Shooting rampage at Florida State that left 2 dead lasted less than 5 minutes, police say

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Several thousand students, staff and faculty packed a plaza at Florida State University for a vigil Friday evening, bowing their heads in a moment of silence honoring the two people who were killed and six others who were wounded in a shooting rampage the previous day.

The gunman, identified as the stepson of a sheriff’s deputy, arrived on campus an hour before the shooting Thursday and stayed near a parking garage before he walked in and out of buildings and green spaces while firing a handgun just before lunchtime, police said.

In roughly four minutes, officers confronted 20-year-old Phoenix Ikner, a Florida State student, and shot and wounded him, Tallahassee police said.

Officials have not identified the two men who died, but family members said Robert Morales, a university dining coordinator, was one of them. He worked at Florida State since 2015 and studied criminology there in the early 1990s, according to his LinkedIn profile.

The other was Tiru Chabba, 45, a married father of two from Greenville, South Carolina, who was working for food service vendor Aramark, said Michael Wukela, a spokesperson for attorneys hired by the family.

Police have said five others were shot, and another person was hurt running away.

Medical staff at Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare said they treated six people for gunshots, including three who were operated on, and all were expected to survive.

They would not give any information about those people's identities or say whether the suspect was among them. Police said earlier that he was taken to a local hospital.

Some of the wounded were students, according to university President Richard McCullough.

Classes were canceled Friday, but some students came to campus to retrieve backpacks and laptops they left behind when they barricaded classroom doors and eventually fled to safety.

“I don’t think any words can do it justice,” said Audrey Rothman, one of three members of the Florida State women’s volleyball team who brought flowers and held hands in a brief prayer circle.

Police believe Ikner used a former service weapon that belongs to his stepmother, an 18-year veteran of the Leon County Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Walt McNeil said. In recent years she has worked as a middle school resource officer and was the department’s employee of the month a year ago in March.

After the shooting she requested and was granted personal leave and also reassigned from her post at the school, said Shonda Knight, executive director of community and media relations for the agency.

The suspect was a longstanding member of the Leon County Sheriff’s youth advisory council, police said. The group was created to build communication between young people and local law enforcement while also teaching teens leadership and team-building skills.

He was a junior at FSU studying political science after earning an associates degree last fall from Tallahassee State College, university spokeswoman Amy Farnum-Patronis confirmed.

Authorities have not yet revealed a motive.

When Ikner was a child, his parents were involved in several custody disputes with his biological mother, court records show.

In 2015, when he was 10, his biological mother, Anne-Mari Eriksen, said she was taking him to South Florida for spring break in 2015 but instead traveled to Norway. After returning to the U.S., she pleaded no contest to removing a minor from the state against a court order and was sentenced to 200 days in jail. She later moved to vacate her plea, but that was denied.

In the fall of that same year, Eriksen filed a civil libel-slander complaint against Jessica Ikner, along with several other family members. The complaint, which was later dismissed, accused them of harassing Eriksen and abusing Ikner’s position at the sheriff’s office.

In 2020, at age 15, the suspect received court approval to change his name from Christian Eriksen to Phoenix Ikner, court documents show. His old name was a constant reminder of a “tragedy” he suffered, in the words of administrative magistrate James Banks, who approved the request, NBC News reported.

Banks observed that Ikner was a “mentally, emotionally and physically mature young adult who is very articulate” and “very polite” said he chose the new name as a representation of “rising from the ashes anew.”

The shooting erupted just a few hours before a forum on countering hate on campus was to take place in a classroom building nearby.

The event, titled “United Against Hate: Building a Safer Campus and Community Together,” was part of a project honoring Maura Binkley, a Florida State student who was killed in a mass shooting at a yoga studio in 2018.

A few students who are now at Florida State also went through the trauma of one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School seven years ago in South Florida.

A few miles from the FSU campus, the Bethel Missionary Baptist Church began its Good Friday service with prayers for the shooting victims and families.

The Rev. R.B. Holmes said he visited the victims at the hospital with Tallahassee Mayor John Dailey, who also attended the service.

“We’re not going to emphasize the tragedy,” Holmes said. “We’re going to emphasize hope and healing. Our faith says we shall overcome. I said to the students, we will be there for them.”

Associated Press writers Stephany Matat in West Palm Beach, David Fischer in Fort Lauderdale, Michael Schneider in Orlando, and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed.

A student mourns during a vigil on the Florida State campus at Langford Green, Tallahassee, Fla., Friday, April 18, 2025, after a school shooting the day before. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough)

The day after an active shooter on campus Florida State president Richard McCullough addresses a vigil on campus at Langford Green, Tallahassee, Fla., Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough)

A student mourns during a vigil on the Florida State campus at Langford Green, Tallahassee, Fla., Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough)

The day after an active shooter on campus Florida State Dr. Amy Hecht vice president of student affairs addresses a vigil on campus at Langford Green, Tallahassee, Fla., Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough)

Electronic candles are lifted during a vigil on the Florida State campus at Langford Green, Tallahassee, Fla., Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough)

The day after an active shooter on campus Florida State students place electronic candles on a platform during a vigil on campus at Langford Green, Tallahassee, Fla., Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough)

On Good Friday, at the Co-Cathedral of St. Thomas More, Catholics observe a special rite called the Adoration of the Cross, where they venerate the cross, a symbol of Christ's sacrifice and the source of salvation, Tallahassee, Fla., Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough)

Flowers placed by students sit near police tape near the Florida State Student Union building, Tallahassee, Fla., Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough)

A student places flowers near the Florida State Student Union building, Tallahassee, Fla., Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough)

Tallahassee Mayor John Dailey addresses the Bethel Missionary Baptist Church congregation about the shooting at Florida State University before a Good Friday service, Tallahassee, Fla., Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough)

A sign that reads "Forever Stands Unconquered," is placed among flowers near the Florida State Student Union building, Tallahassee, Fla., Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough)

A student places a candle near the Florida State Student Union building, Tallahassee, Fla., Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough)

A student places heart-shaped balloons near the Florida State Student Union building, Tallahassee, Fla., Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough)

The Florida State Student Union is empty in Tallahassee, Fla., Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough)

Students wait to retrieve their personal items from the Florida State Student Union building, Tallahassee, Fla., Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough)

Students gather on a stretch of sidewalk near the center of the Florida State campus in sight of the Student Union building, Tallahassee, Fla., Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough)

Students wait to retrieve their personal items from the Florida State Student Union building, Tallahassee, Fla., Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough)

Sunglasses and a computer left by by a student are shown inside the Florida State Student Union building in Tallahassee, Fla., Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough)

Students leave after retrieving their personal items from the Florida State Student Union, Tallahassee, Fla., Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough)

Students gather on a stretch of sidewalk near the center of the Florida State campus in sight of the Student Union building, Tallahassee, Fla., Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough)

Students gather on a stretch of sidewalk near the center of the Florida State campus in sight of the Student Union building, Tallahassee, Fla., Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough)

Students gather on a stretch of sidewalk near the center of the Florida State campus in sight of the Student Union building, Tallahassee, Fla., Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough)

Students place flowers on a stretch of sidewalk near the center of the Florida State campus in sight of the Student Union building, Tallahassee, Fla., Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough)

An impromptu memorial shared online brings students bearing flowers into the evening near the center of the Florida State campus in sight of the Student Union building, Tallahassee, Fla., Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough)

The Florida State Student Union building is seen behind law enforcement vehicles in Tallahassee, Fla., Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough)

Dozens of patrol vehicles, including a forensics van, are stationed outside of Florida State University’s student union building, the scene of a shooting, Thursday, April 17, 2025, in Tallahassee, Fla. (AP Photo/Kate Payne)

Dozens of patrol vehicles, including a forensics van, are stationed outside of Florida State University’s student union building, the scene of a shooting, Thursday, April 17, 2025, in Tallahassee, Fla. (AP Photo/Kate Payne)

Dozens of patrol vehicles, including a forensics van, are stationed outside of Florida State University’s student union building, the scene of a shooting, Thursday, April 17, 2025, in Tallahassee, Fla. (AP Photo/Kate Payne)

Florida State University students wait for news amid an active shooter incident at the school’s campus in Tallahassee, Fla., Thursday, April 17, 2025 (AP Photo/Kate Payne)

Florida State University students wait for news amid an active shooter incident at the school’s campus in Tallahassee, Fla., Thursday, April 17, 2025 (AP Photo/Kate Payne)

Florida State University students wait for news amid an active shooter incident at the school’s campus in Tallahassee, Fla., Thursday, April 17, 2025 (AP Photo/Kate Payne)

Florida State University students wait for news amid an active shooter incident at the school’s campus in Tallahassee, Fla., Thursday, April 17, 2025 (AP Photo/Kate Payne)

People comfort each other on Florida State University’s campus in Tallahassee, where law enforcement responded to a reported active shooter incident Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Kate Payne)

A service is held at Co-Cathedral of St. Thomas More, a Catholic cathedral, across from the Woodward Avenue entrance to Florida State University campus, following a shooting, Thursday, April 17, 2025, in Tallahassee, Fla. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough)

An impromptu memorial of flowers and other items laid near the center of the Florida State campus in sight of the Student Union building, Tallahassee, Fla., Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough)

An impromptu memorial shared online brings students bearing flowers near the center of the Florida State campus in sight of the Student Union building, Tallahassee, Fla., Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough)

People sit in front of a makeshift memorial outside the student union at Florida State University, Thursday, April 17, 2025, in Tallahassee, Fla., following a campus shooting. (AP Photo/Kate Payne)

An impromptu memorial shared online brings students bearing flowers near the center of the Florida State campus in sight of the Student Union building, Tallahassee, Fla., Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough)

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — President Donald Trump offered some encouraging words and advice for graduating students at the University of Alabama on Thursday in a speech interspersed with impressions of transgender weightlifters, accusations that judges were interfering with his agenda and attacks on his predecessor, Joe Biden.

The Republican’s jolting speech was standard fare for Trump and well-received by the crowd in deep-red Alabama, which backed him in all three of his presidential runs.

“You’re the first graduating class of the golden age of America,” the president told the graduates.

But he quickly launched into a campaign-style diatribe, saying that the U.S. was being “ripped off” before he took office and that the last four years, when he was out of power, “were not good for our country.”

“But don’t let that scare you,” he said. “It was an aberration.”

The president of the University of Alabama, Stuart Bell, told graduates before Trump took the stage that Thursday night’s event was all about them.

“This special ceremony offers a meaningful opportunity for you, for I, to reflect on the important connection between academic inquiry, civic leadership, and public service,” Bell said.

Trump mostly went in a different direction.

He did a grunting impression of a female weightlifter as he criticized the participation of transgender women in sports. He bragged about how tech moguls have warmed up to him, saying, “They all hated me in my first term, and now they’re kissing my ass.”

And he falsely claimed that the 2020 election, which he lost, was “rigged.”

But after talking up his tariff plans, sharing his successes from his first 100 days in office and bashing the media, Trump turned back to the graduates, offering 10 pieces of advice drawn from his life and career, such as “Think of yourself as a winner,” “Be an original” and “Never, ever give up.”

He told them they were never too young to be successful and described how he worked on his first hotel development deal in his 20s.

“Now is the time to work harder than you’ve ever worked before,” he said. “Find your limits and then smash through everything.”

Although Trump described the speech as a commencement address, it is actually a special event that was created before graduation ceremonies that begin Friday. Graduating students had the option of attending the event.

Former Crimson Tide football coach Nick Saban also spoke, regaling the audience with a story about visiting the Oval Office in 2018 during Trump's first term. Saban said Trump was a gracious host.

In his remarks Thursday, Trump noted that he was marking his 100th day in office and touted the plummeting levels of arrests at the southern U.S. border as evidence that his immigration policies were working. But he accused the courts of trying to stop him from fulfilling the promises he made on the campaign trail.

“Judges are interfering, supposedly based on due process,” he said. “But how can you give due process to people who came into our country illegally?”

Trump has a long history of injecting such rhetoric into his remarks at venues where traditional political talk was seen as unseemly.

On his first full day in office in 2017, he used a speech at a memorial for fallen CIA agents to complain about journalists and defend the size of his crowd at the inauguration. Later that year, he drew backlash for talking about politics at a Boy Scouts gathering. And earlier this year, he delivered a grievance-filled speech at the Justice Department where he threatened to “expose” his enemies.

Ahead of Trump's arrival, Emily Appel, a 22-year-old advertising major from Norcross, Georgia, called Trump's appearance at her school “a cherry on top” of her college years.

She said she hoped he had a message to share that was "positive about us being able to work in the real world and for our future.”

Sophie Best, who is graduating with a communications degree, said, “I don’t think that we could have had a greater person come to speak."

The 21-year-old from Cartersville, Georgia, said she attended Trump's first presidential inauguration in 2017 when she was a freshman in high school, along with her father, who she said loves Trump.

“I think that no matter what political party or whatever you believe in, I think that it’s super cool that we get to experience and make history and be a part of this,” she said.

At a park a mile away, hundreds of people gathered at a counter-rally hosted by College Democrats. One-time presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke of Texas and former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, the last Democrat to hold statewide office in Alabama, addressed the attendees at their event, called a “Tide Against Trump” — a play on the university’s nickname.

Aidan Meyers, a 21-year-old junior studying biology at the university, said he was upset by the decision to let Trump speak at a graduation-related event.

“I felt betrayed that the university was willing to put up with someone who has made it clear that they hate academia, essentially holding funding above universities' heads as a bargaining chip, unless they bow down to what he wants, which is kind of a hallmark sign with fascist regime,” Meyers said.

O'Rourke told the rally that Trump was trying to make the students’ graduation “all about him, true to form.” He urged students and others gathered to go out and use their voices to “win America back.”

“The power of people works in this country, even against Donald Trump,” O’Rourke said.

Jones told the crowd they were there “not just as a protest, but as a movement.”

“You are here today because you’re concerned, you’re afraid. You understand that this country’s great democracy is teetering right now with what we’re seeing going on,” the former senator said.

Trump’s presence also drew criticism from the Alabama NAACP, which said his policies are hurting universities and students, particularly students of color.

After his stop in Alabama, Trump is scheduled to travel to Florida for a long weekend at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

Later this month, he is scheduled to give the commencement address at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York.

Associated Press writers Bill Barrow in Atlanta and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.

Former presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke of Texas speaks next to former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones of Alabama at a rally called "Tide Against Trump" in Tuscaloosa, Ala., held in opposition to President Donald Trump's appearance on campus on Thursday, May 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Kimberly Chandler)

Former presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke of Texas speaks at a rally called "Tide Against Trump" in Tuscaloosa, Ala., held in opposition to President Donald Trump's appearance on campus on Thursday, May 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Kimberly Chandler)

Nick Saban speaks before President Donald Trump arrives to give a commencement address at the University of Alabama, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

President Donald Trump gives a commencement address at the University of Alabama, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Nick Saban speaks before President Donald Trump arrives to give a commencement address at the University of Alabama, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

President Donald Trump arrives to give a commencement address at the University of Alabama, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

President Donald Trump arrives to give a commencement address at the University of Alabama, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

President Donald Trump arrives to give a commencement address at the University of Alabama, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Tuscaloosa, Ala.(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

President Donald Trump dances after giving a commencement address at the University of Alabama, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

President Donald Trump gives a commencement address at the University of Alabama, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

President Donald Trump yells after giving a commencement address at the University of Alabama, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

President Donald Trump talks about transgender weightlifters as gives a commencement address at the University of Alabama, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

President Donald Trump gestures after giving a commencement address at the University of Alabama, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

President Donald Trump arrives at Tuscaloosa National Airport, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

President Donald Trump arrives at Tuscaloosa National Airport, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

University of Alabama president Stuart Bell speaks before President Donald Trump arrives to give a commencement address at the University of Alabama, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

President Donald Trump arrives at Tuscaloosa National Airport, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

President Donald Trump walks with Air Force Col. Angela Ochoa, Commander of the 89th Airlift Wing from Marine One to board Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Md., en route Tuscaloosa National Airport, Thursday, May 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)