Florida State Campus Shooting Suspect Released from Hospital, Charged with Murder

The suspect accused of killing two people in a mass shooting at Florida State University in April has been taken to jail following his nearly month-long stay in the hospital, authorities said.

Phoenix Ikner, 20, who was shot by responding officers after opening fire on the Tallahassee campus on April 17, was released from the hospital on Monday, May 12, according to a statement from the Tallahassee Police Department.

He was then booked into the Leon County Detention Facility on two counts of murder and seven counts of attempted murder, the Leon County Sheriff’s Office said in its own statement. Ikner was later taken to the Wakulla County Detention Facility, where he will await his first court appearance, which the agency says is “standard protocol.”

The sheriff’s office also shared a mugshot of Ikner, in which his face appears disfigured. Authorities have said Ikner is the stepson of a Leon County Sheriff’s Office deputy who has been with the department for 18 years. 

Ikner, who was “deeply embedded” in the sheriff’s office’s community, allegedly used her gun in the shooting, Leon County Sheriff Walter McNeil previously told reporters.

The shooting was reported to campus police at 11:50 a.m. on April 17 and the suspect was apprehended minutes later, FSU Police Chief Jason Trumbower said at a press conference hours after the shooting.

As the incident unfolded, the campus went into lockdown. The notice was lifted around 3:20 p.m., officials said. Two men died and several others were wounded.

The fatal victims were identified by loved ones as Robert Morales, a dining coordinator at FSU and Tiru Chabba, a regional vice president with Aramark Collegiate Hospitality, which supplies food to universities.

While a motive remains under investigation by police, those who knew Ikner have claimed he had extreme right-wing views.