TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Detectives identified the 20-year-old gunman accused of killing two people and injuring six others at Florida State University on Thursday as Phoenix Ikner.
Records related to his parent’s custody dispute show Ikner’s identity before 2020 was Christian Gunnar Eriksen, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Norway, and included allegations that he had been diagnosed with “several health and mental issues” by the time he was 11 years old, ABC News and First Coast News.
After the FSU shooting, Leon County Sheriff Walter A. McNeil said Ikner was a “long-standing” member of The Leon County Sheriff’s Office Youth Advisory Council and identified, Jessica Ikner, a deputy who served in LCSO for over 18 years, as his mother.
Court records identify the suspect’s biological mother as Anne-Mari Eriksen, who was born in Norway; his father as Christopher Ikner; and Deputy Jessica Ikner as his stepmother.
“Her son had access to one of her weapons and that was one of the weapons that was found at the scene,” McNeil said referring to the deputy’s stepson.
McNeil added that the FSU shooting was also tragic because the suspect was a member of the LCSO “family” who had “engaged in a number” of the department’s training programs.
Records show the suspect was a junior at Lincoln High School when the LCSO announced that he was a member of the 2021-22 youth council with eight other students.
“It’s not a surprise to us that he had access to weapons,” McNeil said.
FSU Chief Jason Trumbower said Deputy Jessica Ikner had previously used the firearm found at FSU after the shooting as a service weapon, but when the department replaced it, she was allowed to buy it.
“It was her personal handgun,” Trumbower said later adding that the suspect was also armed with a shotgun.
LCSO listed Jessica Ikner as a school resource deputy working at RAA Middle School. Last year, the department praised her on Facebook after McNeil named her March’s Law Enforcement Employee of the Month.
Anne-Mari Eriksen was arrested on July 27, 2015, at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport for kidnapping after allegedly traveling with her son to Norway in March without his father’s permission.
Court records show Anne-Mari Eriksen disapproved of Jessica Ikner’s alleged use of corporal punishment on her son and filed a civil lawsuit for libel against her and her son’s father alleging that “the emotional and psychological harm done” to her son during their custody dispute “will be evident for years, and will require counseling.” The lawsuit was dismissed.
Last year, before her son turned 20 on Aug. 28, Anne-Mari Eriksen shared a picture of him on Facebook remembering details about the day he was born and wrote that she had “beat the odds of staying pregnant, not caring where his dad was off at drinking.”
The Daily Mail reported Anne-Mari Eriksen used Facebook again after the FSU shooting Thursday to write that her son was a student at FSU and she didn’t know if he was safe.
“Horrible when your alienating son’s dad is as mentally unstable as he is, along with his LCSO cop wife, that they can’t respond when you write to ask if everything is alright.”
During the news conference, the FSU police chief announced that the armed suspect was injured during his arrest. FBI special agents were investigating the shooting.
Records of Phoenix Ikner as an adult show he registered to vote as a Republican in July 2022.
In January, FSU News reported Phoenix Ikner, a political science major at FSU, was an onlooker during a Tallahassee Students for a Democratic Society protest on campus.
“These people are usually pretty entertaining, usually not for good reasons,” he told FSU News, while mocking the protest against President Donald Trump, according to the report.
The student organization used Facebook Thursday to condemn the shooting as “cruel,” “senseless,” and “cowardly.”
On Instagram, there was an account with Phoenix Ikner’s identity that included a Bible verse in the bio.
“Jeremiah 51:20 -‘You are my war club, my weapon for battle. With you I shatter nations; with you I destroy kingdoms.’”
FBI special agents asked anyone with videos, photos, or tips to submit a form online on this site.
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