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    FSU Shooting Suspect Was Shaped by Guns, Extreme Views and Chaotic Childhood

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    His biological mother said in an interview on Friday that she was bewildered by the attack, and had been against the presence of firearms in her son’s life.The 20-year-old student accused of killing two people and wounding six others at Florida State University had expressed extremist political views that made classmates uncomfortable, talked about his interest in guns and experienced years of family tumult that culminated in his changing his name in high school.The day after the shooting terrorized Florida State students, forcing them to flee or hide from gunfire at the university’s campus in Tallahassee, interviews and extensive court records offered an early portrait of the suspect, though law enforcement officials remained silent on what might have motivated the attack.By the time the suspect, Phoenix Ikner, was 6 years old, court records showed that he had to repeat kindergarten. His parents fought bitterly over every aspect of his care while accusing each other of manipulation and abuse. Judges were forced to intervene again and again as the parents traded allegations of domestic violence and stalking. The legal battle consumed nearly his entire childhood and ended only when he became an adult and most of the family court matters became moot.“All I wanted for him was a loving environment,” his biological mother, Anne-Mari Eriksen, said on Friday in a brief interview, in which she was clearly upset. “I was always concerned about his mental health and happiness.”She said she remained bewildered by the shooting and had been against the presence of firearms in her son’s life. “I feel bad for the people at F.S.U.,” she said. “My heart goes out to them. My heart is also with my son.”Chief Lawrence E. Revell of the Tallahassee Police Department said in a video statement that the suspect, a Florida State student, appeared to have no direct connection to his victims. The chief added that the suspect would face charges up to and including first-degree murder.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      What We Know About the FSU Shooting

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      Two people were killed and six others were injured when a 20-year-old gunman opened fire near the student union building, the police said.Two people died and six others were injured at Florida State University in Tallahassee on Thursday when a 20-year-old gunman armed with a handgun opened fire near the student union, law enforcement officials said.The suspect was shot and wounded by police officers after he disregarded their commands, the authorities said. He was taken to the hospital and identified as a student and the son of a local sheriff’s deputy.Officials were working on “multiple crime scenes” at the Florida State campus and dealing with at least “hundreds” of witnesses, said Chief Lawrence E. Revell of the Tallahassee Police Department, the lead investigative agency.Here is what we know.The shooting happened near the student union building.At around 11:50 a.m., gunfire erupted near the student union building at Florida State, a public university with an enrollment of more than 43,000, eight days before the last day of classes for the spring semester. The gunman used a handgun, law enforcement officials said during an afternoon news conference.Officers from the university’s Police Department responded. When the gunman did not comply with their commands, they shot and wounded him. He was taken into custody and to the hospital, where he invoked his right to remain silent, Chief Revell said.The chief said the suspect was also armed with a shotgun but added that it was unclear whether he had used it in the attack. The police believe that he acted alone.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      What We Know About the Gunman in the Florida State Shooting

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      The gunman accused of killing at least two people and injuring six others on Thursday in a shooting at Florida State University is a current student at the school and his mother is a Leon County sheriff’s deputy, officials said.The shooter was identified by the police as Phoenix Ikner, 20. Chief Lawrence E. Revell of the Tallahassee, Fla., Police Department said the man accused used his mother’s personal handgun in the shooting.The authorities said the attacker appeared to have been acting alone. He was in the hospital on Thursday, after being shot and wounded by responding officers for failing to obey their commands.Few details about the gunman emerged in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. Calls to his family and friends on Thursday mostly went unanswered.The man accused of the shooting graduated in 2022 from Lincoln High School, a public school in Tallahassee. He was a member of the Leon County Sheriff’s Office Youth Advisory Council in 2021-2022.According to the sheriff’s office website, the program is an opportunity for members to help address issues facing young people in their communities. Eligible students must be a rising sophomore, junior or senior at a high school in Leon County, have limited unexcused absences and a minimum grade point average of 2.0.Jacob West, 18, was part of the same youth advisory council with the suspect. Mr. West said he was shocked to hear the suspect’s name on the news and double-checked his phone to confirm it was the same person. He described the man accused as always “in good spirits,” helpful and always proposing “really good ideas to help Leon County.”“To hear what had happened was absolutely just heartbreaking,” said Mr. West.When they were in the youth advisory council together, the suspect was interested in car-racing video games and Minecraft, and he was passionate about vehicles, Mr. West said. The two would talk about the program, as well as pickup trucks and school, Mr. West said.“He never spoke about guns or anything,” Mr. West said.The suspect had told Mr. West that he was considering a career in law enforcement, but toward the end of their time with the youth advisory council, he said his interest in the profession had waned, Mr. West recalled. Mr. West said he left the program early, and that the two texted briefly afterward but had not been in touch since.Susan C. Beachy More

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      Ron DeSantis Assailed the Florida State Playoff Snub. Will He Do It at Alabama?

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      An undefeated college football team out of Tallahassee, nudged out of contention in a high-stakes competition by a dominant old favorite?It makes sense that Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida might have taken the plight of the Florida State Seminoles a bit personally, and why, when he takes the stage at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa for the Republican primary debate on Wednesday night, it may be especially hostile terrain.On Sunday, the College Football Playoff selection committee picked the Alabama Crimson Tide — a perennially successful team with a 12-1 record — over the unbeaten Seminoles to round out the four-team bracket that will compete for the national championship.The decision has not gone over well, prompting outrage (the Seminoles’ coach said he was “disgusted and infuriated”); existential doubt (what is an undefeated season even worth?); and conspiracy theories (including the notion that ESPN, which broadcasts the championship, and its parent company, Disney, tipped the scale against Mr. DeSantis for political retribution).Mr. DeSantis went with outrage. On Sunday, he wrote on social media: “What we learned today is that you can go undefeated and win your conference championship game, but the College Football Playoff committee will ignore these results.”On Tuesday, he said that he would ask for his proposed state budget to include $1 million for litigation expenses that might arise from what he called the College Football Playoff’s “really, really poor decision” to exclude Florida State.It did not help that former President Donald J. Trump, in criticizing the decision, took yet another opportunity to troll Mr. DeSantis by suggesting that the fault might lie with him. “Florida State was treated very badly by the ‘Committee,’” Mr. Trump wrote Monday on Truth Social. “They become the first Power Five team to be left out of the College Football Playoffs. Really bad lobbying effort…Lets blame DeSanctimonious!!!”What the selection committee did not say explicitly — but to which any Alabama students in the audience at the debate will doubtless attest — is that, on balance, it viewed Alabama as the better team: The Crimson Tide won a more challenging conference, and Florida State had lost its starting quarterback to a broken leg. (The selection committee’s rules do note that “unavailability of key players” can play into its decisions.)Put simply, the Alabama debate is not going to be an ideal venue for Mr. DeSantis to air his grievances.Fortunately for him, none of the other candidates have a particular claim to Tuscaloosa, or to teams that made the playoff. Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey, went to the University of Delaware but is a longtime Notre Dame fan.Vivek Ramaswamy, a Harvard graduate, is from Ohio. (Mr. DeSantis graduated from Yale, whose football team beat Harvard this year in the annual Harvard-Yale game, but didn’t find any bowl invitations in the mail.)And Nikki Haley — the former governor of South Carolina and Mr. DeSantis’s principal rival in the Republican race to supplant Mr. Trump — graduated from Clemson.Alabama’s celebrated head coach, Nick Saban — a longtime friend of Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, as it happens — does have a connection to Mr. DeSantis’s home state: He spent two unremarkable years as the head coach of the Miami Dolphins before leaving for Tuscaloosa in 2007. More