Following the mortal shooting at Florida State University on Thursday, a portrait of the alleged armed man, the stepson of a local sheriff deputy has emerged.
At least two people died and another six were injured when the shots sounded near the student union of the Tallahassee institution, authorities said during a press conference.
Leon County Sheriff has identified the shooter as Pheonix Ikner, 20, shown in this photo published on social networks.
The first to respond shot the suspect on the campus and since then has been hospitalized, authorities said. He was arrested with injuries that do not endanger life, said multiple officials in charge of enforcing ABC News.
The suspect was identified during the press conference as Phoenix Ikner, 20. At the press conference, the authorities described Ikner as the son of the deputy of the Sheriff of Leon County, Jessica Ikner. However, judicial documents indicate that she is the stepmother of the suspect.
Work application work on 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
Sheriff Walter McNeil said Phoenix had access to one of his stepmother’s personal weapons, which was one of the weapons found in the scene. He had a gun and a shotgun with him at the time of the shooting, authorities said.
Jessica Ikner has been deputy of the department for more than 18 years and “his service to this community has been exceptional,” McNeil said.
Florida State University campus shot
Google Maps, Florida State University
McNeil added that the 20 -year -old suspect was also a “long -standing member” of the Leon County Sheriff’s Office.
Pheonix had been “soaked in the family of the Sheriff’s office of Leon County,” McNeil said, adding: “It is not a surprise for us to have access to weapons,” he added.
Suspect once in the dispute of the International Custody Center of Child
Ikner was previously at the center of a prolonged battle among his parents that presented a custody dispute that extended from Panhandle in Florida to Norway, according to judicial documents.
At the time of the custody 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 an order of custody of children, according to a sworn statement of probable cause of 2015 of the Sheriff’s Office of Leon County. Anne-Mari Eriksen was accused of telling Christopher Ikner’s father, who took him south of Florida for spring holidays.
“Instead of staying in southern Florida, the defendant allegedly fled the country with him in violation of his custody agreement,” says the sworn statement. “Mr. Ikner reported that Christian has delays in development and has special needs that feared that he would not take care of his doctors here in the United States.”
The sworn statement of the sheriff said that the child was taking medications for “several health and mental problems, including a hormonal growth and ADHD disorder.”
The document declared that Christian and his biological mother were dual 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 did not oppose illegally eliminating a Florida child.
In October 2015, Anne-Mari Eriksen filed a lawsuit claiming slander and defamation in the name of herself and her son against the father and stepmother of Christian, the deputy of Sheriff Jessica Ikner, along with two other relatives.
“The emotional and psychological damage made to the minor child will be evident for years, and will require advice, and given that the child is the age of 11, he will have the memory affected by the behaviors of all the defendants for the false statements made in his mother, and for the parental alienation of the close relationship of the minor child,” said the lawsuit.
The lawsuit requested more than $ 80,000 in damages to use to the Christian College fund.
A judge dismissed the lawsuit seven months later.
An investigation into the reason for the mortal shooting is ongoing.
The police said during the press conference that the police response to the shooting was “massive” and “very fast.”
“We are working multiple scenes of crimes, and there are potentially hundreds, if not thousands, of witnesses,” said Chief Lawrence Revell of the Police of Tallahassee.
Revell also said that the suspect did not comply with the commands before the agents responded. “I don’t think he shot the officers,” said Revell.
Aaron Katersky, Katherine Faulders and Jenny Wagnon Courts of ABC News contributed to this report.
