FSU shooting suspect: What we know

(NewsNation) — The injured suspect in Thursday’s shooting at Florida State University is the 20-year-old stepson of a local deputy who obtained a handgun from his stepmother’s possession, according to authorities and information confirmed by NewsNation.

Who is the FSU shooting suspect?

The suspect, identified as Phoenix Ikner, was also a member of the Leon County Sheriff’s Office’s Youth Advisory Council and was “engaged in a number of training programs that we have,” Sheriff Walt McNeil said at a news conference Thursday.

Another official who spoke at the news conference, FSU Police Chief Jason Trumbower, said the shooting suspect is a current student at the university.

The handgun Ikner obtained from the deputy was her old service weapon that she had purchased from the sheriff’s department, Tallahassee Police Chief Lawrence Revell said.

The deputy has been a member of the Leon County Sheriff’s Office for more than 18 years, McNeil said.

“Her service to this community has been exceptional. Unfortunately, her son had access to one of her weapons, and that was one of the weapons that was found at the scene,” the sheriff said.

Although officials initially identified Ikner as the officer’s son, NewsNation has learned the suspect is the deputy’s stepson.

It’s possible the suspect had a second weapon, a shotgun, officials said. An eyewitness who saw the gunman begin shooting told NewsNation the shooter first fired a shotgun before reaching into a vehicle for a pistol.

After being wounded and taken into custody by police, the gunman refused to speak to investigators, Revell told reporters.

FSU suspect known for hate speech: Classmate

FSU student Reid Seybold said he knew Phoenix Ikner from a political talk group at Tallahassee State College. Seybold said Ikner had espoused what he described as white supremacist views.

“He was known for espousing white supremacist and alt-right rhetoric, to the extent where we had to ask him to leave,” Seybold told NewsNation. “It’s my understanding that at some point he was allowed back after I came to Florida State, where he continued to push white supremacist rhetoric.”

Is the suspect’s deputy mother in legal jeopardy?

The potential legal culpability for the suspect’s stepmother isn’t immediately clear, legal analyst Misty Marris told “NewsNation Now.”

“The thing is, you’ve got an adult, you’ve got a 20-year-old,” she said, referring to the suspect. “We’d be having a way different conversation if you had someone who was 15 or 16 years old. We’d be talking about potential culpability for failure to keep those guns in a safe and secure manner in violation of Florida law.”

“That’s your worst nightmare as a law enforcement officer — that you lose your weapon or lose track of your weapon and then it ends up in a shooting like this, let alone your own child using the weapon to commit violence like this,” former FBI assistant director Chris Swecker told “Elizabeth Vargas Reports.”

2 killed, 6 injured in Florida State University shooting

Two people were killed and eight were injured in the shooting on Florida State University’s campus in Tallahassee. The two who died were not students, according to authorities.

The shooting began around 11:50 a.m. local time near FSU’s student union building, authorities said. The gunman was eventually shot by responding police officers, officials said. The suspect was taken to the hospital.