The Florida sheriff’s deputy’s stepson accused of opening fire on the campus of Florida State University last month, killing two people and wounding six more, has been released from the hospital and charged with multiple counts of murder and attempted murder.
Phoenix Ikner, 20, was hospitalized after Tallahassee Police shot him on the scene of the April 17 mass shooting, WFTV reported.
He was initially booked into the Leon County Detention Facility on two counts of murder and seven counts of attempted murder. He was transferred to the Wakulla County Detention Facility because his stepmother is a Leon County deputy.
Leon County Sheriff Walt McNeil said at the time Ikner was part of the sheriff’s office’s Youth Advisory Council and that the weapon used in the shooting had been his stepmother’s service weapon, which she had purchased from the department, as CrimeOnline reported.
“This event is tragic in more ways than you people in the audience could ever fathom from a law enforcement perspective,” McNeil said. “But I will tell you this, we will make sure that we do everything we can to prosecute and make sure that we send a message to folks that this will never be tolerated here in Leon County, and I dare say, across this state and across this nation.”
According to WOFL, responding police officers shot Ikner when he refused to comply with their commands, roughly five minutes after the shooting started. Police have not revealed a motive for the shooting, but more information will likely be available when a probably cause affidavit is released upon his initial court appearance.
The two people killed in the shooting — 45-year-old Tiru Chabba and 57-year-old Robert Morales — were employees of campus vendors and not students.
