Tallahassee police revealed on Wednesday that Phoenix Ikner, the 20-year-old Florida State University student accused of gunning down seven people, killing two, on the Tallahassee campus one week ago, was shot in the face during a confrontation with law enforcement.
“The suspect remains hospitalized with significant injuries but is expected to survive,” TPD spokeswoman Alicia Hill said in a text message. “He was shot once, in the jaw.”
Ikner remains under armed guard in the hospital and will be formally charged upon his release, Hill said.
Five victims from the mass shooting have been released, officials at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare said Tuesday. A remaining patient “related to the April 17 shooting at Florida State University” remains in good condition, TMH said.
Another victim was injured while fleeing the carnage but was not hospitalized.
Students returned to classes on Monday, where sidewalks and steps along the campus were strewn with memorials of flowers, balloons, stuffed animals, and chalk messages of remembrance, sorrow, support, and demands for accountability.
Here’s what we know about the shooting and its aftermath as of Thursday, April 24.
What was Phoenix Ikner charged with?
As of Thursday morning, April 24, Ikner is still hospitalized after being shot by law enforcement.
Hill said that Ikner faces charges “up to and including first-degree murder,” but that the State Attorney’s Office will make the final determination. Hill added that the investigation remains “open and active.”
Student march on FSU campus planned for Thursday
FSU students plan to follow up appearances at the state Capitol on Tuesday and Wednesday — where they asked lawmakers for common-sense gun laws — with a march Thursday at the university to demand that the FSU administration take action against white supremacists on campus.
Classmates have said that Ikner, the alleged shooter, had a history of espousing radical conspiracy theories and hateful ideas and was once kicked out of a “political round table” club for what one student claimed was frequent white supremacist and far-right rhetoric. He had a fascination with Hitler, Nazis and other hate groups, according to screenshots of his online activity captured by the Anti-Defamation League.
A statement from the Tallahassee Students for a Democratic Society accused FSU leadership of platforming “white supremacist leaders” to speak on campus, naming the recent controversial event featuring conservative firebrand and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.
“The shooter attended Kirk’s hate rally and despite massive student outcry, FSU administration refused to cancel the event,” the Tallahassee SDS said in an Instagram post. “In an environment where hate speech is permitted, the natural and tragic conclusion is hate crime.”
On Wednesday, about 200 FSU students, teachers and residents marched from Westcott Fountain to the Florida Capitol to demand lawmakers enact common-sense gun laws and kill a bill that would lower the age to buy a long gun to 18.
“Hey hey, ho ho, gun violence has got to go,” the crowd chanted.
The day before, four FSU students — including two who had been huddled in a barricaded classroom during the Thursday shooting — walked to the Capitol Rotunda with House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell of Tampa to accuse Florida lawmakers of complicity in mass shootings around the state with their support of policies normalizing gun violence.
The FSU shooting was the sixth mass shooting in Florida this year, and the fourth Florida school shooting since 2012, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
FSU shooting deaths: Remembering Robert Morales
Robert Morales was shot and killed in the mass shooting on the Florida State University campus on April 17, 2025.
One of the two men killed in the rampage was Robert Morales, 57, a dining coordinator at FSU, a former FSU special teams coach and the former owner of the Black Bean Café. A Tallahassee Democrat story looks at his life and the massive impact he had on hundreds of thousands of students.
“Robert made time for others, always leading with patience, humor and warmth,” FSU’s Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration Kyle Clark said of Morales during an emotional vigil held on the FSU campus April 18. “He will be remembered always with gratitude, respect and deep affection.”
He is survived by his wife, Betty Morales, and daughter.
Funeral service announced for FSU shooting victim Tiru Chabba
The family of the other man killed, Tiru Chabba, 45, a regional vice president for college food and dining service Aramark, has announced that a funeral service will be held at 10 a.m. ET Friday, April 25th in Greenville, South Carolina at the Mackey Funerals and Cremations at Woodlawn Memorial Park.
Chabba’s family has retained The Strom Law Firm to “ensure that all those who bear responsibility for this senseless act of violence are held to account.”
The funeral for Tiru Chabba, one of the two men killed during a mass shooting April 17, 2055 one the Florida State University campus in Tallahassee, will be held in Greenville, South Carolina.
He is survived by his wife and two children.
All but one injured patient released from hospital
Five victims from the mass shooting have been released, officials at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare said Tuesday. A remaining patient “related to the April 17 shooting at Florida State University” remains in good condition, TMH said. The hospital will not name patients, but the only remaining person involved in the shooting is the suspect, 20-year-old Phoenix Ikner.
A sixth victim was injured while fleeing but was not shot and did not go to the hospital, FSU leaders said.
None of the victims have been identified, but one, Madison Askins, 23, gave an interview over the weekend and described how she pretended to be dead to avoid getting shot again.
FSU teams honoring fallen
Before the first baseball game after the shooting, FSU faculty, staff and students were invited onto Mike Martin Field of Dick Howser Stadium Tuesday, April 22, for a moment of silence and a performance by the FSU Marching Chiefs.
Dr. Matthew Ramseyer, a Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare trauma response surgeon, threw out the ceremonial first pitch in the game against Stetson. First responders and healthcare workers were honored during the fourth inning.
FSU defeated Stetson, 11-6.
After the shooting: How FSU baseball’s Link Jarrett has turned Howser into a place to ‘heal’ after shooting
This week, FSU women’s golf team was named a No. 1 seed in the NCAA regional women’s golf tournament for the first time in the program’s history. The team found out about the shooting in the middle of their third round, head coach Amy Bond told NBC Sports.
“We really just tried to honor the Tallahassee community and Florida State and be where our feet were,” she said. “Our hearts were certainly in Tallahassee.”
What happened in the Florida State University mass shooting?
Phoenix Ikner, the stepson of a Leon County sheriff’s deputy, is the suspected shooter in an attack at Florida State University on Thursday, April 17, that killed two and injured six.
Police say Ikner waited for an hour in an FSU parking garage and then, using his mother’s gun, opened fire at the FSU Student Union.
FSU Police Chief Jason Trumbower told university trustees Tuesday that the first call came in at 11:58 a.m. and by noon, FSU PD converged on the suspect. The university sent out an alert to students and faculty at 12:01 p.m. as law enforcement from multiple agencies quickly descended on the campus.
Ikner refused to comply and was shot by an FSU PD officer, Trumbower said.
He is believed to have acted alone, according to Tallahassee Police Chief Lawrence Revell. Students were released from a shelter-in-place request after law enforcement cleared the campus.
The shooting claimed the lives of Robert Morales, an FSU employee and high school football coach, and Tiru Chabba, 45, a married father of two from South Carolina, who was at FSU on a work-related visit.
‘I just need to play dead’: Florida State University student on surviving campus shooting
A vigil held on campus Friday afternoon drew thousands to honor the victims. On Easter Sunday, students packed the pews for Easter Mass.
FSU shooting timeline: What happened at Florida State University?
Tallahassee police provided a timeline of the April 17 shooting at Florida State University.
11 a.m.: Phoenix Ikner arrives at an FSU parking garage.
11: 51 a.m.: Phoenix Ikner leaves the parking lot.
11:56 or 11:57 a.m.: Phoenix Ikner fires the first shot, then walks in and out of buildings and green spaces, firing a handgun.
11:58 a.m.: 911 calls report a male actively shooting on FSU campus. Nearby police officers respond.
By 12 p.m.: Phoenix Ikner is shot by responding officers and taken into custody.
Who is Phoenix Ikner? What to know about suspect in FSU shooting
Police identified 20-year-old Phoenix Ikner as the shooter who opened fire in front of Florida State University’s student union.
Leon County Sheriff Walt McNeil said the shooter was 20-year-old FSU student Ikner, the stepson of Leon County Deputy Jessica Ikner.
Born Christian Gunnar Eriksen, Ikner changed his name when he was 15 following a troubled childhood marked by decades-long custody battles between his parents. Ikner’s biological mother spent about five months in jail after taking him against his will to Norway. Phoenix Ikner said that with his new name, he had hopes of rising from the “ashes” of his childhood.
Ikner attended Lincoln High School and was a long-standing member of the 2021-22 Leon County Sheriff’s Office Youth Advisory Council as a high school junior. Sheriff Walt McNeil said Phoenix was “steeped in the Leon County Sheriff’s Office family.”
Jessica Ikner, a middle school deputy, practiced shooting with her stepson, though “not in an official capacity,” according to the Leon County Sheriff’s Office. Deputy Ikner is currently on personal leave and is being reassigned, an LCSO spokesperson said.
“Unfortunately, her son had access to one of her weapons, and that was one of the weapons found at the scene. We are continuing our investigation as to how that weapon was used and what other weapons perhaps he may have had access to,” McNeil said during a press conference.
What was the motive behind the FSU shooting? Suspected shooter had troubling fascination with hate groups
Ikner’s motive is still unknown.
“The suspect invoked his rights not to speak to us,” Revell said at Thursday’s press conference.
According to USA TODAY, students who knew Ikner were horrified but “weren’t shocked given things he had said publicly.”
In the aftermath of the shooting on Thursday, people who knew Ikner said he had a history of espousing radical conspiracy theories and hateful ideas. The president of a student politics club said Ikner “espoused so much white supremacist rhetoric” that they booted him from the group.
By the time Ikner had enrolled in Tallahassee State College last year in 2024, other students said he was expressing extremist conspiracy theories and hateful ideas and was once kicked out of a “political round table” club for what one student claimed was frequent white supremacist and far-right rhetoric.
The suspected FSU gunman held a fascination with Hitler, Nazis and other hate groups, according to screenshots of his online activity captured by the Anti-Defamation League.
Ikner used a drawing of Hitler as a profile photo for an online gaming account. For the name of another account, the 20-year-old used “Schutzstaffel,” the name of the ruthless “SS” paramilitary group that started out as Hitler’s personal bodyguard, grew into death squads and ran the concentration camps where millions of Jews were murdered.
More: New records show suspected FSU shooter had troubling fascination with hate groups
The Miami Herald reported that Ikner was cracking jokes about getting a good night’s rest after taking a hit to the head in an online chat for students in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes at FSU and Tallahassee State College.
After another student suggested he get hit again to cancel it out, Ikner replied, “Twice the head trauma, twice the power. I’m evolving.”
Is there a Columbine connection to the FSU shooting?
The FSU shooting occurred nearly 26 years to the day of one of the deadliest, most infamous school shootings: the attack and attempted bombing at Columbine High School in Colorado.
On April 20, 1999, two 12th-grade students murdered twelve students and one teacher, the deadliest mass shooting at a K-12 school in history to that point.
The Columbine High School massacre has been the inspiration for dozens of copycat shooters, several of whom specifically planned for the anniversary.
Where is Florida State University located?
Florida State University is located in the state’s capital, Tallahassee. It is found in the middle of the Panhandle between Jacksonville and Pensacola.
The main campus of Florida State University is officially located at 600 W College Ave, Tallahassee, FL 32306.
Viral video shows girl sipping Starbucks while walking past fallen student. Is it real?
A video has gone viral across social media showing someone walking past a wounded, bleeding woman lying face down on the grass. Rather than stopping to help or even running away from an active shooter, as what sounds like two shots are fired in the background, the person walks by while sipping from a Starbucks cup.
While officials believe the video is authentic, the Tallahassee Democrat is not running the video due to its graphic content and because it has not been verified as real or related to the FSU shooting.
See reactions: Viral video after FSU shooting seems to show person sipping coffee while passing wounded victim
FBI announces tip line for anyone with information, videos of FSU shooting
The FBI has set up a tip line for anyone with information about the shooting that happened at FSU.
Anyone with video or audio media related to the incident can upload it here.
How to help
Contributing: William Hatfield, Arianna Otero, Jim Rosica, Jeff Burlew, Ana Goñi-Lessan, Alaijah Brown, Elena Barrera, Brittany Misencik, Gregg Pachkowski, Mollye Barrows of USA TODAY Network – Florida and Michael Loria of USA TODAY.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida State University shooting: Marches, victims, suspect Thursday update