By Kate Payne and Curt AndersonThe Related Press
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — College students dropped off balloons, candles and teddy bears at a memorial the morning of April 18 close to Florida State College’s pupil union the place a 20-year-old opened fireplace, killing two males and wounding six others.
Some returned to retrieve their belongings lower than a day after they’d barricaded classroom doorways and fled throughout campus, abandoning chemistry notes and even footwear. A pair of vigils have been deliberate for the afternoon.
“I don’t assume any phrases can do it justice,” mentioned Audrey Rothman, certainly one of three members of the Florida State ladies’s volleyball workforce who introduced flowers and held arms in a short prayer circle.
The shooter, recognized by police as Phoenix Ikner, is believed to be a Florida State pupil and the son of a sheriff’s deputy who started firing together with his mom’s former service weapon, investigators mentioned. Authorities haven’t but revealed a motive for the taking pictures, which started round lunchtime Thursday simply exterior the coed union.
Officers shortly arrived and shot and wounded the gunman after he refused to adjust to instructions, mentioned Tallahassee Police Chief Lawrence Revell.
The 2 males who have been killed weren’t college students, mentioned Florida State College Police Chief Jason Trumbower, who didn’t launch every other particulars concerning the victims.
The shooter obtained a weapon that belongs to his mom, who has been with the Leon County Sheriff’s Workplace for over 18 years and has been a mannequin worker, mentioned Leon County Sheriff Walt McNeil. Police mentioned they believed Ikner shot the victims utilizing his mom’s former service handgun, which she had saved for private use after the power upgraded its weapons.
5 individuals who have been wounded have been struck by gunfire, whereas a sixth was damage whereas attempting to run away, Revell mentioned. Two have been anticipated to be discharged from Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare on April 18, three have been upgraded to good situation and one remained in truthful situation, a hospital spokesperson for Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare mentioned on April 18.
The shooter was a long-standing member of the Leon County Sheriff’s youth advisory council, which was created to construct communication between younger individuals and native regulation enforcement whereas additionally instructing the teenagers management and team-building expertise.
“He has been steeped within the Leon County Sheriff’s Workplace household, engaged in plenty of coaching packages that we’ve,” McNeil mentioned. “So it’s not a shock to us that he had entry to weapons.”
As of the night time of April 17, Ikner was within the hospital with “critical however non-life-threatening accidents,” in keeping with Revell. The hospital declined to supply an replace on the shooter’s situation, saying it can’t touch upon the id of sufferers.
Witness says the suspect’s shotgun jammed
Ambulances, fireplace vehicles and patrol automobiles raced towards the campus simply west of Florida’s capital because the college issued an lively shooter alert.
Aidan Stickney, a 21-year-old learning enterprise administration, was working late to class when he mentioned he noticed a person get out of a automobile with a shotgun and goal at one other man in a white polo shirt.
The gun jammed, Stickney mentioned, and the shooter rushed again to his automobile and emerged with a handgun, opening fireplace on a lady. Stickney ran, warning others as he known as 911.
“I obtained fortunate as we speak. I actually did. I actually, actually did,” he mentioned.
Trumbower mentioned investigators don’t have any proof that anybody was shot with the shotgun.
Photographs despatched college students scattering
Holden Mendez, a 20-year-old pupil learning political science and worldwide affairs, mentioned he had simply left the coed union when he heard a collection of photographs. He bumped into a close-by campus constructing, the place his earlier emergency response coaching kicked in.
“There was plenty of worry. There was plenty of panic. There was plenty of misinformation that was being unfold round. I used to be doing my finest to type of fight that,” he mentioned. “I instructed individuals, ‘Take a deep breath. This constructing is safe. All the pieces goes to be okay.’”
Andres Perez, 20, was in a classroom close to the coed union when the alarm sounded for a lockdown. He mentioned his classmates started transferring desks in entrance of the door and law enforcement officials got here to escort them out.
“I all the time hand around in the coed union,” Perez mentioned. “So the second I came upon that the menace was there, my coronary heart sank and I used to be scared.”
Capturing shocks campus and the nation
President Donald Trump known as the taking pictures “a horrible factor” whereas additionally suggesting that he wouldn’t be advocating for any new gun laws. “The gun doesn’t do the taking pictures, the individuals do,” he mentioned from the Oval Workplace.
College President Richard McCullough mentioned he was heartbroken by the violence. “Our hearts exit to our college students and the victims of this horrible tragedy,” he mentioned.
One other taking pictures a decade in the past at Florida State
Florida State has about 44,000 college students. In 2014, the principle library was the positioning of a taking pictures that wounded three individuals. Officers shot and killed the gunman, 31-year-old Myron Might.
The college canceled courses for the remainder of the week and canceled dwelling athletic occasions by April 20.
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Related Press reporters Stephany Matat in West Palm Seaside, David Fischer in Fort Lauderdale, Michael Schneider in Orlando, Mike Balsamo in New York, Eric Tucker and Christopher Megerian in Washington, John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed to this report.
