, some visibly emotional, while others hugged each other. Dozens gathered near the music school waiting for news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Tallahassee Memorial hospital confirmed it was treating six patients wounded in the shooting, one in critical condition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ryan Cedergren, a 21-year-old communications student, said he and about 30 others hid in the bowling alley in the lower level of the student union after seeing students running from a nearby bar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn that moment, it was survival,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Donald Trump opened his Oval Office meeting<\/a> at the White House with the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, with comments on the shooting, saying he had been fully briefed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s a horrible thing. It\u2019s horrible that things like this take place,\u201d the US president said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fred Guttenberg, the father of 14-year-old daughter Jaime Guttenberg, who was murdered in the 2018 Parkland high school shooting, said in a post on X<\/a>: \u201cAmerica is broken.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs a father, all I ever wanted after the Parkland shooting was to help our children be safe,\u201d he said. \u201cSadly, because of the many people who refuse to do the right things about reducing gun violence, I am not surprised by what happened today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Guttenberg also said that many of his daughter\u2019s friends who survived the Parkland shooting are current students at FSU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n University police escorted the students out of the union after about 15 minutes of hiding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A junior student, Joshua Sirmans, 20, was in the university\u2019s main library when he said alarms began going off warning of a shooter. Law enforcement officers escorted him and other students out of the library with their hands over their heads, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The US attorney general, Pam Bondi, said in a social media post that the justice department was in touch with FBI agents on the scene. Students and faculty were instructed to seek shelter and await further instructions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLock and stay away from all doors and windows and be prepared to take additional protective measures,\u201d the alert said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Leon county school district, where Tallahassee is located, posted on X<\/a>: \u201cAll LCS schools are back to normal operating procedures. Lockout has been lifted district wide.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n