Two people died and six were hospitalized after a shooting at Florida State University’s student union on April 17.
Robert Morales, a 57-year-old FSU dining coordinator of 10 years, and Tiru Chabba, a 45-year-old regional vice president of Aramark Collegiate Hospitality, died during the shooting.
All six wounded, some of whom are students, are expected to make a full recovery, Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare staff said. One patient had been discharged as of April 19, the hospital said.
The alleged gunman is 20-year-old Phoenix Ikner, an FSU political science student and the stepson of Leon County Deputy Jessica Ikner. He was hospitalized after being shot by law enforcement for not complying with commands, but is expected to survive.
Ikner — whose stepmother has worked with the Leon County Sheriff’s Office for over 18 years — was a long-standing member of LCSO’s youth advisory council and participated in a number of LCSO training programs. Ikner had access to his mother’s personal handgun, which was found at the crime scene, LCSO Sheriff Walter McNeil said during an April 17 press conference.
The university is cooperating with the investigation, FSU President Richard McCullough said during the press conference.
“We’re a strong and united community. We’re family. And so we’ll take care of all of you, and we’ll get through this together,” he said.
Ikner’s motive is still unclear, but classmates alleged “white supremacist and far-right rhetoric.”
Joe Diaz, a 19-year-old FSU political science freshman, sat in front of Ikner in a history class. He described the shooter as quiet and put together.
“It didn’t seem like something he was capable of,” Diaz said.
Diaz described Ikner as being into history, having in-depth conversations with the professor and fellow students during class.
After Ikner was identified in the April 17 press conference as the alleged shooter, Diaz didn’t immediately put the pieces together.
“I saw the Instagram account and it kind of hit me,” he said. “I literally saw him yesterday.”
Shooting timeline
Around 11 a.m., Ikner arrived on campus at a university parking garage and lingered around the vehicle for about an hour. He left the garage at 11:51 a.m., and between 11:56 a.m. and 11:57 a.m., he fired the first shots as he went in and out of buildings near the student union.
By 11:58 a.m. authorities received several 911 calls. At noon, Ikner was shot and taken into police custody.
The university’s alert system sent out its first message just after noon, stating an active shooter was near the student union, and law enforcement was on the scene. The message advised those on campus to shelter in place. The university sent out subsequent alerts at 12:20 p.m. and 12:40 p.m. notifying faculty and students to stay sheltered, and said law enforcement was still responding to an active shooter threat at the student union.
Around 1 p.m., FSU sent another alert notifying students law enforcement was clearing the main campus and using a safe word to evacuate buildings and classrooms.
Shortly after 3 p.m., the university’s alert system lifted the campus lockdown, but FSU officials asked students and faculty to avoid the student union and several other buildings and treat them as active crime scenes. While initial rumors of multiple active shooters circulated, the Tallahassee Police Department confirmed he was acting alone in an April 17 press conference.
The shooting wasn’t the first in FSU’s history. In 2014, three people were shot at FSU’s Strozier Library by graduate Myron May. Police responded to the scene two minutes after receiving a call about the first shot. Police shot and killed May as he reloaded his gun and tried to enter the library.
One student, Farhan Ahmed, was paralyzed from the waist down after a bullet hit his spine. Nathan Scott, a Strozier Library employee at the time, was shot in the leg, and an unnamed student was grazed by the bullet.
Several survivors of the 2018 Parkland school shooting were at FSU during this year’s shooting. Since Jan. 1, Florida has had six mass shootings.
Students respond
Maddox Fox, a 19-year-old FSU freshman, was taking a biology quiz less than a minute’s walk from the student union when he was startled by the violent clang of metal on metal.
“I was like, ‘Sh*t,’” he said. “The realization set in.”
A bullet hit the building.
The rest was nothing but a blur, Fox said. His classmates collectively leapt from their seats, pushing and searching for a way out. Only one exit faced away from the gunfire. Fox dashed away from the scene, unsure of where he was heading. There was only one thing he could think, he said. “I’ve got to get out [of] here.”
Students piled into passing cars. Fox gave the window of a beige SUV a frantic knock, and the driver rolled it down skeptically.
“What’s going on?” the driver asked, as Fox recalled.
“Someone’s shooting up the school,” he said. “Can I come in your car and you drive us away?”
No more questions. More students tumbled into the backseat, and Fox found himself at the opposite end of campus, running again. He made it to a recognizable residence hall and sheltered with two friends.
“It doesn’t feel real,” he said. “You never expect it’s going to happen to you.”
FSU’s campus will never be the same, he said.
On the evening of April 18, FSU held a vigil to honor and mourn the victims.
“It's important to remember in moments like this that there is light, even in the darkest of times,” said Carson Dale, FSU’s student body president.The crowd of over 2,000 was dressed in garnet and gold as bouquets of flowers and bundles of balloons decorated fences. As the marching band’s song echoed through the fields, tears ran down the faces of FSU’s community.
Zian Fan, a 26-year-old FSU music graduate student, said he still has many unanswered questions and feels angry the shooting happened.
“This happened in the places I know and the road I used to walk on,” Fan said. “There’s nothing much we can do as long as the guns are accessible to people. This thing could happen every day, anytime.”
FSU alumna Emily Simons shared Fan’s frustration.
“There’s no words that really fix it so soon or make it feel better, especially finding out that someone that we know from work or someone that you’ve seen around or someone that your friend is friends with is gone,” Simons said.
Despite her dismay, she doubts change will occur.
In the shooting’s aftermath, government officials have expressed resistance to calls for gun control legislation. Similarly, President Donald Trump called the shooting “a shame,” but said he would not advocate for new gun legislation, according to The New York Times.
“These things are terrible, but the gun doesn’t do the shooting — the people do,” he said.
Tori Grossman, a 22-year-old FSU finance senior, said she felt the vigil showed how FSU’s community remains strong.
“Everyone copes differently,” she said. “The best way is just to all come together and realize that you’re not alone, you still have a community, even though it felt kind of broken yesterday.”
FSU’s classes will resume April 21, though the university waived mandatory attendance policies through the rest of the week, FSU president Richard McCullough announced April 19.
Some in-person classes will also be offered remotely through the end of the semester, and students can request an incomplete grade for any course.
Vivienne Serret and Avery Parker contributed to this report.
This is an Alligator staff report.
