UPDATED 12:31 A.M. 4/18
(Reuters) -A deputy sheriff’s son killed two people and wounded four others at Florida State University on Thursday before he was shot by officers and hospitalized, authorities said.
Police believe the gunman – the son of a Leon County sheriff’s deputy – acted alone and a motive was not known. The suspect had access to his mother’s handgun, which was once her service weapon. She bought it from the department and it is now a personal firearm, they said.
“Unfortunately, her son had access to one of her weapons that was found at the scene,” Leon County Sheriff Walter McNeil said at the press conference.
The 20-year-old suspect – identified as Phoenix Ikner – was believed to be a student at FSU in the state capital of Tallahassee, said Jason Trumbower, chief of the university’s police force. The two people who were killed were not students. Trumbower did not provide details on the four others who were shot and wounded.
Responding police officers shot the gunman when he failed to obey orders to surrender and took him into custody, authorities said. The four wounded victims, plus the gunman, were taken to the hospital with gunshot wounds.
Mass shootings on U.S. school campuses have become recurring tragedies 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.
The shooting started about 11:50 a.m. local time (1550 GMT) near the student union building on the FSU campus. 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.”
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.
In addition to the handgun, authorities believe the suspect brought a shotgun onto campus but said it was uncertain if that weapon was used in the shooting.
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.
(Reporting by Frank McGurty in New York, Brendan O’Brien in Chicago, Rich McKay in Atlanta, Andrew Hay in New Mexico, Brad Brooks in Colorado and Jasper Ward in Washington; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
UPDATED 3:53 P.M.
(Reuters) – A gunman killed two people and wounded four others at Florida State University on Thursday before the gunman was shot and taken into custody, authorities said.
FSU Police Chief Jason Trumbower said at an afternoon press conference that the two killed were not students. It is believed the gunman was a student.
The shooting started about 11:50 a.m. local time (1550 GMT). Police shot the gunman and took him into custody, Trumbower said.
Five people, including the gunman, were taken to the hospital with gunshot wounds, Trumbower said.
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 U.S. 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. “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.
(Reporting by Frank McGurty in New York, Brendan O’Brien, Rich McKay, Andrew Hay, Brad Brooks and Jasper Ward; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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(Reuters) -At least six people were hospitalized on Thursday, one of them in critical condition, after a shooting at Florida State University, and a suspect was taken into custody, according to media reports.
Gunshots were reported at midday at the Student Union building on the FSU campus in the state capital of Tallahassee. Students and faculty were advised to shelter in place as police responded. More than 42,000 students attend classes at the main campus.
A nearby hospital, Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, said in a statement it had received six patients – one in critical condition and the rest in serious condition.
Officers took one suspect into custody shortly after the shooting, two law enforcement sources with knowledge of the situation told CNN.
Law enforcement agencies could not be immediately reached to confirm the reports or to comment.
The shooting was the latest burst of deadly gun violence to rock a U.S. school campus in recent years. In 2014, a Florida State University graduate opened fire early at the school’s main library, wounding two students and an employee as hundreds were studying for exams.
(Reporting by Frank McGurty in New York; Additional reporting by Brendan O’Brien and Rich McKay; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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